The Parable of the Honduran Congresswoman and the Gringa Blogger

I am appalled and embarssed by La Gringa's comments. She sound's like Sarah Palin or worse! Not all Gringa's think this way. I hope people stop reading her blog and her nonsense.

This woman is a complete idiot. And I agree, she does sound like Sarah Palin.

In the section "about me" she does us the wonderful favor of listing her favorite movies. It tells us a lot about her character. She likes romantic epics in which a female heroine with a victim complex experiences an abundance of ego-indulging validation and gratification (4 out of 5 of the films.) Two of the five films are epics that take place in historical settings which are distorted or oversimplified by the screenwriters. Kind of sums up her current existential situation. She also reminds me of the digital douchebag "Mark In Mexico" who spewed similar garbage during the peaceful peoples' uprising in Oaxaca three years ago. These kinds of bloggers provide online evidence detailing the pathetic archetype that they embody: Gringos who come to Latin America with a forntier mentality, setting up walled compounds of privileged space in "hostile"territory to engage in activities that make THEM happy, enabled by assymetric political and economic conditions outside their gates that make life miserable for the majority of their neighbors. Compañeros Hondureños: Might I humbly suggest that one of the articles of the new Honduran constitution that will be written very soon include a proviso for expropriating La Gringa's house and turning it into a community garden and cultural center?

"expropriating La Gringa's house and turning it into a community garden and cultural center?"

Hey, that sound like a great idea ! plus , deporting that fool will be sweet too...

First of all she is my friend and second of all you know nothing about her. I guess it is more than clear that you do not live in Honduras or you would know her house is not much different than most homes in a middle class neighborhood and that Silvia Ayala has been receiving donations from FARC and throwing rocks, hitting passerbys with sticks and so forth. Of course your name is NARCOSPHERE so you think it is ok to be a drug trafficker and receive money from narcoterrorist groups. Oh and they can´t deport her it is against the constitution because like me she is married to a Honduran and expropriation of property except for drug trafficking is ILLEGAL. So BITE US...that comes from a group of more 15,000 Americans living in Honduras that think you are fruit loops if you support Ayala. I hope you know that she can also make a legal complaint against you for threatening her on the internet and they can shut down your website. It is illegal to threaten someone in Honduras.

To "First of all she is my friend and second of all you know nothing about her."

Hello summermoondancer. Always up LG' ass with your comments and then your threats to shut down websites.

Dear "LaGringaSPS",

I am the publisher of this newspaper. My name is Al Giordano and my email is narconews@gmail.com I welcome you or the other "La Gringa" or any one else in your franchise to file any legal complaint you wish.

As the New York Supreme Court already ruled on December 5, 2001:

"Narco News, its website, and the writers who post information, are entitled to all the First Amendment protections accorded a newspaper-magazine or journalist... Furthermore, the nature of the articles printed on the website and Mr. Giordano's statements at Columbia University constitute matters of public concern because the information disseminated relates to the drug trade and its affect on people living in this hemisphere..."

That legal ruling - the one that established the first-ever legal precedent protecting Internet journalists in the United States - is now part of the law school textbooks. It was a case titled "Banco Nacional de Mexico vs. Mario Menendez Rodriguez, Al Giordano and Narco News."

The court threw out Banamex's lawsuit - alleging that our evidence that its owner was a narco-trafficker and money launderer was somehow defamatory - because it reviewed the facts and "the nature of the articles." No other newspaper on earth has received such a clean bill of health in court regarding its coverage of the drug trade.

Far from your deluded fantasy that because this newspaper is named Narco News and has more than 400 co-publishers that post to its NarcoSphere that we somehow "think it is ok to be a drug trafficker and receive money from narcoterrorist groups," this newspaper has done more to expose the top drug traffickers and terrorists in this hemisphere than any other, and as the Judge noted, we're well known and respected for it.

Still, I would be honored if you or the other "Gringa" or any of the other 15,000 you claim to speak for (who somehow feel it would be less of a crime for me to bite you, each and every one, than, say, throw a stick at you) would please step forward in a court of law a nd offer your legal analysis to it. You'd have to, of course, identify yourselves (see US Constitution: right to face one's accuser in a court of law), which would be half the fun! Of course, establishing that an illegitimate coup regime in Honduras, not recognized by the United Nations, the OAS or Washington, would have any jurisdiction or standing over a website computer in the United States or any other country would be a kind of fun exercise to watch, too (see: Hague Convention rules for service of process).

And then you'd have to make an argument more convincing than "the coup is not a coup" and other legaloide whining that has marked a certain snotty sector of the US expat community in Honduras, of which you and your friend seem like perfectly useful poster gals for our purposes. It's been eight years since we had a decent lawsuit served upon us, and I kinda miss the adrenaline rush of it all. Banamex was a pretty lame - if billionaire - plaintiff, but I bet you gals could embarrass yourselves even worse in a court of law, where facts really do matter over your expat brain-addled penchants for claiming that unsupported gossip is nonetheless fact.

More obvious: You're upset about journalist Belén Fernández's story not because you think it's "WRONG" but, rather, because it hurts because it is so accurate and sharply reported. (And interesting how much more credibly readers take a writer with the courage to use her own first and last name than anonymous libel-enthusiasts that accuse a public official and pro-democracy mom - elected by far more people than all you crazy golpista ex-pats put together! - of being a "terrorist" supported by South American rebels.)

Anyway, say hi to the coup-mongering expats from El Porvenir to Sambo Creek for us, take two aspirin when the cocktails wear off, and have your lawyer call my lawyer in the morning. I would love nothing more than to see you and anyone else you can rustle up across the aisle of the courtroom. It would truly be fun to turn the legal tables again and call the case "Ugly Americans on Trial." It would help clear the names of the good ones who you claim to speak for, but who see things a lot more accurately than you or your friend do.

Al Giordano

Publisher

Narco News

LAGringaSPS writes that her friend's home is much like that of other "middle class homes." I say "bull#$@%!" First of all, the middle class is so damn small in Honduras, that few can even get to such a point. Second of all, the pictures show an UPPER middle class home. Compare that to the simple home of Mel Zelaya. La Gringa's home is definitely on the upper crust. So how should I know? I've lived as an ex-pat in several Latin nations, and my home, although middle class, is not even a 1/8th as nice. What a crock! You and your golpista gringa friend make me ashamed to be an "ex-pat." You have no understanding of culture nor really give a damn about the fight against the oligarchy that has screwed so many. Hasta la victoria siempre!

A reader has asked for a link to the Gallup poll (the only publicly available survey of Honduran public opinion after the coup d'etat). Here it is:

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — More results from a Gallup survey in Honduras were published Wednesday, showing ousted President Manuel Zelaya remains more popular than his interim replacement Roberto Micheletti.

 

The nationwide survey — which was done after Zelaya was sent into forced exile in a military coup — shows Zelaya with 46 percent favorable opinion and 44 unfavorable, compared to 30 favorable and 49 unfavorable for Micheletti.

Earlier findings from the same poll were released to The Associated Press by Gallup after La Prensa, a leading Honduran newspaper, published some of the results on Thursday. They showed that 46 percent of Hondurans opposed Zelaya’s removal, 41 percent approved of it and 13 percent were unsure or declined to answer...

It should be noted that the survey was taken in the very days when all media critical of the coup - Radio Globo, Radio Progreso and Channel 36 - had been forced off the air at gunpoint by military coup soldiers, when cable companies had already cut TeleSur and even CNN from their programming, and the Honduran populace was subjected to a monopoly of pro-coup propaganda across the airwaves... and still, even under those circumstances, they couldn't find more than 30 percent that favored Micheletti.

Of course, we've offered that link a dozen times before. Smart and educated readers have been aware of the facts therein all along. It seems that only the screeching extremists of ex-pat coup-mongering continue to cover their eyes and ears while they make whacky claims to represent a Honduran people that - the data shows - does not favor the coup or its imposed "president."

 

From her last post.

"I write this not as a Republican, because I am not, nor as a Democrat, because I am not. I write this as a US citizen who is a long time resident of Honduras married to a Honduran, who knows the pressures that the US has put on individuals, and who is greatly ashamed of the unfair US actions against Honduras, its people, and its democracy." (ok, then, a US citizen who doesn't probably doesn't vote or otherwise participate in US democracy wants to have a credible voice in debates on Honduran democracy?)

It seems the US ex-pat community is big in Honduras and very pro-coup. I know they have ties built with US-based politicians (DeMint, and the Cubans in miami) and of course, Fox News. One of their big movers Mitch Cummins, who lives on the island of Roatán, just met with Micheletti when Fox News recently arrived to interview him.