Newsflash: Honduras General Live on Radio Globo, Wants San José Accord Signed
By Al Giordano
Listen, here.
(10 p.m. ET, 8 p.m. in Tegucigalpa.)
It's a weird moment on the independent radio of Honduras. The radio announcer is raking coup general Romeo Vaquez Velazquez over the coals - asking about the curfew, the snipers, the loss of basic rights - and the general stays on the line denying everything but completely at the announcer's mercy.
The general keeps saying over and over again that the coup regime should sign the San José Accords - restoring President Zelaya to power but with weakened powers - and that the military will comply with them. (But neither the coup regime nor the legitimate elected government have signed said accord... the whole context of the interview is strange, as if the general is racing toward the EXIT sign in the coup building.)
And this is on the same radio station that the military shut down in the first days of the coup.
Developing...
Update 10:31 p.m. ET, 8:31 p.m. Tegucigalpa: Now doña Xiomara Zelaya, the First Lady of Honduras, is live on the radio via telephone grilling the general with the radio announcer...
10:56 p.m. ET, 8:56 p..m. Tegucigalpa:
Xiomara Zelaya (to General Vasquez): “In the first place, your troops came in shooting… second, no arrest or search warrant was presented… it was 6:15 in the morning… later you said that an arrest and search warrant had been presented, but we, as a family, know it’s not true… You violated all the rights of the President… I would like to say to the General with all due respect… what security do we have? The eyes of the people, especially those trying to get the border, want to know what is happening… We want to meet with our husband, our father, our son, who we have missed for so many days… my question is ‘what is happening? Why don’t you let us through?’ You left the family of Manuel Zelaya blocked on the highway….”
Vasquez responds by passing the buck, “The Army is only in support of the National Police,” blaming it all on the police… Offers a helicopter to transport the Zelaya family to Nicaragua… “This is not personal…”
Radio Announcer, by the name of Eduardo (to General Vasquez): “You remember that this radio was invaded by soldiers… what guarantees of safety do you have for us?”
Vasquez: “We have pain in our heart… We are ready to dialogue… And we the Honduran people can end up united….”
Xiomara: “Yes, agreements are necessary. And the military has to stop repressing the people… They’re offering us a helicopter but I fear, sincerely, what could happen to our lives in a helicopter of the Armed Forces… May our family be reunited, not to stay in Nicaragua… and for our security to be guaranteed also to be with the Honduran people in this struggle….”
The General stays on the line, talking nervously but not responding directly to the questions, claiming that the Armed Forces only follows orders and is not responsible for anything… the radio announcer bids the general and the First Lady goodnight at four minutes before the hour…
11:04 p.m. ET, 9:04 p.m. in Tegucigalpa: The coup regime just interrupted Radio Globo and all national media with a "cadena nacional" announcing that the military curfew will be in effect in the state of El Paraiso and throughout the border region "from six a.m. to six p.m." (That's in addition to the curfew already in place for the other twelve hours of tonight and tomorrow.)
11:29 p.m. ET, 9:29 p.m. in Tegucigalpa: Wow. Radio Globo is the place to be listening to tonight! Former Honduran Supreme Court Justice Hernan Silva Baltonado - a man who was fired by Zelaya from his position at the Government Property Institute - just called into the station and proposed Xiomara Zelaya as presidential candidate in the November 29 elections, predicting she would win by a landslide...
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Submitted on July 25th, 2009 by Naomi Schiff (not verified)Thank you for keeping up the flow of information! This sounds pretty amazing, and I will continue to follow your comments, as it is also not easy to understand what is going on. Much gratitude for your coverage.
yay radio
Submitted on July 26th, 2009 by John Sladethis is amazing... i hope someone is making a recording...
BBC - Zelaya returns to Hondura border
Submitted on July 26th, 2009 by amk (not verified)He says he will set up camp on the Nicaraguan side to keep up pressure on the interim Honduran government.
Speaking into a megaphone, he demanded to be allowed to see his family, who he has not seen since last month's coup.
...
Meanwhile, the Honduran armed forces have indicated they would not oppose a deal to restore Mr Zelaya to the presidency with limited powers, the New York Times reports.
Viva la libertad
Submitted on July 26th, 2009 by Brian Curdy (not verified)It is time for Senor Micheletti to step down. He is an obstacle to the will of the people of Honduras. The only good that he can do for his country is to get out of the way.
The best way for the Honduran Army to avoid dissention and mutiny is to convince Senor Micheletti to step aside and allow the Honduran people to restore their President Zelaya to the office to which he was elected.....The rest of the planet is waiting for Honduras with open arms.
The Honduran people are an inspiration to all of us. Senor Micheletti represents nothing. He is not a "president" or a leader. No one elected him. His fleeting "authority" was based solely on falsehood and force. Now it is vanishing. If he continues to withhold the rights of the people by clinging to his delusions, he will only hurt those who he wishes to protect.
Military communique supporting San Jose accord Friday?
Submitted on July 26th, 2009 by Nell (not verified)The NY Times today reports a communique from the military saying the same thing. It's dated Friday, yet no one seems to have heard of its existence until Gen. Vasquez spoke to Radio Globo.
I'm guessing that whoever in the high command Pres. Zelaya talked to on Friday when he was in Honduras communicated the substance of the statement, and that accounts for Zelaya's immediate mention of negotiations.
Return with "limited powers"?
Submitted on July 26th, 2009 by Nancy ChesterI am getting confused. I don't think I like the sound of a return with "limited powers"?
In Googling for the name of the Alba group, I came across an interesting right wing pro-coup group called HACER (Hispanic American Center for Economic Research). An article titled, Venezuela - The Chavez Adventure in Honduras: From "Coup d'Etat to Coup d'Grace?", penned by Gustavo Coronel, a "petroleum geologist".
http://www.hacer.org/report/2009/07/venezuela-chavez-adventure-in-hondur...
While primarily a crock of oligarch lies and bull shit, I wonder if the bit about the origins of the jet that attempted to fly Zelaya in is true?
An attempt by Zelaya to return to Honduras in a Venezuelan jet (owned by U.S. based company CITGO) and coordinated by Chavez as a “ military” operation ended in failure. As a result Zelaya has lost political ground and has had to accept a U.S. promoted mediation by Costa Rica’s President Oscar Arias, which in fact implies recognition of the new government in Honduras.
Thank you to Al Giordano - Narco News - The Field
Submitted on July 26th, 2009 by PATUCAWARRIOR (not verified)Thank you Brian Curdy for your words...
They are true...
We thank all of the people who are following Al Giordanos' reporting of the Honduran Coup...
Al Giordano - We the resistance group of Catacamas, Olancho - thank you for telling the world the truth...
We thank Kristin Bricker...
We have been on the streets of Honduras since the first days of this Coup...
We had our bus's shot at...
We have been hit by rifle butts...
We were at Toncontin aiport when Isis Obeth Murillo, 19, from Olancho, was shot in the head by Honduran military...
We endure the sun while marching...
And many hours without food or water...
We endure death threats...
We stare down soldiers who point M16's at our face...
We endure constant tear gas attacks...
Endure threats of jail time...
We made it to the Nicaraguan border crossing through the mountainsides...
We now stand beside Mel..
This is real...
Hondurans want change...
What your are witnessing is the final cry of the Honduran Elite...
In America wars are fought for oil...
In Honduras a president was exiled because he wanted to give power to the poor...
Zelaya never said he was going to change the Honduran Constitution...
So he could continue as president...
Zelaya wanted to change the Constitution to give Hondurans a voice in Honduran affairs...
Zelaya wanted to remove the monopoly of the Honduran Elite...
Zelaya paid the price...
No president is without his faults...
We know Zelaya has made mistakes...
We are not following blindly as so many people have said...
Zelaya doubled our police force...
Raised minimum wage...
Gave thousands of poor Hondurans' titles to their land...
Gave us new roads...
Increased the salaries of teachers - doctors - nurses...
Gave us hope that one day the poor people of Honduras would have a voice...
We do not see Chavez as a threat to Democracy...
What advice can America give Honduras today...
One only has to look at America...
A bankrupt nation..
Collapse of the Second Roman Empire...
Perhaps it is time to look other options - such as ALBA...
We would like to say to the world...
The Honduran people will change the Honduran Constitution...
What President Manuel Zelaya started - we will finish...
We do not think Michelletti can exile all of us...
A Honduran social revolution has begun...
Cracks in the coup forces bigger with mil weighing in
Submitted on July 26th, 2009 by Nell (not verified)I'd encourage a look at this post, reproducing a report on Radio Progreso July 18 detailing a fax from former Liberal Party President Carlos Flores to Arias. Flores was a backer of the coup who began to try to distance himself from the Micheletti forces after the Arias talks began.
Check out resemblances between the Flores fax and the San Jose "Accord" [Spanish] -- not an accord at all, but a reworked proposal by Arias on July 22).
Confusion
Submitted on July 26th, 2009 by Brian Curdy (not verified)President Zelaya has been wise to not sign or agree to the so-called "Costa Rican Mediation."
No legitimate international body or nation has recognized the illegal and unconstitutional Honduran junta which is unable to establish any real authority----or a voice in any forum other than that of a few "exclusive and private interests" which conflict with the interests of the public at large.
The Honduran society has nothing to "negotiate" with a few rebellious and clumsy bandits who are holding the people's institutions, and the nation's very well-being, as hostages.
No future elections can be valid as long as the usurpers are still in place.
The usurpers of Tegucigalpa have no legitimate demands to extort from the Honduran people or their elected President.
It is amazing that any persons, in the Americas at least, should find this situation "confusing."
It is simply "déja vu" (as we say in French.)
Those who think that they have something to gain by "stalling" are simply adding international ridicule and mounting domestic anger to their failed and collapsing ambitions.
Fantastic Reporting
Submitted on July 26th, 2009 by Alexa (not verified)Fabulous work.
Legitimacy of Power
Submitted on July 27th, 2009 by John SladeWell, I grew up thinking of realpolitik as right wing garbage, but as I get on as a community organizer, and as I look at the US and Clinton and Honduras, I think that the negotiations between the military and Zelaya recognizes the real power of the coup leaders. They have Courts and Congress, some media, and a huge history of the US backing this kind of crap. And relationships within the US military industrial establishment.
Now, they're trying to get over with a bald seizing of power; the legal and moral argument is over. But the power, there it is...
I will be very interested to see how the Obama administration heads forward. Warning Zelaya not to go in is taking some sides, IMHO.
Zelayas' people need help at the Nicaraguan border
Submitted on July 27th, 2009 by PATUCAWARRIOR (not verified)The Honduran military is not allowing...
Food...
Water...
Sleeping supplies...
Medicine...
To reach Pro Zelaya supporters at the Nicaraguan border...
Hondurans are in jail...
One Honduran was assassinated at the Nicaraguan border...
It is one thing to wave your Michelletti flag...
To curse Zelaya...
To blame Zelaya for all the misery and corruption in Honduras...
But now...
Al least 1500 Hondurans...
Whose beliefs oppose the Honduran Elite...
Are suffering...
Elderly...
Babies...
Children...
Women...
Men...
Suffering because they believe in a man who was elected by the Honduran people...
Who was removed by the Honduran Elite...
I am listening now as the First Lady Xiomara is asking for the world to help the Hondurans at the Nicaraguan border...
I hear her soul pleading for someone to listen...
I listened to Xiomara last night on Radio Globo...
When Xiomara spoke to General Velasquez...
Velasquez said he would not let Hondurans suffer...
General Romero Velasquez is a liar...
General Velasquez is not allowing food to reach his own people...
General Velasquez will not lift the curfew...
A 24 hour curfew at the border...
No one can move...
Three days...
Honduran people with no food...
Not even illegal aliens entering the United States are treated this way...
The Honduran Coup supporters...
The world will be your judge...
G-d will be your judge...
I promise the Campesinos of Olancho...
I will do everything possible to break the stranglehold The Honduran Elite have on you...
We together...
Will build a Agriculture Empire...
~
Honduran security forces attempted to shut down Radio Globo - again...
Honduran civilians stopped the assault...
Now they are guarding Radio Globo...
You can listen to Radio Globo via Internet...
Radio Globo
~
UPDATE
Honduran Police just shot 7 Hondurans...
1 dead...
Another possible death to be confirmed...
Others seriously injured by gunshots...
At National Stadium - Olympia - Motagua game...
Keep waving your Michelletti flag...
Billy Joya, and Micheletti's Murder Incorporated
Submitted on July 27th, 2009 by Brian Curdy (not verified)The Longer the gorrilistas cling to their M-16s and their machetes to "legitimize" power on the basis of "Might makes Right," the more clear it becomes throughout the Americas-and throughout the World, just what and where lies the "source," or "sources," of gorrilista power.
Foreign corporate profits in places like Miami, Florida, or the textile and fruit fortunes that speculate on human subsistence and public wealth on Wall Street....?
Why does the great North American Neighbor support the Uribe fascists of Bagota?
Why are their Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard unable to contain the exportation of cocaine? The guided missile cruisers and fighter-interceptors are no match for speedboats and piper cubs?
Why does the US State Department continue to contradict the unanimous voices of world opinion and international law by insisting upon "a negotiated arrangement" with the golpista assassins?
Why has the "School of the Americas" simply changed its name?
Do the North American neighbors really wish to prevent bloodshed (as they claim) or is their true concern that of protecting their property and stolen fortunes.....and the priviledges they bestow upon "selected employees?"
There are still people who remember such exports as "General" William Walker-or "General" Pinochet and his "Chicago friend," Mr. Friedman..
Some of us have not forgotten capitan Billy Joya either. Tell us, Senõr Joya, where are you thinking of going to hide this time? Seville is no longer a good idea-is it?