Honduras Coup Chooses Path of Rogue Narco-State
By Al Giordano
This photo of Honduran coup “president” Roberto Micheletti rallying his supporters, above, from yesterday’s New York Times includes a creative act of protest against it. In the lower left hand corner of the photo, there are two placards in the crowd that are not in Spanish, but in German: "Ein Reich, Ein Volk, Ein Stimme" and "Arbeit Macht Uns Frei".
Field Hand DK points out in the comments section: “The first was a prominent Nazi slogan (one Reich, one people, one voice); the second (work makes us free) was inscribed at the entrance to the Auschwitz concentration camp.”
(Note: Not being a German-speaker, I can't confirm the commenter's translation, but another Field Hand, Lucidamente, now offers an alternative translation in the comments section that is similar but not an exact match with this one.)
Which only goes to prove that employers can force their workers to attend a pro-coup rally but they can’t control what signs they hold.
Now, on to today’s significant news out of Honduras:
Last night, around 10 p.m. Tegucigalpa time, CNN Español interrupted its sports news programming for a live press conference announcement ("no questions, please") by coup “president” Micheletti.
There, he announced that his coup “government” of Honduras is withdrawing from the Democratic Charter of the Organization of American States (OAS). The Friday night press conference was meant to preempt this morning’s OAS meeting in Washington (at which various heads of state, including Presidents Cristina Kirchner of Argentina and Rafael Correa of Ecuador deemed important enough to attend) where the OAS will surely expel the Honduras coup regime for its flagrant violations of said Democratic Charter. Thus, the late Friday night press conference to say “You can’t fire us! We quit!”
The Honduras coup’s behavior virtually assures that come Monday, the US government will define it as a “military coup,” triggering a cut off of US aid, joining the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, PetroCaribe, the UN and the rest of the world in withdrawing economic support for the coup regime. (The US had already put all funds on "pause" this week, so the boycott has already begun and merely awaits formal moves to become permanent.)
This is very significant because of Honduras’ annual $3.5 billion budget, $2.3 billion – 65 percent - comes from those foreign sources.
This seemingly suicidal maneuver by the coup government can be partially explained by what I described yesterday as the “shared hallucinatio n” of those in the Honduras oligarchy’s ten owning families and those elites in their orbit.
But something else is at work: Greedy people don’t just cast away 65 percent of their national budget unless they believe they can get it from other sources.
One of the big backers of the coup d’etat has been an international terrorist network of ex-Cubans, who have financed the dirty work of jet plane bomber Luis Posada Carriles over the years and have set up business interests in Honduras. These forces are desperate now that Washington is making the moves to ease and end the embargo of Cuba. Investigative journalist Guy Jean-Allard reports, via TeleSur, that Ralph Nodarse – ex-Cuban owner of Channel 6 in San Pedro Sula, Honduras – and arms-and-drug trafficker Rafael Hernández Nodarse are knee deep behind he coup-plotters in Honduras. The latter aided and abetted Posada Carriles to hide out in Panama in 2004.
There was likewise a strong nexus between the Honduras government and military and the 1980s Iran-Contra drugs-for-arms-for-Nicaraguan-paramilitaries scandal, where much of the illegal covert US cocaine smuggling operation was headquartered during the Reagan and Bush Senior presidencies.
The government of Venezuela has accused that former State Department official and anti-Castro ex-Cuban Otto Reich is involved with the current coup regime in Honduras. Reich, at State during the 2002 coup in Venezuela, was the US official that called ambassadors from throughout Latin America into his office when the coup was taking place to instruct them that the US supported the coup and expected the same from them (that move backfired when Latin American nations delivered the first-ever rebuke to the US via the OAS). He was also at State in the mid-1980s heading up Latin American operations and has been strongly linked to the cocaine-smuggling activities then.
Those who think that when the US cuts off funds, as it will surely do in the coming days, that the sanctions will starve the Honduran coup regime into surrender, are forgetting that in this asymmetrical world there are non-government entities – which is to say, organized crime, terrorist, and narco-trafficking organizations – that seek a safe haven in Central America, so important in the route between the South American coca plant and the noses of North America.
The historic overlap between the ex-Cuban terrorist networks and cocaine trafficking is well documented.
Last night, “president” Micheletti made it clear that his regime seeks to run a rogue state, unbeholden to the Democratic Charter of the OAS or international law. He is thus setting up an oasis that will prove irresistible to large narco-trafficking organizations as a protected base of operations, from whom he will extract the funding to make up the significant $2.3 billion shortfall caused by economic sanctions against his coup regime, plus additional “tips” to line the pockets of all who share in his power structure.
This opens up a new chapter not only in Latin American governmental history, but also in the drug war. It was clear that when Plan Mexico began its assault along the US-Mexico border that certain trafficking organizations would simply move to other geographic spaces through which to operate (and thus all the carnage and depravation of human rights cause by Plan Mexico would end up having zero impact stemming the flow of cocaine). The only question - to where? - has now been answered.
Now enters the Honduras coup "government" in its bid to become the cocaine trafficking capital of the hemisphere, the new gangster regime.
Update: This AP report sheds some light on the honesty or dishonesty of coup "president" Micheletti:
Micheletti's government is so eager to find a friend that it announced it had been recognized by Israel and Italy — surprising the governments of those countries. Italy withdrew its ambassador to protest the coup, and Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said: "All rumors about Israeli recognition of the new president are wholly unfounded."
And contrary to Micheletti's assertion, Interpol on Friday released a statement saying it had not received any request to issue an arrest warrant for Zelaya.
In other words, he's just making it up as he goes along, apparently unaware that in a world of globalized communications such false claims can be shot down rather quickly. Maybe he was too hasty in blocking Internet access in his own land?
Update II: President Manuel Zelaya just broadcast an audio message to the people of Honduras, aired on Telesur, confirming that he returns tomorrow, Sunday, to his country, and urging the people to go to the international airport in Tegucigalpa to join him in his return (you can watch Telesur's livestream at this link, which has been showing frequent images of the massive marches from distinct points heading toward the airport already). Zelaya also stressed his appeal that the people arrive unarmed and subscribe to "nonviolence," even if coup forces turn violent against them.
Update III: Telesur reports at 12:40 (hour Tegucigalpa) that the mass peaceful march against the coup is now just one kilometer from the airport, its destination.
Update IV: Brazil Press Agency (Agência Brasil) estimates the crowd size of the anti-coup march to be "close to 50,000," and it's still a day before its culmination tomorrow. The television images certainly suggest a crowd of at least that size, too.
The coup regime already has a new problem: whether try to enforce its "curfew" (suspension of constitutional rights) tonight as such a large group of citizens remains surrounding the airport in anticipation of the return of their president. (The Coup "Congress" just extended the state of siege a second time, now through Tuesday morning.)
Update V: Here's a BBC photo of just one of the multitudinous marches arriving and surrounding the international airport in support and defense of President Zelaya's return tomorrow:
(As the umbrellas indicate, they're arriving under some rain.)
Update VI: I've just filed a new report for Narco News:
Honduras Coup General Was Charged in 1993 Auto Theft Ring
Everyone knows he's a thug. Now they know he's a two-bit crook, too.
Update VII: Radio Globo (broadcasting from clandestinity after coup soldiers invaded and destroyed their broadcasting equipment) reports that there are now 200,000 Honduran citizens surrounding the Toncontin International Airport in Tegucigalpa in protest against the coup and awaiting the arrival of their president. This, in spite of a massive military and police operation to block citizens on all roads leading to Tegucigalpa from throughout the country.
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Batshit crazy
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by Antony SchofieldThat these freaks really think they can pull this off beggars belief.
Art that has to be in a gallery to be art isn't art.
Can't even get their Nazi sloganeering right (or is it a joke)
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by Lucidamente (not verified)The geniuses with the signs in German can't even get the Nazi slogans right: the first says "Die Wahrheit macht uns frei" ("The truth sets us free"); the second says "Ein Land, ein Volk, ein [recte "eine"] Stimme, Frieden" ("A land, a people, a voice, Peace").
Unless they've infiltrated their way in as part of a send-up?
the gang that couldn't read or write German straight
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by FreddyMoraca (not verified)Ahem, neither the Kos reader, nor one of the Honduran writers, of the German signs in the photo has a good command of that language.
correction #1: one of the signs reads "Die Wahrheit Macht Uns Frei" which is not quite Auschwitz, contra the Kossack's jumped conclusion. It means "The Truth Sets Us Free". Which of course is not to say whose Truth is whose, nor does it prove the absence of neo-Nazis in the menagerie of Honduran rightists. (Negroponte and North would know more about that.)
correction #2: also notable is the ungrammaticality of the other sign, which if written by a fluent German speaker would read "...ein-e Stimme" (the noun for 'voice' being of the feminine gender), therefore it makes me wonder who the hell actually wrote those signs and what brand of lager they were drinking at the time.
I wonder if the slogans were serious
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by Ann CantelowWe've seen wild racist slogans displayed at right-wing events in this country. I wonder if those German slogans were produced in the same spirit- just speculating.
Thanks for the German corrections
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by Al GiordanoFreddy and Lucidamente - It's not among my languages, so I very much appreciate the clarifications.
I'm not convinced that the
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by Matthew DubuqueI'm not convinced that the World Bank has ACTUALLY cut off aid to Honduras. The Financial Times usually has a very accurate depiction of the internal workings of that organization. The FT quoted coup finance minister Nunez Thursday:
"... Honduras had not been officially notified by the World Bank about its decision to “pause” payments. “So far, the transactions have carried on as normal. They have not been paralysed,” she said.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/79420a6e-672a-11de-925f-00144feabdc0.html
And because there is no hard proof that the World Bank has ACTUALLY cut off credits, we need to be competently skeptical as to whether other multilateral organizations are cutting off aid as well.
To this long-standing member of the Narcosphere, it looks the fascists in Honduras are planning to stay patient, playing the pseudo-nationalist card until their rigged elections in November of this year, where, of course, THEY will be in charge of counting the votes.
After this "legitimate" election Obama will concede that indeed the Honduran people have "spoken" and will gradually be pleased to do business with the cocaine barons in charge of Honduras.
Our biggest ally in this struggle is relentless self-criticism. I think we should carefully analyze the wisdom of the "patient" approach we have taken in dealing with this crime.
Our fear of "polarizing" the situation has given the other side time to consolidate their gains. Recall that the situation after the coup against Chavez became EXTREMELY polarized within 48 hours as hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans (thousands of them carrying weapons) took to the streets.
Indeed Chavez recited a story shortly after the failed coup against him that President Castro had told him that if the Chilean people had been armed, the coup against Allende would have failed.
Chavez credited Castro's wise words in this regard for his decision to arm the Venezuelan people against a possible putsch. That "polarizing" approach decisively stopped that coup, not blogs and Twitters.
A steady stream of "pro-democracy" fax machines from Hong Kong into mainland China failed to stop the massacre at Tiananmen Square. To think that Twitters and blogs would stop this Honduran coup is similarly false. We need to re-examine our basic assumptions that led to this catastrophic failure. Only then can we EFFECTIVELY plan the long march back.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/79420a6e-672a-11de-925f-00144feabdc0.html
@Matthew
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by Sophie Amrain (not verified)Why do you take coup finance minister Nunez words at face value?
It would serve the interests of the putschists to make us believe that the World Bank is not really against them.
Honduras Resists
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by Antony SchofieldStatements and actions by the people of Honduras, in English and in Spanish, against the coup.
http://hondurasresists.blogspot.com/
Art that has to be in a gallery to be art isn't art.
About those supposed diplomatic "recognitions"
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by Lucidamente (not verified)Maybe Micheletti just likes countries that begin with "I"
Sophie
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by Matthew DubuqueSophie, PLEASE read carefully. I said I wasn't CONVINCED. It's in doubt. The FT, far more meticulous than any stateside paper I know, has a policy of rigourous fact checking.
Besides, countries can exist for generations WITHOUT the help of multilateral organizations, as Cuba has decisively shown. And those closely married to multilateral austerity regimes, such as Haiti and Argentina, can be subject to abject failures.
Keep focused on my main point. As President Castro pointed out to Chavez, the populace needs to be armed with weapons to successfully fend off a coup.
This is why Mossadeq and Allende went down, according to Castro, because the populations were unarmed. This is why, according to Chavez and Castro both, the putsch against Chavez FAILED; because THOUSANDS of people flooded on to the streets with guns throughout Venezuela immediately after the coup.
Keep in mind Tiananmen Square. The gibberish in the corporate media at the time was the the regime of Li Peng would surely fall from all the pro-democracy faxes flooding the country from Macao and Hong Kong.
Zhao Zhiyang told Li Peng and Deng Xiao Peng that he had the people of China behind him. They both LAUGHED and asked him how many armies supported him. Who was victorious in that struggle, Li Peng or Zhao Zhiyang?
Stay focused on the lessons here. RELENTLESS self-criticism is our chief ally. To think that blogs and twitters are sufficient to overturn these cocaine barons seems to this long-time Narcosphere contributor to be naive in the extreme.
Semi-Lawless State or Neo-Havana 1940s' Style?
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by Homing Pigeon (not verified)Assuming the coup government survives, what are the chances of Honduras becoming a Batista style Cuba with famous Mafia people around world investing in the nation. While also turning to an open-city style economy with money laundering, arms dealings, casinos, big hotels, prostitution and drugs, similar in some ways to Havana in the 40s' and 50s', or do you believe it will resemble more of a violent, out-law, wild west state of semi-controlled anarchy?
Nazi-Slogans? I don't think so
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by Sebastian (not verified)Guys, cool down. While it is hilarious to see German signs in Honduras, the slogans are nowhere Nazi.
(And being born in Austria, Hitler's birth country, and having had years of discussions about Naziism and Nationalism in school, I believe to have accumulated a little bit of knowledge about that particular matter.)
"Die Wahrheit macht uns frei" is a bible verse. John 8:2 if I remember that correctly. Has nothing to do with the Auschwitz gate sign. It was also used throughout German history during revolts and revolutions against oppression.
The Nazis had the slogan "Ein Volk, ein Land, ein Fuehrer!" = "One people, one country, one (supreme) leader!". The slogan on that sign in Honduras is completely different and does not even come close. If I would be pressed to put it in some historical context I would put it in either post-Napoleonic Germany (formation of the nation) or the 90ies during the revolution in East Germany.
This is a tempest in a tea cup.
Matt, I am certain that you
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by Martin Drake (not verified)Orwell, Satire and Beer
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by Daniel Uselmann (not verified)Hola Companeros,
By my reading of the German placards and looking at the whole picture, it's quite possible that the German placards were the product of deep satire, beer and an Orwellian sense of irony. There almost seems a morbid humor to them, a contadiction of terms as in "military intelligence." The statements on the placards do not seem to be endorsing Nazi ideology and in fact, seem to contradict the fascist coup leaders propaganda, mocking them in a sense. The more chilling aspects unfolding in Honduras, as this article points out, now seem to be 1- the apparent continuing involvement of the World Bank, IMF and others absent concrete and verifiable proof that they have indeed cut off the flow of funds to the fascist coup leaders and 2- the narco mafia and the US supported Cuban rightwing terrorists moving operations to Honduras. These are more of a threat to the people and democracy of Honduras than the coup leaders are. Also, I strongly agree with not holding back. When forces for democracy hold back, they get massacred by the forces of repression. Whether it is in rhetoric, open rebellion or defense of democracy by arms if necessary, holding back only encourages the fascists and makes reclaiming democracy much more difficult. At least the conflict is out and in the open in Honduras. Here in the USSA the fascist clampdown is on and nobody is saying a word...
La lucha continua,
Daniel Uselmann
Martin-
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by Matthew DubuqueYour views about Obama being on the side of "human liberation" would be FAR more persuasive if Obama had the courage to renounce the genocidal Monroe Doctrine, used to justify the killing of millions of Latin Americans over the last two centuries.
It is a feather in the cap of these coup plotters to be seen as anti-American. This is why they (to the surprise of the Twitter crowd) RENOUNCED the OAS charter.
I doubt very much Obama will have the courage required to renounce the Monroe Doctrine on Tuesday.
If he did have such courage, it would take much of the wind out of the sails of the fascist cocaine barons, who are masquerading as pseudo populists by opposing BOTH Chavez and the Americans.
Relentless, unceasing self-criticism is our chief ally. We need to examine this failure closely and learn from it, just as we learned from the coups against Mossadeq, Allende, Arbenz, Aristide and countless others.
"US supported Cuban right wing terrorists"
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by Al GiordanoDaniel - That support ended on April 11, when the US indicted their terrorist Posada Carilles.
One has to be precise with claims. It would be akin to taking the actions of Pedro Carmona and Carlos Ortega and calling them "Venezuela supported."
The right-wing Cubans are in the opposition now in the United States, and livid with Obama for easing the embargo, for the US vote to end OAS's banishment of Cuba, for reestablishing diplomatic relations with Venezuela (the ambassadors returned just last week) and, now, for not recognizing the coup government in Honduras.
It's just plain sloppy to use terms like "US supported" for extremists that are not only not supported any more, but are members of the opposition to the US government now, too.
@ Matthew
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by Al GiordanoMatthew - You've made your point several times now about your call on the US administration to "renounce the Monroe Doctrine." It's getting quite repetitive.
And I don't think renunciations of "doctrines" speaks as loudly as actions. It's far more important that the US take the action of defining Honduras as a "military coup" (I expect that to happen early this week) in order to trigger the cut-off of aid.
Renouncing a doctrine is not an action. It's just words. My priority is always with action over how action or inaction are spun with definitions that 90 percent of the American people have no idea what they mean anyway.
CIA slogan
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by Snu (not verified)"Die Wahrheit macht uns frei" is also the motto of the CIA: "And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free."
sources for tracking actions of US Government
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by Craig BrozefskyCould Al, or other experienced journalists, provide us with some leads on which sources we should be looking at to track the *actions* of our government? Are military newspapers/websites effective? How should one critically approach them?
I am starting to collect some of my own resources for this, but I realize that Field hands, NarcoNews, and the F4AJ prolly have alot of collective experience in these matters.
Thank you for the great reporting so far.
Uhm . . .
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by Roy Martin"Die Wahrheit macht uns frei" is also the motto of the CIA: "And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free."
The CIA? Seriously? Because we all know the CIA is all about truth and freedom. Talk about empty words! Perhaps the CIA would care to renounce the Monroe Doctrine.
Thanks Al
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by Matthew DubuqueThanks for the pointer Al-
I'm glad that Zelaya is safe. There have been quite a number of great Presidents of the Global South who have been forced to spend time in prison by tyrants; in recent history the names of Gandhi, Castro, Chavez and Mandela all come to mind.
If Zelaya is imprisoned, this is by no means the end of the struggle. Mario Mencia's incredible book The Fertile Prison sets forth in remarkable detail how Fidel Castro managed to continue organizing (and micromanaging!) the Cuban liberation struggle after being placed in solitary confinement in 1953 for his role in the armed uprising at the Moncada Barracks.
Quite a remarkable tale. It's one thing to organize a successful revolution; quite another to do it while in solitary confinement (with the aid of invisible ink "baseballs" and more)!
It's a great read at:
http://tinyurl.com/n7n6kf
In solidarity,
Matt Dubuque
satellite pictures possible?
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by Sophie Amrain (not verified)Hi Al,
do you see any possibility that one could get Google to point one of their mapping satellites to the international airport in Tegucigalpa for tomorrow?
They did help with the Farsi translations, after all.
Google Earth
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by Al GiordanoSophie - I just checked the Google Earth image of Toncontin International Airport in Tegucigalpa, and it hasn't been updated since November of 2006!
US SPY Satellites on Tegucigalpa
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by Matthew DubuquePresident Obama stated to Iran recently that "The whole world is watching".
I recall very well when opposition leader Benigno Aquino returned to the Phillipines to a tumultous welcome in the final days of the Marcos regime. He was there to lead a nonviolent opposition to Marcos, the stooge of the IMF and the US at the time.
The henchmen of Marcos shot him dead on the airport tarmac.
We have spy satellites with real time video capability that can easily read license plates from space.
The US has sufficient time to position one of these over the Tegucigalpa airport to monitor any "rogue elements" of the regime who might plan to operate with similar evil intent.
Publicly Obama should state that our satellites will be watching. Every one knows we have this capability.
Great leaders need not be cowboys or dictate to others what to do. They can lead by example.
It's time for Obama to step up to the plate. Tell everyone the whole world is watching Honduras. Promise to back it up with our no longer secret real time satellite video capability.
Spy satellite for Toncontin International Airport in Tegucigalpa
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by Sophie Amrain (not verified)OK, I left the following comment on the contact site of the Whitehouse (and felt very ridiculous while doing it:-)
----------------------------------------------------
U R G E N T
concerns: Honduras, tomorrows return of the elected President of Honduras, Zelaya, to Toncontin International Airport in Tegucigalpa
Many tens of thousands of ordinary Honduran folks are already marching towards the international airport, where Zelaya will arrive tomorrow. Foul play by the coup leaders is a very definite option. If the US government has the technical ability to monitor tomorrows events at the airport from space (satellites) it would be very much appreciated if those events could be documented. It may become very useful to refute possible lies about participation or, if things turn bad, to document brutal behavior.
Please forgive me if this is a naive suggestion, and please forward to the appropriate institutions if it is not.
Thank you,
Sophie
advice for Obama
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by JoAnn JonesWhenever I read an article or post that contains a sentence beginning "Obama should....," I am reminded of the old joke that anyone who can remain calm in the midst of confusion simply doesn't understand the situation. This is a mixed race man with the middle name "Hussein" who managed to get elected President of the United States. I suspect he can figure out the best way to handle difficult situations.
JoAnn
Update VII - 200 000 citizens surround the Airport
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by Sophie Amrain (not verified)Al wrote: Radio Globo (broadcasting from clandestinity after coup soldiers invaded and destroyed their broadcasting equipment) reports that there are now 200,000 Honduran citizens surrounding the Toncontin International Airport in Tegucigalpa.
Mindboggingly beautiful!!
Thanks for the comments
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by Martin Drake (not verified)200,000 at the airport
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by Matthew DubuqueAl- I know you are a stickler for precision, which is great.
In that spirit of excruciating attention to accuracy and detail, I wanted to mention that the La Republica link you provided stating 200,000 people were congregating at the airport also cited Adriana Sivori from TeleSur (a very reliable source) as stating "thousands" had arrived.
There may well be some variance in the crowd estimates here. My best judgment from the BBC fotos they are running is that at least 50,000 are currently there, hopefully more.
Additionally, there is still time for the crowd to swell considerably before Zelaya's actual arrival.
In solidarity,
Matt Dubuque
@ Matt
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by Laura M. PoyneerThe linked article says that "superó las doscientas mil personas" had gathered. My Spanish is not that great, but I am pretty sure that means "more than two hundred thousand people".
Laura
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by Matthew DubuqueLaura, please take the time to read my posts carefully.
I acknowledge and agree that the top part of the article states precisely this and that Al translated it correctly.
At the bottom of that very same article posted by Al, it also quotes Adriana Sivori, a very reputable reporter from Telesur, stating:
"La enviada especial de TeleSUR, Adriana Sivori, reportó poco después, desde el mismo lugar, que miles de manifestantes se han congregado en las inmediaciones del aeropuerto, cantando y portando pancartas de rechazo al golpe."
As I stated in my original post, there may be some variance in estimates of crowd size. The BBC fotos that they have posted on their website, in my view, support the view that there at least 50,000 who have gathered there.
We have lots of time for the crowd to become much larger. I share your hope that it is overwhelming in scope and impossible to ignore.
But if one reputable source says over 200,000 people have gathered and another reputable source says "thousands" have gathered and the fotos show at least 50,000 gathering, then my viewpoint that there may be some variance in crowd estimates is a competent one and I make it in the spirit of relentless insistence on accuracy and precision that Al has so faithfully adhered to in his reporting.
He has few, if any, peers in this regard in the English language media.
En solidarity,
Matt Dubuque
Honduran Snipers Spotted at Airport
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by Matthew DubuqueTelesur has published fotos of Honduran military sharpshooters waiting for the arrival of Zelaya.
http://www.rnv.gov.ve/noticias/index.php?act=ST&f=41&t=101640
We need to move our satellites overhead immediately and inform the fascist coup leaders through back channels that we are videotaping everything from above.
At the bottom of the link there is a video of the Honduran snipers in the airport control tower.
Please send the link to as many news organizations as you can. We still have time. Let's use it wisely.
En solidaridad,
Matt Dubuque
It does sound rather reminiscent of something, eh?
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by Phoenix Woman (not verified)It certainly reveals the sign-holder's political stance, though whether it was meant to do so is another question.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%BChrer:
Nazi Germany cultivated the Führerprinzip (leader principle), and Hitler was generally known as just der Führer ("the Leader"). One of the Nazis' most-repeated political slogans was Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer — "One People, One Empire, One Leader".
Creepy warning from Nicaraguan ambassador to the OAS
Submitted on July 4th, 2009 by Betsy (not verified)From Telesur:
Moncada alertó que los golpistas que sacaron del poder al presidente constitucional Manuel Zelaya ''están planificando y organizando hacer uso de los medios de comunicación controlados por los golpistas para generar estados en la opinión pública que tiendan a culpar de antemano a los seguidores de Manuel Zelaya por los hechos sangrientos que piensan realizar''.
Link: http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/secciones/nota/53444-NN/nicaragua-advierte-en-la-oea--sobre-planes-macabros-de-golpistas-en-honduras/
Reminds me of the coup against Chavez.
About those signs
Submitted on July 5th, 2009 by dk (not verified)I was traveling across the country today and just saw this post. I appreciate those who corrected my translation. I had misread the German on one of the signs ("Arbeit" instead of "Wahrheit", no doubt thinking of the Auschwitz gate), and the other sign, it seems from Sebastian's note, isn't a Nazi slogan either, though it's deliberately suggestive of one.
Nevertheless, I don't see how the signs can be read as supportive of Micheletti and the coup. Their literal meaning is much too ambiguous for a rally such as this. I like Daniel Uselmann's description of the signs as "the product of deep satire, beer, and an Orwellian sense of irony." Their intent, I feel sure, is to mock both the rally and the regime. Three cheers for that.
Honduras Coup Chooses Path of Rogue Narco-State
Submitted on July 5th, 2009 by ona Radtke (not verified)Hi
You made a mistake by reading the German slogans on the placards.
The one you interpreted as "Work makes us free" actually reads "Truth makes us free" (Wahrheit macht uns frei). The other one youve interpreted as "one Reich, one people, one voice" actually reads "Ein Land, ein Volk, ein Stimme, Frieden" which means "One country, one people, one vote, Peace".
The first one does not have anything to do with a Nazi slogan. Youve simply read it wrong. And also the second one does not come across to me as a Nazi slogan either.
Interestingly the second one is spelled wrongly with "ein Stimme" instead of correctly eine Stimme. Which highlikely indicates that the authors are not native Germans, but maybe German schoolars. Or they missed the German spelling classes.
Interestingly there has been a German involvement in the coup (http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/fulltext/57565). Maybe the people with the placrds are connected to the Naumann Stiftung.
Ona
Diversion to A Honduran Military Base
Submitted on July 5th, 2009 by Matthew DubuqueOne scenario that seems increasingly likely is that the civilian aircraft that will bring Zelaya to the Tegucigalpa Airport will be forcibly diverted by Honduran military fighter jets to the Soto Cano military base in Honduras, away from the glare of Telesur and the television cameras.
This is where the Honduran Air Force is headquartered.
Yet another reason why the US needs to publicly state that it is moving spy satellites into position to videotape everything.
Time is running short. We need to plan for every contingency. It is obvious to this long standing contributor to the Narcosphere that diversion of Zelaya's flight is an option under active consideration by the Honduran military.
En solidarity,
Matt Dubuque
German influence
Submitted on July 5th, 2009 by Magda (not verified)Don't have anything to say about the German language placards except that it is interesting to see them. However there has been quite a bit of German influence in Honduran politics 9and other nations) through the Naumann Caucus. http://www.deeppoliticsforum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=8388&postcount=44
photo of Honduran coup “president” Roberto Micheletti
Submitted on July 6th, 2009 by Martin Regelsberger (not verified)Dear Al,
Very good reporting about the coup in Honduras. I love the Internet for such opportunities and we have to work hard not to get ripped or cheated out of them.
The two German texts on the photo with the protesters at the pro-coup rally are:
Wahrheit macht uns FREI, i.e. Truth sets us FREE.
Ein Land, ein Volk, eine Stimme FRIEDEN. One country, one people, one voice, PEACE.
While I don't think this are allusions to NAZI slogans, I guess these are nevertheless protests against the coup.
Best regards,
Martin
PS: For your information, I am Austrian and native German speaker.
re: Slogans in German in photo
Submitted on July 24th, 2009 by Matt Hohmann (not verified)Sadly, the "Die Wahrheit macht uns frei" slogan has another line below which isn't readable. But there is another possible and then indirect, transformed allusion:
John 8:31-33 Jesus then said to the Jews who had believed in him, "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." They answered him, "We are descendants of Abraham, and have never been in bondage to any one. How is it that you say, You will be made free'?"
http://bible.cc/john/8-31.htm
Have you spotted the "We shall overcome" in the top right area of the photo ending above the head of Goriletti?