Hillary to Put Zelaya in the Vise: option to broker compromise betw. Zelaya,Micheletti, and MILITARY

[magbana]

"In Washington, a senior U.S. official said one option under consideration was trying to forge a compromise between Zelaya, Micheletti and the Honduran military under which the ousted president would be allowed to serve out his remaining six months in office with limited and clearly defined powers.

Zelaya, in return, would pledge to drop his aspirations for a constitutional change that might allow him to run for another term, said the official, who agreed to discuss the situation only if not quoted by name because of the sensitive nature of the diplomatic exchanges."


"Zelaya to discuss Honduras crisis with Clinton

By WILL WEISSERT – 2 hours ago

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Diplomatic efforts to restore Manuel Zelaya to Honduras' presidency shifted back to Washington on Tuesday, as supporters of the ousted leader threatened to escalate protests and disrupt business across the poor Central American nation.

A day after failing to land in Honduras to confront the interim government that ousted him in a coup, Zelaya boarded a plane bound for Washington, where U.S. officials said he would meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Zelaya told a news conference Monday night that he hopes to ensure U.S. support for diplomatic efforts to see him restored to power.

"Tomorrow we hope to get support for these pronouncements," Zelaya said before heading to the airport in Managua.

In Washington, a senior U.S. official said one option under consideration was trying to forge a compromise between Zelaya, Micheletti and the Honduran military under which the ousted president would be allowed to serve out his remaining six months in office with limited and clearly defined powers.

Zelaya, in return, would pledge to drop his aspirations for a constitutional change that might allow him to run for another term, said the official, who agreed to discuss the situation only if not quoted by name because of the sensitive nature of the diplomatic exchanges.

The talks come as the Obama administration weighs how to respond to the military coup that sent Zelaya into exile June 28. The U.S. government is looking for a peaceful resolution, and senior officials said Washington tried to dissuade Zelaya from Sunday's attempt to fly into the Tegucigalpa airport, which led to clashes between the army and his supporters.

President Barack Obama reiterated his support for efforts to restore Zelaya to Honduras' presidency — even as he pointed out that Zelaya has strongly opposed American policies.

In a speech to Moscow graduates on Tuesday, the president said that's evidence that the U.S. does not dictate another country's leaders.

"We respect the universal principle that people should choose their own leaders, whether they are leaders we agree with or not," Obama said.

As Zelaya pondered his next moves in neighboring Nicaragua on Monday, 2,000 of his supporters rallied peacefully near the presidential palace in the Honduran capital. But anger was high over the death of a teenager shot by soldiers Sunday as a crowd tried to break through the airport's perimeter fence, before Zelaya's plane gave up on trying to land because army vehicles blocked the runway.

"We're going to change strategies," protest organizer Rafael Alegria, 57, said Monday. "We cannot live under the current state."

He said Zelaya's supporters would take their fight nationwide by blocking major highways and border crossings in an effort to impede trucks delivering fuel and merchandise.

The interim government — named by Congress to replace Zelaya's administration after a fight over his effort to stage a constitutional referendum that the Supreme Court ruled illegal — remained steadfast in saying he would not be allowed to return.

The government announced it was extending closure of the country's main airport through Friday. It parked an old plane across the runway to emphasize the point.

Zelaya is opposed by all branches of the Honduran government as well as the military. He even alienated leaders of his own party, which supported a congressional vote to install congressional leader Roberto Micheletti as interim president.

"Micheletti won't be in government for very long — only the time needed to improve things in Honduras," said Jorge Illescas, who directs the ruling Liberal Party that both Zelaya and Micheletti represent. "He will leave next January," Illescas added, when the next president takes power following November's election.

Zelaya, a wealthy rancher who moved to the left and allied himself with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez during his presidency, was ousted hours before the referendum was to start. His opponents feared the vote would enable him to push for constitutional changes to remain in office and move the country toward socialism.

Diplomats with the United Nations, the Organization of American States, the United States and European countries worked behind the scenes Monday trying to find some common ground with Micheletti, who has vowed not to negotiate until "things return to normal."

OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza said he was "open to continuing all appropriate diplomatic overtures to obtain our objective."

So far, the White House has called Zelaya's ouster "not legal," but it has not taken any steps to punish Honduras. More than $100 million in U.S. aid would be lost if the State Department officially classifies Zelaya's ouster a "coup," which would trigger an automatic suspension.

The OAS suspended Honduras from membership over the weekend, and the country now faces trade sanctions and the loss of hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidized oil, aid and loans.

Another senior U.S. administration official expressed frustration with Zelaya, saying the ousted Honduran leader rejected advice from the United States and others not to press for the constitutional change and also not to try to return to Honduras on Sunday while the situation remained volatile.

Zelaya told reporters Monday in the Nicaraguan capital that he would try again to return — but next time he won't say when. "My mistake was to let them know I was returning," he said.

If he returns, Zelaya faces arrest for 18 alleged criminal acts including treason and failing to implement more than 80 laws approved by Congress since he took office in 2006.

Associated Press Writer Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
"
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jAkMGKIUDg_ngUiZboxQbYj5_DPwD999L6P81

[Peace Patriot]

1. I would like President Obama to specify the areas of disagreement between

the U.S. government and President Zelaya, the elected president of Honduras.

"President Barack Obama reiterated his support for efforts to restore Zelaya to Honduras' presidency — even as he pointed out that Zelaya has strongly opposed American policies."--the Associated Pukes

-----

Does the Obama administration oppose Zelaya's raising the minimum wage in one of the poorest countries in the hemisphere? (I suspect that this is one of the main motives of the rich coupsters, who are benefiting from the slave labor of U.S. dominated "free trade.")

Does it oppose Honduras creating its own sovereign economic policy, including "fair trade" and cooperating with its neighbors in a regional barter trade group like ALBA to the great benefit of Honduras?

Does it oppose Honduras getting cheap oil from Venezuela, and favor global corporate predator gas gouging in Honduras, wherein Exxon Mobil sets the price, and, like here, dominates the government and the military and uses them for corporate resource wars and other global corporate predator purposes?

Does it oppose the peoples' right--and frequent practice in Latin America--to discuss, re-write and vote on their Constitution, especially since their current Constitution was written during the Reagan "reign of terror" to empower the rich and the military and disempower the poor majority?

Does it oppose Honduran sovereignty and wish to maintain a US military base in Honduras, for purposes unknown but with terrible precedents?

Does it wish to continue funding rightwing groups, with multi-millions of US tax dollars, through agencies like the USAID-NED and the International Republican Institute (US taxpayer funded international wing of the Puke party)?

Does it wish to continue the corrupt, failed, murderous US "war on drugs"--a bankrupt policy, funded by billions of US tax dollars--for which there are infinitely better alternatives, including some proposed by Zelaya, which Latin American leaders are increasingly favoring (such as legalizing coca leaves and marijuana)?

Does it favor the worst elements in Honduran society--the greedy lawless rich elite and the "School of the Americas" trained military--or the best--the labor unions, the social movements, the indigenous farmers, the human rights workers, the leftist (majorityist) organizers and politicians?

Exactly WHAT does the US wish to impose on Honduras, that President Zelaya has disagreed with? ...and why?

The US government's hands are not clean in this situation. The funding of rightwing groups and training and organizing of coupsters, at our expense, may not be all Obama's fault, and certainly were not instigated by him--they are the rotten .leftovers of 8 years of a fascist coup here. And I certainly understand that Obama's hands are tied in many ways. But at the least he shouldn't promulgate the corpo/fascist narrative about where "our" interests lie in Latin America. If he is speaking for the majority of Americans, our interests lie in strong labor unions, good health care, peace, democracy and the empowerment of the vast poor majority, including us, throughout the hemisphere. Military spending and also spending vast sums to undermine democracy in other countries is not in our interest. Setting up Honduras for an oil war against Venezuela is not in our interest. Funding a military which then shoots up the presidential palace, and drags the elected president from this bed and puts him on a plane with blackened windows to another country, and "suspends" civil rights, and arrests and harasses reporters, and surrounds public buildings and TV stations with troops, is not in our interest. Fascism is not in our interest. The "war on drugs" is not in our interest. Corpo/fascist "free trade" is not in our interest.

So, whose interests is Obama speaking to, when he says that he supports the legal president of Honduras, even though he disagrees with his policies? The trouble is that everybody in Latin America knows what he means--that the poor majority should shut up and go away, throughout the hemisphere, in favor of our global corporate predators who want control of all resources, who want a disempowered slave labor force, and who want to break the back of the overwhelmingly successful democratic leftist movement in South and Central America. Zelaya has allied with the social justice goals of the poor majority--an act for which his own class, the rich elite, will never forgive him. Is that what President Obama "disagrees" with? He doesn't say it, but most Latin Americans have good reason to believe it.

[Billy Burnett]

3. Best post in this forum summarizing the situation.

Thank you Peace Patriot for framing all of the issues so succinctly.

[EFerrari]

6. And that's what Chavez means when he says Obama is a prisoner

of the empire. It's sounds melodramatic and even bombastic as the president can sound to north American ears but is actually a very accurate description.

[Peace Patriot]

7. Oh, yes, I do agree with Chavez on that. It is very apparent to me in Obama's

policy of letting the master criminals of the Bush/Cheney junta go scot free for a list of horrendous "high crimes and misdemeanors" long enough to circle the earth. It's not that Obama--a Constitutional scholar--doesn't want to prosecute them--it's that he can't prosecute them. He is quite literally a prisoner of the Dark Lords on the matter of restoring the rule of the law. I don't know how that played out. I've speculated that it was an actual deal, circa 2006, to prevent their nuking Iran and to convince them to leave the White House when the time came--which Obama had to agree to, for Diebold & brethren to permit him to be elected. But whether it was that formal or not, it is as plain as it can be that Obama does not have the power to bring them to justice. And that goes to the core of our so-called democratic system. I think his hands are tied in other respects as well, but that's the biggie--the heart and soul of the rule of law in a democracy--"the rule of laws not men".

In Latin America, it has been a long and difficult process to being the murderers and torturers of past rightwing coups to justice. I'm not saying it's easy. But Obama's cavalier dismissal of the effort belies his soul, it seems to me. His stated position--"we have to look forward, not backward"--is absurd and non-sensical. The past is precedent for the future. Do we fail to prosecute common murderers because the murder took place in the past? That is a ridiculous position. And I think Obama knows it. And I think he has compromised on this--perhaps the most important tenet of a democracy (besides transparent elections)--the accountability of its leaders--because the anti-democratic forces that seized the US government during the 2000 to 2008 period are too powerful to oppose. He cannot oppose them and stay alive--to do whatever good he thinks he can do. "Prisoner" is the right word for it. That is exactly the position of a prisoner--he has no power to seek justice against evildoers.

[clear eye]

10. Welcome back, Peace Patriot!

Thank you for getting us up to speed regarding Zalaya's leadership and reforms, and the power players ready to emerge to prop up the coup. It seems that we, the world's regular people, are being returned to the feudal serfdom we thought we had left behind with the establishment of Democratic Republics. Look at the intentional destruction of the dollar to save the world's bankers at the cost of the Baby Boomers' hard earned pensions and life savings.

My solidly middle class sister and brother-in-law think that they may not be able to finish putting their two daughters through college. Such a sad time.

[EFerrari]

2. How is putting Zelaya in a vise not capitulating to the coup?

I thought those snakes had made a miscalculation. Maybe that's wrong. Pinochetti said all the US could do was sanction. Maybe he is right.

[Peace Patriot]

4. Then Al Giordana's (NarcoNews) theory would kick in. The rich and lawless elite

in Honduras would turn Honduras into the organized crime capitol of the hemisphere--much like Cuba once was--by inviting the big drug cartels and the Miami mafia to fund their coup. Giordano attributes their arrogance to this intention. If the US stops funding Honduras, even worse funders will take over, and then the US taxpayer-funded military helicopters and guns and soldiers and infrastructure would be turned to protecting their criminal interests. I would add that there may be another funder in the wings (or backstage now), and that is Rumsfeld & Co. and their privatized "Office of Special Plans," and the billions and billions of dollars they outright stole from us in Iraq and with dirty contracts, there and elsewhere, and socked away in foreign banks, for private corporate resource wars, including their plan to grab Venezuela's Caribbean coast oil fields.

"...all the US could do was sanction." This may be part of the plan for regaining global corporate predator control of Latin America's resources, and it could conceivably be why Obama has not sanctioned them, and seems to be playing both sides. He has to contend not just with the Bushwhack moles whom he has failed to (or can't) purge from the State Dept, the diplomatic corps, the Pentagon, the CIA, the USAID and other agencies, he has also to contend with the Bush Cartel and its stolen billions. They are actually very likely the hidden hand in this coup, and I have long suspected that they are filthy on the drug trade.

[EFerrari]

5. I wonder where Honduras is on the corruption scale as it is.

Doesn't sound as though they have very far to go to become the worst in the region.

Today for the first time, I felt worried about Zelaya's life. These bastards have probably already decided they were wrong not to kill him in the first place.

[IndianaGreen]

8. The rich and lawless elite in Honduras is cut from the same cloth as our elites

One need to look no further as to how our hopes for real change are being suffocated by people we helped elect.

[Peace Patriot]

9. True, they have the same problem in Honduras--two powerful political parties,

both comprised of the rich elites. Zelaya's crime was breaking with his own rich elite to advocate for the poor majority. That's why they call him a traitor. He is not a traitor to Honduras. He is a traitor to his class. FDR was accused of the same thing.

Zelaya was doing exactly the right thing to alter the political equation--advocating for a discussion, re-write and vote on a new Constitution--because these two elitists parties have a lock on power and money in Honduras, as ours do here, and the only way to break that up is to reconsider the fundamental law of the land, as Bolivians, Ecuadorans and Venezuelans have all successfully done, to the great benefit of their countries. I don't know if that would work here. Latin America has a tradition of rewriting constitutions that we don't have. But our Constitution is quite in tatters as a result of the Bush Junta and its utter contempt for the rule of law. And it could do with some spiffy new fundamental precepts, such as denying personhood to corporations and banning all private money in political campaigns, and, actually the first plank I would put in: NO PRIVATE CORPORATE INVOLVEMENT IN OUR CAMPAIGNS, ELECTIONS AND ESPECIALLY IN OUR VOTE COUNTING. Ban the use of trade secret programming, now in all of our voting machines--owned and controlled by not just private corporations but rightwing private corporations! And we wonder why our government is so unresponsive to the will of the people!? Could there be anything more anti-democratic than 'TRADE SECRET' voting machines?

But how to get this big, sprawling, and highly complex country to agree on some new fundamental rules--especially with no tradition of it here, where even amending the Constitution is extremely difficult? In any case, Latin Americans view their constitutions as more fluid than we do, amend them more frequently--often by popular vote--and periodically re-think the whole thing, just as Thomas Jefferson wanted us to do here. Zelaya had it right. That's what is needed in Honduras.