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Honduras Regime Harasses Brazil Embassy, Talks Stall
TEGUCIGALPA – Honduran troops blared loud music and animal noises Wednesday at the Brazilian embassy to intensify pressure on deposed President Manuel Zelaya, as talks on the months-long crisis stalled.
Riot police stand guard next to supporters of Honduras' ousted President Manuel Zelaya during a protest demanding Zelaya's return to power in Tegucigalpa, Wednesday, Oct, 21, 2009. Residents of the Brazilian embassy where Zelaya is holed up, are complaining about loud music broadcast over loudspeakers by soldiers posted around the embassy.
(AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco) Members of the Organization of American States (OAS)
meeting in Washington criticized the pressure on the embassy and
apparent delaying tactics by the de facto leadership.
"The talks should not serve as a means to buy time," said Lewis Amselem, the US representative to the OAS, which has been trying to mediate a way out of the crisis in Honduras set off by a June 28 coup.
"The de facto regime has not shown itself as flexible or as willing to compromise as President Zelaya," Amselem said, warning that the US could still "increase pressure on key regime personnel."
The United States has so far suspended millions of dollars in financial aid programs to Honduras and canceled US visas of some top regime officials and backers.
Some Latin American countries say the United States could, however, go much further.
Zelaya has been holed up in the embassy, which is surrounded by police and soldiers, since his surprise return one month ago.
"We've been bombarded with loudspeakers playing music at the highest level," Rasel Tome, a Zelaya advisor in the embassy, told Radio Globo Wednesday.
The de facto regime had already been accused of broadcasting high-pitched sounds outside.
An AFP correspondent inside confirmed they had been blasted with an unlikely blend of animal noises, military tunes and hard rock, and even a song by a working-class Mexican singer which compares men to rats.
A military official outside the embassy said he had no knowledge of the sounds.
Dialogue between the two sides stalled Tuesday, when a Zelaya representative described proposals from the de facto government as "insulting."
The talks are blocked on the issue of whether Zelaya would return to office before November 29 presidential polls. His term expires in January.
OAS chief Jose Miguel Insulza called Wednesday for a greater push to advance the talks, and said that neither side was ready to break them off yet.
"The OAS position is correct, but it should give a more determined, specific time to this dialogue process," Zelaya responded in Honduras.
Condemnation of Zelaya's ouster and foreign aid freezes have failed to dampen the resolve of the de facto regime, led by Roberto Micheletti, to keep him out until a new president is in office.
Micheletti has suggested that the Supreme Court -- which accused Zelaya of 18 crimes ahead of the coup -- should decide whether the ousted leader can be briefly reinstated, a proposal which Zelaya has rejected.
International observers have threatened not to recognize the polls if Zelaya fails to return beforehand.
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10 Comments so far
Show AllI lived in Honduras for over 2 years and still maintain friends there. I cannot believe that the international community is demanding Zelaya's return when he broke the law by trying to hold an illegal referendum to hold onto power. the Honduran constitution expressly states that the president can hold only ONE term, and that is what Zelaya was trying to change. As the article correctly states, the Honduran supreme court accused him of 18 crimes related to the attempted referendum. Only the congress can call a referendum of this kind, not unilateral action by the president. Zelaya was legally and correctly removed from power for his actions. It is incredible that the US (supposedly a bastion of democracy) wants him returned to power after such an incident. Elections are being held soon. Let the interim government stay until someone else can be elected.
Where in your Constitution does it allow for a Militaty Coup in response to an mere accusation of wrongdoing?
Wouldn't criminal charges and a fair trial be a more appropriate response if you want you country to join the civilized world?
"The only means of strengthening one's intellect is to make up one's mind about nothing, to let the mind be a thoroughfare for all thoughts." - John Keats
I would think that there should be many videos of the harrasment of Manuel Zelaya and the Brazilian Embassy.
Why are there none posted?
If it was Micheletti, the CIA would trip over themselves.
I'm not going to draw picture, but the facts on the ground in Honduras have already drawn an ugly picture of what is almost surely a coup backed by those very high in the US Government, if not the president himself. If he has no use for the coup, he could end it pronto by backing UN sanctions on this gang of thugs putting on this act of being a legitimate government and carrying out beatings, disappearances, and killings of political dissidents and the pro democracy movement in Honduras. The US president should surely do this. No veto on the UN security council need be a concern at all.
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These preview messages are really get old.
I'm not going to draw picture, but the facts on the ground in Honduras have already drawn an ugly picture of what is almost surely a coup backed by those very high in the US Government, if not the president himself. If he has no use for the coup, he could end it pronto by backing UN sanctions on this gang of thugs putting on this act of being a legitimate government and carrying out beatings, disappearances, and killings of political dissidents and the pro democracy movement in Honduras. The US president should surely do this. No veto on the UN security council need be a concern at all.
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How many preview messages is this now?
'm not going to draw picture, but the facts on the ground in Honduras have already drawn an ugly picture of what is almost surely a coup backed by those very high in the US Government, if not the president himself. If he has no use for the coup, he could end it pronto by backing UN sanctions on this gang of thugs putting on this act of being a legitimate government and carrying out beatings, disappearances, and killings of political dissidents and the pro democracy movement in Honduras. The US president should surely do this. No veto on the UN security council need be a concern at all.
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The practices engaged by the coup participants, which folowing the removal at gunpoint of President Zelaya include police violence, psychological harrasment by official forces, misrepresentation in the press etc. are the stuff not of democracies but of client states utterly dependent on outside powers both economic and political.
In other words, it is a blantant attempt to silence dissent, absolutely essential to democracy in favor not only of generating chaos, but a form of chaos designed to beget further chaos. An attempt to keep a people off balance in order to impose unwanted powers.
The response of the Honduran people to resist through continuing to live, continuing communications and public demonstration also include living lives on a daily basis. Working, going to school, and the innumerable activities of daily life. This should never be forgotten.