Coup and Political Development in Honduras

Pintu

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The Associated Press: Gunmen fire on Honduran journalist's car, 1 killed

Gunmen fire on Honduran journalist's car, 1 killed

(AP) – 1 day ago

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Gunmen have attacked the car of a Honduran television journalist, killing her pregnant daughter but leaving her uninjured.

Police spokesman Orlin Cerrato said Wednesday two gunmen on a motorcycle shot at Karol Cabrera's car late Tuesday in the capital.

The daughter was driving the car. She was 8 months pregnant, and doctors saved her baby boy.

It was unclear whether the attack was related to Cabrera's work. As a commentator she largely supported the interim government that ousted Honduras' president in a June 28 coup.

Since then several government officials or their relatives have been attacked, but no political motive has been confirmed.
 

Pintu

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http://www.ptinews.com/news/422154_Castro-slams-US-backed--electoral-farce-in-Honduras

Castro slams US-backed electoral farce in Honduras

STAFF WRITER 4:29 HRS IST

Havana, Dec 14 (AFP) Cuban President Raul Castro accused the United States of helping to set up and legitimise an "electoral farce" in Honduras, in the wake of elections that didn't include ousted President Manuel Zelaya.

The Honduran people "have been deprived of their constitutional rights and there has been imposed, with the support of the US administration and a coup-led government (in Honduras), an electoral farce," Castro, 77, told a regional summit here.

Cuba, the Americas' only one-party communist regime, has had no political opening of its own in over 50 years.

But Raul Castro defended the right of Zelaya democratically elected in a multiparty vote to have been reinstated.

The Cuban president told the gathering of ALBA, a leftist bloc conceived by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, that the "majority of Latin American and Caribbean governments had condemned unequivocally" the military coup that ousted Zelaya on June 28.
 

Pintu

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AFP: Zelaya says will stay in Honduras until end January

Zelaya says will stay in Honduras until end January

(AFP) – Dec 11, 2009

RIO DE JANEIRO — Deposed Honduran leader Manuel Zelaya said he would remain at the Brazilian embassy in the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa until January 27, 2010 at the latest, when his term formally ends.

"However, I would like to leave as soon as possible, obviously with the support of the Brazilian government," Zelaya told Brazil's Globo television.

The cowboy-hatted ousted president, exiled in a military-backed coup in June, secretly slipped back into Honduras in September and has remained at the heavily fortified Brazilian embassy ever since.

"He is absolutely aware that when his mandate ends, he will need to go elsewhere," said the Brazilian embassy's charge d' affaires Francisco Catunda.

The de facto regime of Roberto Micheletti on Friday demanded that Brazil clarify its reasons for allowing Zelaya to remain inside its embassy.

"The Honduran government, once again, calls on the government of Brazil to define the legal status under which Jose Manuel Zelaya remains in its facilities," the foreign affairs ministry said in a statement.

On Thursday, Zelaya, who has steadfastly insisted he be returned to power, rejected a Mexican offer for safe passage after Micheletti imposed the condition he be granted political asylum, which, he said, would invalidate his claim to the presidency.

The chances of his return to power were eroded by successful November 29 elections that were recognized by a number of nations, including the United States and Costa Rica.

The winner, Porfirio Lobo, is set to take office after Zelaya's term expires next month.

Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez on Friday said he would meet Zelaya on Sunday and Lobo on Monday in Santo Domingo, in his bid to mediate in the Honduras crisis.

Fernandez, who said he already spoke with both men in the past, said he hoped the de facto regime would not stifle this new attempt at negotiations and allow Zelaya to travel to the Dominican Republic.
 

Pintu

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Al Jazeera English - Americas - Honduras to try 'coup generals'

UPDATED ON:
Friday, January 15, 2010
08:00 Mecca time, 05:00 GMT

Honduras to try 'coup generals'


Zelaya has been staying at the Brazilian embassy
since returning to Honduras in September [Reuters]




Senior Honduran military officers are set to stand trial for alleged abuse of power over the coup d'etat that sent Manuel Zelaya, the president, into exile.

Jorge Rivera, the president of the Honduran supreme court, on Thursday ordered all six members of the Honduran joint chiefs of staff to remain in the country and testify in court next week.

The military chiefs met Rivera for six hours before the charges were announced.

"The army officers won't be able to leave the country and will have to go to court periodically," Mario Cabanas, the prosecutor, said.

Last week, Luis Alberto Rubi, Honduras's chief prosecutor, asked the supreme court to issue arrest warrants charging the military commanders.

Those named by the prosecutor included General Romeo Vasquez, the head of the armed forces; General Javier Prince, the air force chief; and General Juan Pablo Rodriguez, the navy commander.

'Charges baseless'

Juan Carlos Sanchez, the defence lawyer for the military commanders, said that there was enough evidence to prove his clients' innocence.

"We will concentrate on showing the facts and they want to face this process to prove the charges are baseless," Sanchez said.

Outside the court, dozens of supporters of Zelaya, who has been staying in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa since he returned to the country in September, booed the army officers as they went into the meeting with Rivera.

Supporters of the military commanders have
protested against the court decision [Reuters]

A rival group of protesters waved signs of support for the military commanders.

The prosecutor's case does not question whether the coup on June 28 itself was legal, only whether the military went too far in flying him to Costa Rica.

Zelaya was seized by armed soldiers and sent out of the country after the supreme
court and congress ordered his removal over his insistance on going ahead with a referendum that the court had deemed unconstitutional.

Roberto Michiletti, who took over the presidency after Zelaya had been exiled, later acknowledged that sending the president abroad was an mistake and said he should face charges in Honduras.

When the attorney-general called for the charges last week, Zelaya dismissed them as superficial and accused the de facto government of using new tricks.

"... using a new stratagem, the attorney-general who has equal or more responsibility as the soldiers, is presenting accusations ... to achieve impunity for the soldiers by accusing them of minor crimes," Zelaya said in a statement.

Porfirio Lobo, the president-elect who will take office on January 27, has said he supports granting amnesty both to Zelaya and to all of those involved in the coup.
Source: Agencies
 

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