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Following the money trail in the Honduran coup

Lea en Español Aquí

Going to bat for an illegal coup used to be the job of shadowy CIA operatives back in the good ol' days of the Cold War.

But that is bygone era. Today’s junta-enablers no longer have to work in secret. In fact, illegal usurpers can now shop openly in Washington for a hired gun of their choosing to grease the wheels of Congress and commerce to assure their coup d'état remains a fait accompli.

Enter Lanny Davis — a long-time friend and Yale Law School chum of Hillary Clinton and former White House Counsel to Bill Clinton [as well as a consummate shill for their agendas].

Davis also is a lawyer and lobbyist now employed by the D.C. office of global law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. In that capacity, Davis was recently retained by the Business Council of Latin America (CEAL) to hawk for the coup in Honduras — or as is the preferred description among the pushers of simulation, the administration of “de facto” Honduran President Roberto Micheletti [elected by virtue of having cast the most bullets in deposing the people’s choice in Honduras, President Manuel Zelaya).

Militarization has wasted money and failed to decrease violence

by Notimex

Today the strategy of Joint Operation Chihuahua is changing in Ciudad Juarez, where groups of soldiers who patrol the streets will stop doing so in order to devote themselves to military intelligence and policing activities.

The Chihuahua state Secretary of Public Security, Víctor Valencia de los Santos, announced that the decision was made after a meeting with federal Public Security Secretary Genaro García Luna.

He added that violent incidents with a large number of victims that have been occurring since this past June forced him to travel to Mexico City to meet with the federal secretary of Public Security.

He stated that the thousands of soldiers and municipal police have not done anything other than march through the whole city daily, and that surveillance strategy has not produced results other than "it winds up being too expensive in terms of gasoline and diesel consumption alone."

Life in Ciudad Juarez

by Marcela Turati, Proceso
translation from the original Spanish by Kristin Bricker

Ciudad Juarez is the Calderon-style laboratory for combatting criminal organizations.  Not only drug traffickers, drug dealers, and even drug addicts, but also common citizens, above all youngsters, are involuntarily subjected to an experiment: how it would be, in Mexico, to live under military control. It has produced contradictory results: the executions, common crime, and street violence are increasing.

DHS-ICE’s drunken supervisor tries to release subordinate arrested ICE agent by force from police custody

I hesitated for a while about posting some information obtained from the files of the Yuma Police Department regarding the arrest of Russell John BASH, born in 1965. However, after I reviewed the police reports several times; our United States Citizens deserve to know about the employees who represent and defend us from any national security threat. The actions committed by BASH and CREDE if evaluated by a neutral and impartial ICE’s Employment and Labor Relations and ICE lawyer, will result in some severe adverse personnel action against CREDE and to some extent BASH.

Judge revokes former DEA agent’s bond even after being made aware of prosecutorial misconduct allegations

Iran/Contra whistleblower Celerino Castillo is being sent directly to jail in the aftermath of his encounter with the buzz saw of Texas justice.

Despite being represented by an attorney, Robert E. De La Garza, who has been suspended by the State Bar of Texas for misapplying clients’ funds, the federal judge in Castillo’s case, at the urging of the government prosecutor, determined that there is no evidence of Castillo’s defense being tainted by the stink of ineffective assistance of counsel.

The fact that the same attorney’s son is facing federal gun charges, similar to those brought against Castillo, also has been deemed by the judge to be little more than an “inference” of a conflict of interest on the part Castillo’s attorney. Hence, the judge, at a hearing held Friday, July 10, 2009, in federal court in San Antonio, Texas, ruled that Castillo is not likely to succeed in the appeal of his conviction now pending before the Fifth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

He Wanted to Extend President Roberto Suazo Córdoba's Term

by TeleSUR
translated by Kristin Bricker

In the rallies that were held this Friday in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, a fact rarely discussed in national and international press--but well-known throughout the Honduran population--was made public: Roberto Micheletti's attempt to modify this Central American country's Constitution in 1985. 

Community Leader David Murillo in Jail on Years-Old Arrest Warrant for Anti-Logging Organizing

The Honduras coup government has detained Jose David Murillo Sanchez, the father of Ulises Obed Murillo, who died last Sunday at the Toncontin airport when security forces opened fire on Munuel Zelaya supporters gathered to receive the president during his attempted return to Honduras.

Honduras' National Criminal Investigation Directorate (DNIC in its Spanish initials) detained Murillo Sanchez yesterday as we was leaving the offices of the Committee of Family Members of Disappeared Detained Persons in Honduras (COFADEH).  Murillo is a lawyer for COFADEH. 

The Two Men Didn't Talk to Each Other in Costa Rica Talks

Honduran president Manuel Zelaya and de facto president Roberto Micheletti both participated in the beginning of a mediation session in Costa Rica today.  The men had separate meetings with Costa Rican president and mediator Oscar Arias where they explained their positions to him.  However, the two Honduran leaders did not sit down to talk face-to-face today.  Rather, they each left delegations empowered to continue talks.

Micheletti Blocks Zelaya Commission Members from Attending

A mediation led by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias begins today between Honduras' democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya and coup president Roberto Micheletti. 

Arias has a tough job ahead of him, as neither Zelaya nor Micheletti seem optimistic that an agreement can be reached.  Zelaya has stated that he will accept nothing less than his return to power, while Micheletti has stated that he would like the mediation to "start from the understanding that Zelaya's return is not open to negotiation." 

They Believe that the Capitalist System is the Origin of Injustice

by Hermann Bellinghausen, La Jornada
translated by Kristin Bricker

Caracol of Morelia, Chiapas, June 22.  In bringing to a close the American Meeting Against Impunity on Sunday night, the Zapatista Good Government Council (JBG in its Spanish initials) from the Tzotz Choj region argued that Plan Merida [also known as the Merida Initiative or Plan Mexico] isn't against organized crime, but rather an instrument to "jail, torture, and disappear" those who fight for their rights.

Micheletti Backed Down from Previous Statements that Zelaya's Return is "Not Negotiable"

All eyes were on Washington on Tuesday as dueling Honduran commissions vied for the international community's support.  On one side, ousted President Manuel Zelaya  met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.  On the other side, Honduran businessmen and politicians who support the coup government--but did not "officially" represent it--attempted to "clean up Honduras' image at the international level." They got nowhere.

Both Zelaya and coup-imposed President Roberto Micheletti have agreed to mediations led by Costa Rican President Óscar Arias Sánchez.  The mediation will begin on Thursday in President Arias' house in Costa Rica.  Zelaya will arrive in Costa Rica on Wednesday night, and Micheletti is scheduled to arrive on Thursday morning.  One crucial sticking point is on the table: Zelaya's return to power--something that prior to now was "not negotiable" according to Micheletti.

A few days ago I bought a copy of the Venezuelan daily, El Nacional, and asked God for forgiveness. Many years ago it was my favorite newspaper here. Now I feel I am sinning whenever I put two more bolivars into their coffers.

I wanted to see their coverage of the situation in Honduras. But what I quickly discovered on page three was their un-coverage of a woman. In a half-page ad, black and white, there was a naked woman! Don’t get excited. She wasn’t a French, Italian, or Venezuelan model. She could have been any ordinary barrio mother. Her arms covered her breasts. Her face looked sad. She almost appeared to have been beaten.

The white words that penetrated the blackness were: “The Social Property Law will take everything from you. NO to the Cuban law.” The ad was sponsored by “CEDICE.”

The Teachers Union Won't Return to Classes Until Zelaya is Back in Office; Street Protests Continue

With the death of 19-year-old Obed Murillo allegedly at the hands of Honduran security forces at Tegucigalpa airport yesterday while President Manuel Zelaya was attempting to land there, the coup government demonstrated its willingness to resort to lethal force to maintain its power. 

Likewise, the Honduran people have demonstrated their resolve to oppose the coup government, no matter the cost.  On Monday, just one day after Honduran security forces opened fire on an unarmed crowd of Zelaya supporters at the airport, resulting in one death and a still-unknown number of injuries, thousands of Zelaya supporters took to the streets for the ninth straight day, with protests reported in Tegucigalpa, San Pedro Sula, and El Progreso. 

Meanwhile, Radio America reports that schools across the country remain shuttered on Monday as part of a national strike called by the Federation of Teachers Organizations of Honduras (FOMH, the Honduran teachers union).  The strike continues despite pressures from the coup government to resume classes.  The Micheletti regime's Ministry of Education spent the weekend ordering teachers back to classes.  Teachers and their families called into Radio Progreso over the weekend decrying strong pressures from the Micheletti government to return to classes.

Yuma, AZ – The local Yuma’s DHS-ICE’s Office of Investigations need to be revamped

"Ethical Decisions: Am I acting out of anger, lust, greed or peer pressure?  Would My love ones be proud or ashemed?  Is it worth my job, career, and reputation? Is my cloice legal" - Sheriff Clarence W. Dupnik, Pima County, Arizona

In my previous postings, I identified one particular rogue Yuma, AZ group supervisor as being Jay Creed. My mistake and apology, his real and complete name is JAY ALAN CREDE. I obtained his complete name from a Yuma Police Department (YPD) case number 08-65686, involving a subordinate of CREDE, a special agent who was being groomed to become a group supervisor thanks to the “good-old boy system network” operating for years in Arizona, Texas, California, and in other parts of our great country.

The House of Death will once again be broadcast over New York City airwaves, as well as the Internet, for your listening elucidation. Mike Levine, a former DEA agent with a long-running radio show on Pacifica Radio, offers the details below.

EXPERT WITNESS RADIO SHOW

IF YOU MISSED THE SHOW LISTEN TO THE ARCHIVE: http://www.expertwitnessradio.org/archives/expertWitness-2009-07-06-hod10.mp3

Monday, 7/6/09, WBAI, New York City: 99.5 FM; beginning a 4 p.m. [Eastern]
or live on the internet at: http://www.expertwitnessradio.org

Chuck Bowden has written another piece, gut-wrentching in its honesty, accuracy, and non-partisan perspective. You see there isn't always a right or a wrong, a right or a left. There's the truth and then there are the alternatives to that truth.

Read it here:

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/07/we-bring-fear

Military Blockades Attempt to Block Zelaya Supporters from Reaching Tegucigalpa and the Airport

Yesterday President Manuel Zelaya issued a call to the people of Honduras: "Accompany me on my return to Honduras."

Honduran civil society has responded to this call.  People from all over Honduras are heading to Tegucigalpa to receive Zelaya when his plane lands at Toncontin Airport in the capital. 

By Al Giordano

General Romeo Vásquez Velásquez, who appeared on stage this week with Honduran coup “president” Roberto Michiletti, and who ordered the kidnapping and forced deportation of P resident Manuel Zelaya last Sunday, was charged with grand auto theft in 1993, Narco News has learned.

On February 2, 1993, the front page of the Tegucigalpa daily El Heraldo included this headline: “Eleven Members of the Gang of 13 Go to Prison”:

“Eleven individuals arrested for their alleged participation in the theft of 200 luxury automobiles… were sent to prison yesterday… (including) Colonel Wilfredo Leva Caborrea and Major Romeo Vásquez Velásquez, accused as alleged participants…”

(Narco News makes the document available for download by press and public here, including two interior pages of the newspaper that report on the case, each mentioning the then-major, now commander of the military coup in Honduras.)

The newspaper report further stated:

“…Major Romeo Vásquez Velásquez, connected to the theft of luxury cars in the ‘Gang of 13,’ will be imprisoned in the Central Penitentiary (PC, in its Spanish initials).”

Prior to his criminal acts, Vásquez attended the US School of the Americas in 1976 and 1984, when the school was located in Panama, but he did not graduate.

It was the same Honduran Congress that endorsed, after the fact, last Sunday’s military coup, and named Roberto Micheletti as the country's "president," that promoted this common car thief as head of the Armed Forces.

Memo to the General: Objects in the rear view mirror are closer than they appear...

Rampant Corruption at DHS and subordinate agencies: Open Letter to 44th U.S. President Barack Obama and the 111th United States Senate and United States House of Representatives.

Every DHS employee has the right to work in an environment free of corruption, misconduct or mismanagement.

It is imperative that U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman, and U.S. House of Representative Bennie G. Thompson get together with all of their Homeland Security Committee and Subcommitte members hold hearings on corruption (criminal and administrative), gross mismanagement, waste, fraud, abuse of authority by public employees of DHS who are being paid with american taxpayers' dollars. 

Despite Repression and the Suspension of Constitutional Guarantees, Hondurans Keep Fighting the Coup Government

The anti-coup movement's momentum appears to be building across Honduras, with protests reported across the country.  Meanwhile, international pressure builds against the coup government.

Over the past two days, anti-coup protests were reported in Tocoa, Colon; San Pedro Sula; La Ceiba; El Progreso, Yoro; Tegucigapla; Intibuca; El Paraiso; Santa Barbara; and all over President Zelaya's native department of Olancho.  Moreover, the BBC reports that citizens have blocked major highways in Copan and Tocoa.  The BBC's sources on the ground in Honduras say anti-coup protests have occurred in the majority of Honduras' departments.

The June 29 coup in Honduras did not surprise me.

The day before I read in the morning newspaper that General Romeo Vasquez said a coup d’état was “not certain.” He said “we (the military) are seeking the use of reason and not force in order to resolve the conflicts by dialogue.”

As soon as I saw the words, “not certain,” I said to myself immediately that it was one of the options the general was considering. I also felt he was not talking about dialogue but about a monologue that the opposition would present to President Manuel Zelaya.

Latin American Presidents, OAS Secretary General, and Citizen Caravans Will Accompany Him

Ousted Honduran President Manual Zelaya has announced that he will return to Honduras on Thursday.  "I'm going to finish my four-year term, whether or not you coup leaders are in agreement," he stated. 

Zelaya will return to Honduras accompanied by the Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS), José Miguel Insulza, and a commission of Latin American presidents.  The Argentine government has announced that its President Cristina Fernandez will accompany Zelaya to Honduras as part of the presidential commission.  In a press conference following his speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Zelaya stated that Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa will also accompany him.

Report from a contact involved in popular struggle and human rights movement in Tegucigalpa, Honduras received Monday June 29th at 11:04pm.
 
Reportaje de un contacto del movimiento civil y de derechos humanos en Tegucigalpa, Honduras el Lunes 29 de Junio recibido a las 11:04 de la noche. - Español abajo
 
Greetings,
 
 
Today has been a very tragic day for our country. The army's violent repression continues against the demonstrators protesting peacefully for the restoration of constitutional order and democracy in Honduras.

The Wall St. Journal has followed in a tradition of Amercia's mainstream news coverage of Latin American coups against leftists leaders with this opinion piece by Mary Anastasia O'Grady: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124623220955866301.html

Unless we support the Marines kicking U.S. Presidents out of the country for the crimes they see fit to enforce and appointing new Presidents, we would be patronizing to conclude that such tactics might be appropriate for Honduras.

Border Closings, Suspension of Aid, and Cutting of Diplomatic Relations Present a Non-Violent Response to a Violent Coup

Mexico and the countries of Central America have announced various political and economic sanctions against the coup government in Honduras as part of a non-violent and non-military strategy to return democratically elected President Manuel "Mel" Zelaya to power.

Member countries of the Central American Regional Integration adopted a resolution earlier today that requires taking "necessary measures in a staggered manner, including measures related to interregional commerce, against Honduras' de facto government until President Jose Manuel Zelaya is reinstated as president and institutional normalcy is reestablished."  In the first direct action against the coup government, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala will close their borders with Honduras for 48 hours.  The border closing means that all cross-border commerce will be shut down for 48 hours.

By Al Giordano

Community Radio “Es Lo de Menos” was the first to report that the Fourth Infantry Battalion has rebelled from the military coup regime in Honduras. The radio station adds that “it seems” (“al parecer,” in the original Spanish) that the Tenth Infantry Battalion has also broken from the coup.

Rafael Alegria, leader of Via Campesina, the country’s largest social organization, one that has successfully blockaded the nation’s highways before to force government concessions, tells Alba TV:

“The popular resistance is rising up throughout the country. All the highways in the country are blockaded…. The Fourth Infantry Battallion… is no longer following the orders of Roberto Micheletti.”

Angel Alvarado of Honduras’ Popular Union Bloc tells Radio Mundial:

"Two infantry battalions of the Honduran Army have risen up against the illegitimate government of Roberto Micheletti in Honduras. They are the Fourth Infantry Battalion in the city of Tela and the Tenth Infantry Battalion in La Ceiba (the second largest city in Honduras), both located in the state of Atlántida."

(You can see Tela and La Ceiba on the map, above, along the country's northern coast.)

Meanwhile, defenders of the violent coup d’Etat now have to eat the fact that their favored regime has extended its wave of terror to the press corps, censoring all independent media in the country, including CNN and Telesur. Reuters reports:

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Honduras has shut down television and radio stations since an army coup over the weekend, in a media blackout than has drawn condemnation from an international press freedom group.

Shortly after the Honduran military seized President Manuel Zelaya and flew him to Costa Rica on Sunday, soldiers stormed a popular radio station and cut off local broadcasts of international television networks CNN en Espanol and Venezuelan-based Telesur, which is sponsored by leftist governments in South America.

A pro-Zelaya channel also was shut down.

The few television and radio stations still operating on Monday played tropical music or aired soap operas and cooking shows.

At the White House this afternoon, US President Obama reiterated his government’s non-recognition of the coup regime. According to the White House pool report by David Jackson of USA Today (obtained by Narco News via email):

Obama criticized the Honduras coup as "not legal," and said it would set a "terrible precedent" for the region. "We do not want to go back to a dark past," he said. "We always want to stand with democracy."

If Rafael Alegría - a serious man who gets serious results - says that the highways of the country are successfully blockaded, I tend to believe him. He likewise is not one to spread rumors about the Fourth Infantry Battalion without having solid information.

It seemed inevitable that once the cat is got of the bag regarding the total international rejection of the coup d'etat that military divisions would revolt and point their tanks in the opposite direction: toward the coup plotters above them. We may be witnessing the beginning of the end of a short-lived coup in Honduras.

Keep refreshing the front page of Narco News for more updates, sure to shortly come.

Update: TeleSur TV is reporting that its correspondents in Honduras, as well as those of Associated Press, have been arrested by the coup regime.

Update II: Here is a fuller text of US President Obama's statement at the aforementioned press conference:

President Zelaya was democratically elected. He had not yet completed his term. We believe that the coup was not legal and that President Zelaya remains the president of Honduras, the democratically elected president there. In that, we have joined all the countries in the region, including Colombia and the Organization of American States.

 

I think it's -- it would be a terrible precedent if we start moving backwards into the era in which we are seeing military coups as a means of political transition, rather than democratic elections.

The region has made enormous progress over the last 20 years in establishing democratic traditions in Central America and Latin America.

We don't want to go back to a dark past. The United States has not always stood as it should with some of these fledgling democracies. But over the last several years, I think both Republicans and Democrats in the United States have recognized that we always want to stand with democracy, even if the results don't always mean that the leaders of those countries are favorable toward the United States. And that is a tradition that we want to continue.

So we are very clear about the fact that President Zelaya is the democratically elected president. And we will work with the regional organizations, like OAS, and with other international institutions to see if we can resolve this in a peaceful way.

(Bold text for emphasis.)

Foreign TV Channels Blocked, Violence Outside Presidential Palace

Honduras' Radio Globo reports that today Honduras' coup president Roberto Micheletti entered the Presidential Palace from which Honduras' legitimate President Manuel "Mel" Zelaya was kidnapped early yesterday morning.  Micheletti will hold a press conference from the President's office later today. 

The Informant Interviews Part III: Fast food with a side order of death and betrayal

Heriberto Santillan Tabares, a narco-trafficker connected to the Vicente Carrillo Fuentes (VCF) drug organization, was arrested in El Paso, Texas, in mid-January 2004 after being lured into the trap by a U.S. government informant.

The informant, Guillermo Ramirez Peyro, as part of the plan, is pulled over by an El Paso squad car while driving in his car on a pre-designated street. Santillan is a passenger in the vehicle, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrest Santillan.

The same day, DEA sources indicate, another of Santillan’s associates, a Mexican state police commander named Miguel Loya Gallegos (Santillan’s nephew), executes a man in a pick-up truck in Juarez, Mexico, and seriously wounds the passenger — shot in the mouth and neck. Loya also allegedly shows up at the scene of the murder to investigate the crime. Over the prior five months, at least a dozen other people had been tortured and murdered by Santillan’s VCF cell and buried in the backyard of a house in Juarez.

An unknown number of Hondurans have taken to the streets today in an effort to stop the coup that the military, in league with Congress and the Supreme Court, has carried out against democratically elected President Manuel "Mel" Zelaya.

Due to intermitant power outages and heavy rain, independent media within Honduras has had extreme difficulty transmitting news.  This means that while there's been plenty of news in the mainstream media about the actions people with a lot of political power have been taking--from Chavez and the ALBA nations to the Organization of American States to the United States--there's been very little reported about what rank-and-file Hondurans have been doing to reverse the coup.

However, it is clear that Hondurans are resisting. People are taking the streets in Honduras despite incredibly hostile conditions created by the military. Radio Es Lo De Menos reports that their colleagues on the ground have been fired at by snipers who are positioned in rooftops around the city.  They stress that the gunfire at this point has only been in the form of "warning shots" and no one has been reported injured from gunfire.

Congressman Cesar Ham is a Zelaya Ally and Organizer of the Opinion Poll on a New Constitution

Correction: News reports translated by Narco News on Monday that Honduran political leader Cesar Ham had been assassinated appear not to be accurate. This report says otherwise, that Ham is alive and well. We apologize for any confusion caused by our first report, and share in the world's relief that the reports we initially translated were inaccurate.