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.

"The only president the United States recognizes is President Manuel Zelaya."

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton condemned the coup in Honduras in the following statement:

The action taken against Honduran President Mel Zelaya violates the precepts of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, and thus should be condemned by all. We call on all parties in Honduras to respect the constitutional order and the rule of law, to reaffirm their democratic vocation, and to commit themselves to resolve political disputes peacefully and through dialogue. Honduras must embrace the very principles of democracy we reaffirmed at the OAS meeting it hosted less than one month ago.

US Ambassador to Honduras Hugo Llorens said in a press conference from the US Embassy today, "The only president the United States recognizes is President Manuel Zelaya."

Lloren's statement is particularly significant because it means that the US refuses to recognize the man Congress has sworn in as Honduras' interim president, Roberto Micheletti.  Micheletti was the President of Congress before being sworn in as interim President.

School of the Americas-Trained Military Detains and Expels Democratically-Elected President Zelaya

Early this morning approximately 200 Honduran soldiers arrived at President Manuel "Mel" Zelaya's residence, reportedly fired four shots, and detained the President.  Zelaya told TeleSUR that the soldiers took him to an air force base and put him on a plane to Costa Rica.  

Zelaya told TeleSUR from San Jose, Costa Rica, "They threatened to shoot me."  Honduras' ambassador to the Organization of American States, Carlos Sosa Coello, reports that the president has been beaten up.

A "Tense Calm" Settles Over the Country Amidst Media Spin Campaigns and Threats to Imprison Voters and Poll Workers

The situation in Honduras was tense but calm today as citizens prepared to vote in a national public opinion poll that will ask them if they wish to include a referendum on a new Constitutional Convention in the country's November elections.  The tension is exacerbated by the partisan Honduran media, which, with few exceptions, has mounted a confusion and spin campaign against President Manuel "Mel" Zelaya.

Civil society organizations and UN General Assembly President Miguel D’Escoto have warned of a possible coup attempt by the Honduran military. D'Escoto's spokesperson said that the Assembly President “clearly and strongly condemns the attempted coup d’etat that is currently unfolding against the democratically elected Government of President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras.” Fears of a coup stem from a military deployment around the Presidential Palace and the Toncontín airport on Thursday.

US Government Trained the Police Department that Participated in the Operation and Invested "Heavily" in the Killer Helicopters

On June 5, the Peruvian National Police (PNP) massacred up to fifty unarmed Awajún and Wampi indigenous people in Bagua who had blockaded roads in protest of land reforms related to a recently implemented US-Peru free trade agreement. Witnesses report that the PNP shot live ammunition from the ground, rooftops, and police helicopters.  Anywhere between 61-400 people are reported missing following the attack.

Narco News has discovered that US drug war money is all over the massacre.  The US government has not only spent the past two decades funding the helicopters used in the massacre, it also trained the PNP in "riot control."

Subcomandante Marcos' 2006 Visit to Imprisoned Loxichas Inspired a New Movement; One Prisoner is Already Free

On February 9, 2006, Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos entered Oaxaca's Santa María Ixcotel jail to visit indigenous political prisoners from the state's Loxicha region.  When he left the prison, he called upon Other Campaign adherents in Oaxaca to launch a national campaign to demand freedom for the political prisoners.

That national campaign never happened.

However, a Oaxacan group called the Zapatista Collective stepped up.  As adherents to the Other Campaign, they took Marcos' words to heart and made political prisoner accompaniment a central focus of their organization's work.  Soon after Marcos' prison visit, the collective approached one of the Loxicha political prisoners, a woman named Isabel Almaraz, and asked her how they could help her fight for her freedom.  They worked with her for over two years, with her fighting from within the prison walls and the Zapatista Collective fighting from outside.  On July 17, 2008, Almaraz won her freedom.

Mexican Government Used the Drug War to Raid a Rebelious Poor Neighborhood's Radio; Radio Magnates Rejoice

This past March 12, Monterrey community leader Dr. Hector Camero arrived at the Mexican Federal Attorney General's Office (PGR) to provide witness testimony regarding a June 2008 raid on his organization's radio station, Radio Tierra y Libertad.  When he arrived, government officials informed him that he was no longer considered a witness in the case; he was the main suspect, accused of "use of national assets without prior permission."

Within the next few days, the government is expected to issue a federal warrant for Camero's arrest because the Federal Prosecutor's Office has announced that it has enough evidence to charge him.  Camero faces 2-12 years in prison and up to MX$500,000 (USD$37,920) in fines.

All Eyes on Conference Committee to Resolve $404 Million Difference Between Senate and House Versions of New Plan Mexico Funding

The Senate Appropriations Committee has released the proposed 2009 Supplemental for Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Pandemic Flu, which includes more funding for the Merida Initiative, also known as Plan Mexico, in 2009.  The proposed new funding would be in addition to the $410 million in fiscal year 2009 funding that Congress approved for the Merida Initiative in February as part of the Omnibus spending bill.  The additional funding comes at the request of President Barack Obama, who included three Black Hawk helicopters at a total value of $66 million in his 2009 supplemental funding request (PDF file).

There are several significant differences between the version of new funding for Mexico's drug war passed in the House on Thursday and the version that the Senate will consider this week.  The House version appropriates $470 million in additional funding for Mexico's drug war, which is $404 million above the request President Obama submitted to Congress.  At least 80% of the House funds are for aircraft that can be armed, such as Black Hawk helicopters and CASA 235 planes.  The House version also includes "non-intrusive inspection equipment" such as wiretapping equipment.  The version the Senate will consider only includes $66 million for the three Black Hawks President Obama requested.

• When they gave their statements they said they were tortured by plainclothes police
• They oppose neo-liberal projects that try to turn their lands into a new Cancun

by Hermann Bellinghausen, La Jornada
Translated by Kristin Bricker

El Amate, Chiapas.  May 6 - "I have been detained because I belong to the Zapatista Army of National Liberation" (EZLN), Miguel Vazquez Moreno declared today when he gave his testimony in the second criminal court in the State Center for Social Rehabilitation of Convicts (CERSS in its Spanish initials) number 14, El Amate, where none of the officials and employees, of course, are wearing face masks.  Nor do they seem aware that there is a national and state health emergency.