I was reading the Washington Examiner’s editorial when I came across this statement:
So, it is nothing less than astonishing that President Obama today welcomes Zelaya to the White House.
The White House schedule doesn’t show any appointment for Zelaya’s visit, and I couldn’t find any other articles confirming it. For now at least, I’ll assume it’s a rumor; time will tell.
He is scheduled to be in Washington today:
He will surely be wearing his hat.
Zelaya’s been criticizing the US
for not doing enough, in his view, to condemn the government which replaced him.
He’s also not happy that Hillary has stopped using the term “coup” to describe his removal from power by the military last month.
White House or not, Zelaya has plans: Zelaya dice que “incursionará” en las montañas entre Honduras y Nicaragua (Zelaya will “make an incursion” in the mountains between Honduras and Nicaragua). He didn’t specify the purpose of his “incursions”, nor the location or the timing, but apparently he’s set up camp by the border… when he’s not flying in private jets all over the place, that is.
Update
This AP article, Time may be running out for ousted Honduran leader, has more details on the encampments by the border:
Many of those who did make it to Nicaragua wondered how long they could hold out away from their work and families, waiting for Zelaya to come up with a plan. Zelaya has vowed to remain on the border for at least a week, but hasn’t announced any concrete strategy since he walked a few meters into Honduras and then retreated Friday.
The crowd, housed in two shelters in Ocotal, spent Monday in disarray. They boarded buses for a drive to the frontier line, only to turn back when they realized Zelaya didn’t plan to join them. The ousted president showed up at one of the camps to address his supporters, only to find they had left for the border.
But hot meals arrived in the afternoon as Zelaya gave supporters an hours-long pep-talk, and a tractor trailer delivered hundreds of floor mattresses Monday evening for Hondurans sleeping at a municipal gymnasium.
“We’re waiting for Mel Zelaya to give the order, and we’ll go with him,” said Tomas Lopez, 57, an athletics teacher who traveled 375 miles (600 kilometers) to Nicaragua, leaving his family in Honduras. “I’m the head of the family, and they depend on me. We have food here and a place to sleep, but the problem is our children. Who is going to support them?”
The interim government that ousted Zelaya said Monday it had seized a series of what appear to be receipts from a key Zelaya organizer, indicating payments of between $3,000 and $20,000 to several protest leaders. None of the Zelaya supporters were immediately available to comment on the alleged payments or what they were for.
The Honduran government claims that the “key Zelaya organizer” was getting FARC money.
UPDATE
US revokes visas for Honduran officials
The State Department says it has revoked the diplomatic visas for four Honduran officials working in its interim government.
The announcement comes as the United States has been pressing for Honduras to allow the return of exiled President Manuel Zelaya.
State Department spokesman Ian Kelly did not specify Tuesday the names of the four officials, who he said are not in the United States. Kelly said that the department is reviewing the visas of all members of the interim government.
He said the revocations was in keeping with the U.S. policy of not recognizing the interim government.
I’m trying to get more (verified) information on who the visas belong to.
UPDATE 2
Via Babalu,
Zelaya wrote to Obama urging him to impose sanctions directly against the coup leaders and members of Micheletti’s government, including the cancellation of their U.S. visas and a ban on their bank transactions.
This is an outrage.
Prior posts on Zelaya here.
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I was wondering the same thing about Zelaya visiting the White House, today. I haven’t seen anything else about it, either.
AP is reporting that the US has revoked four visa’s of Honduran officials who are “not in the US” at this time. Few details in the article. I wonder if this is a meaningless gesture or a serious move.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D99NJ8R80&show_article=1
This boneheaded pro-Marxist American policy iniative is embarassing to me as an American. I would like to see pressure building in Congress to reverse it but I’m afraid I don’t.
DaMav, the rumor is that the officials are judges, but I have no documentation on that yet.
Fausta, seems like a lot is in play, according to the DOS website http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2009/july/126589.htm
about the cancellation of the visas is true…the first visa that was cancelled was to the judge who ordered zelaya to be captured…and the Embassy was not satisfied with the cancellation of the judge´s visa but also to the whole judge´s family members…this is very sad
There are many points which are under debate, and are cause for contention, that is true, Whether or no there was a coup, whether the removal was illegal, the legality of the exile. Arguments for any of those points are rife with technicalities and rhetoric. As an aside, technicalities are the apparent soul of legal proceedings, in my experience, it’s usually a matter of who presents them more prettily.
There are some facts which, however, are incontrovertible:
1.-The Supreme Court found that Mel had acted illegally by proceeding with an unconstitutional “referendum,” yeah, whether or not any believe the Constitution is wrong it is the one that was interpreted by our legislative branch to proclaim the referendum illegal.
2.- Under Mel’s “leadership” Honduras’s national debt tripled, and our roads are still badly damaged and people are still as poor (if not poorer) than ever, It is the executive’s branch business to manage a lot of those monies.
3.- The Honduran Congress voted overwhelmingly in support of removing Mel. OUR Congress, the one that actually matters in deciding such things in OUR country. (Babble on about how they are wrong, maybe our Congress might decide to explain to Mr. Obama the outcome of his health care plan)
4.- Days before his arrest, Mr. Zelaya had his chief of staff illegally withdraw millions of dollars in cash from the Central Bank of Honduras.
5.- Zelaya becomes a rallying point for mobs, he came at the head of one to seize the ballots of the referendum that was clearly ruled illegal. Even now he calls for insurrection on our streets, with little or no regard to the safety of his supporters. People then ramble on about democracy, when what he truly supports is an ochlocracy, a vile perversion of the true spirit of democracy. The rule of mob. Democracy isn’t about the oppression of the majority over a minority, it’s about all sectors being EQUALLY represented.
6.- As reported by a Nicaraguan newspaper, and by Mel’s own admission, The Nicas are getting tired of his antics on their side of the border after only a few days, just imagine how I feel after three and a half year.
People champion this man, and demand his return, when there is a clear danger, that on his return he will likely purge the government of all those whose agenda don’t line up with his. Where will the checks and balances be then? Some argue that with the world’s eyes on him , he wouldn’t dare. I argue that the world would cheer him on, why? He would point his finger at anyone’s general direction mutter “golpista” and say that he must protect his country’s rule of law and incarcerate them. He would make examples of them to keep the rest of the “rabble” in line. And the World would cheer for justice and democracy. He will probably say that he found evidence that the electoral process was tainted, so he would suspend elections so that he could straighten things out, and the World will cheer for Freedom and Law. He would find some way to remain in power long enough to grasp more power, as the World looks at each other uncomfortably and cough nervously, and my people would be eating ****.
No, I don’t intend to insult your intelligences, but Hondurans know this man better than foreigners do. Had I intended to insult you intelligence, my argument would’ve been more along the lines of “Micheletti came on his white horse, flaming sword aloft to cleave from power vile silver-tongue serpent, evil-communist-baby-eating-Nazi Zelaya to protect the disenfranchised poor, and as the dust cleared from titanic battle, only the flaming sword stood as a mute evidence of the titanic clash that had taken place, and Micheletti rose from the ashes in glory and his visage blah, blah, blah”
My intent is not to glorify Micheletti (I’m not very fond of him,either), but to let people know Mel in power would cause more harm than good.
Greetings:
You know what they say in Texas about big hats? No vacas!
Eduardo,
After living in Honduras 14 years, I KNOW you’re Spot On with all your observations. Proud to be with Hondurans today, and PRAY that we can keep Zelaya out, and preserve sanity in Government!
from Tegucigalpa
Eduardo,
After living in Honduras 14 years, I KNOW you’re Spot On with all your observations. Proud to be with Hondurans today, and PRAY that we can keep Zelaya out, and preserve sanity in Government!
from Tegucigalpa
I seriously hope the Obama administration is doing this only as a front and are working on the background to support Micheletti
Colombia’s economic trade with Venezuela has been cut off. Maybe they should start trading with Honduras.
Indeed they are, Ramon: http://www.noticias24.com/actualidad/noticia/70466/colombia-mira-a-centroamerica-para-reemplazar-mercados-de-venezuela-y-ecuador/