Honduran President Removed in 'Coup'

[headhuntersix]

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (June 28) - Soldiers seized the national palace and flew President Manuel Zelaya into exile Sunday, hours before a disputed constitutional referendum. Zelaya, a leftist ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, said he was victim of a coup.
Hours later, Congress voted to accept what it said was Zelaya's letter of resignation, but Zelaya said the letter wasn't his and vowed to remain in power.
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Oswaldo Rivas, Reuters
Supporters of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya block a street to prevent military vehicles from passing near the presidential palace in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Sunday.

The Supreme Court said it was supporting the military in what it called a defense of democracy, and the Honduran ambassador to the Organization of American States said the military was planning to swear in Congressional President Roberto Micheletti — who is next in line to the presidency — to replace Zelaya.
Zelaya was arrested shortly before polls were to open in a referendum on whether to change the constitution. The Supreme Court ruled the referendum illegal and everyone from Congress to members of his own party opposed it. Critics said Zelaya wanted to remove limits to his re-election.
Tanks rolled through the streets and hundreds of soldiers with riot shields surrounded the presidential palace in the capital, Tegucigalpa. Zelaya, at the airport in the Costa Rican capital, San Jose, called the military action illegal.
"There is no way to justify an interruption of democracy, a coup d'etat," he said in a telephone call to the Venezuela-based Telesur television network. "This kidnapping is an extortion of the Honduran democratic system."
A majority of members of Congress voted with a show of hands to accept a letter of resignation that Congressional Secretary Jose Alfredo Saavedra said was signed by Zelaya and dated Thursday. The letter said Zelaya was resigning because of "the polarized political situation" and "insuperable health problems."
But Zelaya told CNN the letter was "totally false." He told Telesur he would not recognize any de facto government and pledged to serve out his term, which ends in January. He said he would attend a scheduled meeting of Central American presidents in Nicaragua on Monday. He siad Chavez, which is also going, would provide transportation.

[headhuntersix]

Chavez, who along with the Castros in Cuba is Zelaya's top ally, said Venezuela "is at battle" and put his military on alert.
President Barack Obama said he was "deeply concerned" by Zelaya's expulsion and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the arrest should be condemned.
"I call on all political and social actors in Honduras to respect democratic norms, the rule of law and the tenets of the Inter-American Democratic Charter," Obama's statement read.
Zelaya told Telesur that he was awoken by gunshots and the shouts of his security guards, whom he said resisted troops for at least 20 minutes. Still in his pajamas, he jumped out of bed and ducked behind an air conditioner to avoid flying bullets, he said.
He said eight or nine soldiers in masks escorted him onto an air force plane that took him to Costa Rica.
Chavez said troops in Honduras also temporarily detained the Venezuelan and Cuban ambassadors, beating them.
Zelaya called on Honduran soldiers to desist, urged citizens to take to the streets in peaceful protests, and asked Honduran police to protect demonstrators.
Zelaya ally Rafael Alegria, a labor leader, called for protests.
"We demand respect for the president's life," he told Honduran radio Cadena de Noticias. "And we will go out into the streets to defend what this has cost us: living in peace and tranquility."
About 100 Zelaya supporters, many wearing "Yes" T-shirts for the referendum, blocked the main street outside the gates to the palace, throwing rocks and insults at soldiers and shouting "Traitors! Traitors!"
"They kidnapped him like cowards," screamed Melissa Gaitan. Tears streamed down the face of the 21-year-old, who works at the government television station. "We have to rally the people to defend our president."
Honduras has a history of military coups: Soldiers overthrew elected presidents in 1963 and 1972. The military did not turn the government over to civilians until 1981, under U.S. pressure.
Micheletti has been one of the president's main opponents in the dispute over whether to hold the referendum. The head of the Supreme Court was also opposed to the nonbinding referendum, on whether to ask voters whether they want to convoke an assembly to rewrite the constitution.
It appeared that the vote would no longer take place.

[headhuntersix]

Maybe the fag in red is next. Barry was very quick to condemm it....big friggen surprise.

I call on all political and social actors in Honduras to respect democratic norms, the rule of law and the tenets of the Inter-American Democratic Charter,” Obama said in a statement.

“Any existing tensions and disputes must be resolved peacefully through dialogue free from any outside interference


Barry says less with more then anybody in history.

[Fury]

Hugo Chavez will be crying himself to sleep tonight. OWNED.

[headhuntersix]

Hey atleast they didn't kill him...plus Costa Rica is kinda nice.

[MuscleMcMannus]

Wow a country's military actually embracing and protecting their Constitution. 

Hope you are taking notes HH6! 

[headhuntersix]

U realize my oath is to the Constitution not the President. We liked Bush..Barry is a worthless shithead who violates the Constitution on a daily basis.

[Deicide]

U realize my oath is to the Constitution not the President. We liked Bush..Barry is a worthless shithead who violates the Constitution on a daily basis.

Uhmm...Bush violated the Constitution all the time...

[MuscleMcMannus]

U realize my oath is to the Constitution not the President. We liked Bush..Barry is a worthless shithead who violates the Constitution on a daily basis.

Haha what a dipshit you are.  Bush violated the Constitution every chance he got.  For you to like one over the other shows just how much of a brainwashed moron you really are.

[headhuntersix]

Please show me where he did. Gitmo isn't a violation, Iraq wasn't a violation..let me guess, the Patriot Act. Sure except Congress passed it. Obama operates like everybody in this country is entitled to things. Everybody that is except the people who actually produce and earn a living.

Hey muscles...we know how much a retard u are....go back to whatever rock u were under. I'm sure we'll see some CT laced meltdown here shortly.

[MuscleMcMannus]

Please show me where he did. Gitmo isn't a violation, Iraq wasn't a violation..let me guess, the Patriot Act. Sure except Congress passed it. Obama operates like everybody in this country is entitled to things. Everybody that is except the people who actually produce and earn a living.

Hey muscles...we know how much a retard u are....go back to whatever rock u were under. I'm sure we'll see some CT laced meltdown here shortly.

Haha hey MORON you don't produce jack shit.  You work for the government and if the USA wasn't busy policing the world and telling everyone else how to live and without the government ass raping the taxpayers for a $600 billion defense budget you'd probably be bagging groceries. 

[headhuntersix]

U clean bedpans and wash men. 

[MuscleMcMannus]

U clean bedpans and wash men. 

So if I said I worked in the NICU taking care of newborn babies making sure they have a fighting chance to live you'd ridicule that or call that gay?  Or better yet how the fuck do you know I'm not working with wounded soldiers at the VA hospital helping them get their lives back together because they got a leg blown off, have to learn how to use a colostomy bag because they got their guts blown out during combat or are learning to live with a traumatic brain injury after suffering a bullet to the head? 

[headhuntersix]

I don't but u make fun of what I do, when u post here. So in my mind u clean male asses. Its not my fault what u post.

[MuscleMcMannus]

I don't but u make fun of what I do, when u post here. So in my mind u clean male asses. Its not my fault what u post.

If you were to come up with an intelligent argument of why nursing is bad profession or how it relates to the problems in healthcare or whatever.  Hell if you even said how some nurses are trying to be doctors I would agree with you.  But when you label the profession or those who are in it with the same old childish cliches like gay and bedpans it's childish. 

I criticize your profession because it's a direct extension of your entire mindset when it comes to politics and your personal beliefs.  I.e. everything is liberal vs. conservative democrat vs. republican with you.  How the hell can you say Obama is so bad (which I agree with) and then turn around and idolize Bush?  LMAO!  Makes no fucking sense. 

[Fury]

So if I said I worked in the NICU taking care of newborn babies making sure they have a fighting chance to live you'd ridicule that or call that gay?  Or better yet how the fuck do you know I'm not working with wounded soldiers at the VA hospital helping them get their lives back together because they got a leg blown off, have to learn how to use a colostomy bag because they got their guts blown out during combat or are learning to live with a traumatic brain injury after suffering a bullet to the head? 

Let's be honest. If this were the case, you wouldn't have spent the last six months melting down every time someone mentioned that you're a flamboyantly gay male nurse. 

[headhuntersix]

So we can get back on target.  Barry will face a choice as we do have troops there. Venezuela would roll over Honduras but such an action could destabilize him, especially if the Honduran coup inspires folks in Venezuela. Either way, could be interesting. God I'm glad Barry is president.  

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday put troops on alert after a coup in Honduras and said he would respond militarily if his envoy to the Central American country was kidnapped or killed.

Chavez said Honduran soldiers took away the Cuban ambassador and left the Venezuelan ambassador on the side of a road after beating him during the army's coup against his leftist ally, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya.

The Honduran army ousted Zelaya and exiled him in Central America's first military coup since the Cold War, after he upset the army by trying to win re-election.







Muscles.....tell u what, disagree with me all u want, but don't attack my profession. Ur's is a great one, many of my family were nurses. My ex-wife was a nurse....I liked Bush, not everything he did, but I liked him.
Chavez said on state television if his ambassador to Venezuela was killed, or if troops entered the Venezuelan Embassy, "that military junta would be entering a de facto state of war. We would have to act militarily ... I have put the armed forces of Venezuela on alert."

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, part of a coalition of leftist governments headed by Chavez that includes Honduras, said he would support military action if Ecuador's diplomats or those of its allies were threatened.

The socialist Chavez has in the past threatened to use his armed forces in the region but never followed through. He said that if a new government is sworn in after the coup it would be defeated.

"We will bring them down, we will bring them down, I tell you," he said, while hundreds of red-shirted supporters gathered outside Venezuela's presidential palace in solidarity with Zelaya.

HISTORY OF COUPS

The United States has long accused the Venezuelan former soldier of being a destabilizing force in Latin America. Chavez himself tried to take power in a coup in 1992 and was briefly ousted in a 2002 putsch but was reinstated after protests.

Chavez, who accused the administration of former U.S. President George W. Bush of backing his removal, said there should be an investigation into whether Washington had a hand in Zelaya's ouster.

"They will have to get to the bottom of how much of a hand the CIA and other imperial bodies had in this," he said.

The White House denied any U.S. participation in the coup. "There was no U.S. involvement in this action against President Zelaya," a White House official told Reuters.

President Barack Obama said he was deeply concerned by the events in Honduras and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton condemned the action taken against Zelaya. A senior U.S. official said Washington recognizes only Zelaya as president.

The United States supported a number of military coups in Central America during the Cold War and used Honduras as a base for its counter-insurgency operations in the region in the 1980s.

Washington still has several hundred troops stationed at Soto Cano Air Base, a Honduran military installation that is also the headquarters for a regional U.S. joint task force that conducts humanitarian, drug and disaster relief operations.

Chavez and other Latin American leaders from his ALBA coalition, including Ecuador's President Rafael Correa and Bolivia's President Evo Morales, were headed to Nicaragua on Sunday to discuss what action to take over Honduras.

ALBA's nine members also include Cuba, Honduras and Nicaragua. Ecuador said Sunday it will not recognize any new government in Honduras.

(Editing by Chris Wilson)

[MuscleMcMannus]

So we can get back on target.  Barry will face a choice as we do have troops there. Venezuela would roll over Honduras but such an action could destabilize him, especially if the Honduran coup inspires folks in Venezuela. Either way, could be interesting. God I'm glad Barry is president.  

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday put troops on alert after a coup in Honduras and said he would respond militarily if his envoy to the Central American country was kidnapped or killed.

Chavez said Honduran soldiers took away the Cuban ambassador and left the Venezuelan ambassador on the side of a road after beating him during the army's coup against his leftist ally, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya.

The Honduran army ousted Zelaya and exiled him in Central America's first military coup since the Cold War, after he upset the army by trying to win re-election.







Muscles.....tell u what, disagree with me all u want, but don't attack my profession. Ur's is a great one, many of my family were nurses. My ex-wife was a nurse....I liked Bush, not everything he did, but I liked him.
Chavez said on state television if his ambassador to Venezuela was killed, or if troops entered the Venezuelan Embassy, "that military junta would be entering a de facto state of war. We would have to act militarily ... I have put the armed forces of Venezuela on alert."

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, part of a coalition of leftist governments headed by Chavez that includes Honduras, said he would support military action if Ecuador's diplomats or those of its allies were threatened.

The socialist Chavez has in the past threatened to use his armed forces in the region but never followed through. He said that if a new government is sworn in after the coup it would be defeated.

"We will bring them down, we will bring them down, I tell you," he said, while hundreds of red-shirted supporters gathered outside Venezuela's presidential palace in solidarity with Zelaya.

HISTORY OF COUPS

The United States has long accused the Venezuelan former soldier of being a destabilizing force in Latin America. Chavez himself tried to take power in a coup in 1992 and was briefly ousted in a 2002 putsch but was reinstated after protests.

Chavez, who accused the administration of former U.S. President George W. Bush of backing his removal, said there should be an investigation into whether Washington had a hand in Zelaya's ouster.

"They will have to get to the bottom of how much of a hand the CIA and other imperial bodies had in this," he said.

The White House denied any U.S. participation in the coup. "There was no U.S. involvement in this action against President Zelaya," a White House official told Reuters.

President Barack Obama said he was deeply concerned by the events in Honduras and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton condemned the action taken against Zelaya. A senior U.S. official said Washington recognizes only Zelaya as president.

The United States supported a number of military coups in Central America during the Cold War and used Honduras as a base for its counter-insurgency operations in the region in the 1980s.

Washington still has several hundred troops stationed at Soto Cano Air Base, a Honduran military installation that is also the headquarters for a regional U.S. joint task force that conducts humanitarian, drug and disaster relief operations.

Chavez and other Latin American leaders from his ALBA coalition, including Ecuador's President Rafael Correa and Bolivia's President Evo Morales, were headed to Nicaragua on Sunday to discuss what action to take over Honduras.

ALBA's nine members also include Cuba, Honduras and Nicaragua. Ecuador said Sunday it will not recognize any new government in Honduras.

(Editing by Chris Wilson)

There's nothing to debate.  The Honduras Congress and Supreme court ruled against the President.  The military kicked him out by following the Constitution.  This is how a constitutional government works.  The military is supposed to embrace, follow and protect the Constitution.  Obama of course isn't going to support what's  happening.  He's a socialist idiot.  He should have burned that stupid book Chavez gave him. 

That's the entire point.  You can't like Bush and disagree with him.  How does that work?  Either he's a good President or he's not.  Liking the man has nothing to do with the job he does in the White House.  He was a terrible President just like Obama will be.

[headhuntersix]

I disagree with alot of Bush's domestic policies. He was not a Conservative and he spent way to much money without cutting alot of BS. Bush treated the military well, we were at war and he allowed us to do what we needed to do.

[headhuntersix]

Everything was in place for the coup and if the U.S. embassy had approved it, it would have happened. But they did not … I’m only still here in office thanks to the United States,” he said in the newspaper interview published on Sunday.

“Last (Friday) morning, at around 1 or 2 a.m., Congress was passing a decree to incapacitate me and the armed forces were mobilized. But phone calls were made — I can’t say by who or from where — but these calls stopped the coup,” he said.



This is the topic and I guess what Barry will need to do, if anything. I don't think he needs to do a damm thing unless Hugo does. I don't know what if any military obligations we have to them.

[MuscleMcMannus]

I disagree with alot of Bush's domestic policies. He was not a Conservative and he spent way to much money without cutting alot of BS. Bush treated the military well, we were at war and he allowed us to do what we needed to do.

Treated the military well?  WTF are you talking about?  Did you even see combat?  Soldiers were getting electrocuted.  They didn't have the proper body armor and vehicles.  I mean Bush appointed Donald Rumsfeld for christ sake's.  Bush allowed KBR and Haliburton to rape the American people i.e. your family and my family.  Who the hell do you think is paying for all these lucrative government contractor jobs where these guys are making 250K dollars in a year?  TAXES!  Bush was a fucking fraud. 

[MuscleMcMannus]

Go ask all the wounded soldiers just how good their medical care is?  VA hospitals are some of the worst. 

[headhuntersix]

Treated the military well?  WTF are you talking about?  Did you even see combat?  Soldiers were getting electrocuted.  They didn't have the proper body armor and vehicles.  I mean Bush appointed Donald Rumsfeld for christ sake's.  Bush allowed KBR and Haliburton to rape the American people i.e. your family and my family.  Who the hell do you think is paying for all these lucrative government contractor jobs where these guys are making 250K dollars in a year?  TAXES!  Bush was a fucking fraud. 

I had everything I needed. I had plenty in 2003, plenty in 2006 and I will have plenty in 2009. Its combat, I never expected perfect. Thats a civi mindset.  "Soldiers were getting electrocuted"...what. Enough I get it, Bush lied people died. Whatever....

[headhuntersix]

Ok.....I'm not a VA advocate.

[MuscleMcMannus]

I had everything I needed. I had plenty in 2003, plenty in 2006 and I will have plenty in 2009. Its combat, I never expected perfect. Thats a civi mindset.  "Soldiers were getting electrocuted"...what. Enough I get it, Bush lied people died. Whatever....

Well with a $600 billion dollar defense budget I would hope so.