European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - 29 June | 76 comments (76 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

The following interview was made on Saturday and published on Sunday (teh day of the coup):

"El jefe del Ejército desobedeció a su comandante, que soy yo" · ELPAÍS.com		"The head of the army disobeyed his commander, which is me" - ElPais.com
Pregunta. ¿Tiene usted el control del país?		Q. Do you have control of the country?
Respuesta. Sí. Sí... Yo creo que de una buena parte sí. Ya distribuimos el material de la encuesta en 15.000 comunidades. Y eso es lo que se trataba de evitar, que distribuyéramos el material. Se usó todo el poder del Estado burgués para impedirlo. Se usaron los jueces, se usaron los militares, los grupos mediáticos. No lo pudieron impedir. Lo distribuimos.		A. Yes, yes... I think of a good chunk, we do. We already distributed the material for the referendum in 15,000 communities. And that's what they were trying to avoid, that we distribute the material. All the power of the bourgeois state was used to prevent it. The judges, the military, the media groups, were used. They were not able to prevent it.
P. ¿Y controla al Ejército?		Q. And do you control the military?
R. En este momento sí... Lo tengo... mientras no dé órdenes que afecten a los ricos.		A. At the moment I do... I have it... as long as I don't give orders affecting the wealthy.
...		...
P. ¿Cómo se le puede llamar a lo que está pasando aquí?		Q. How can one call what is going on here?
R. Una conspiración para impedir que el pueblo se organice y demande derechos.		A. A conspiracy to prevent people from organising and demanding rights.
...		...
P. ¿Cuál es su modelo?		Q. What is your model?
R. Mire. Yo me he ubicado en un centro-izquierda como Gobierno, porque practico ideas liberales, pero con una tendencia socialista, social, muy acercada a integrar al ciudadano a sus derechos.		A. Look. I have placed myself on the centre-left as a Government, because I practise liberal ideas, but with a socialist tendency, a social one, very close to integrating the citizen with their rights.
P. Pero usted no es un hombre que procedía de la izquierda...		Q. But you are not a man who came from the left...
R. Así es, yo vengo más bien de sectores muy conservadores.		A. That's right, I come from very conservative sectors.
P. Y en qué momento se cae del caballo...		Q. And when did you fall off the horse...
R. Ja, ja... No, más bien, en qué momento me subo al caballo... Mire, yo pensé hacer los cambios desde dentro del esquema neoliberal. Pero los ricos no ceden un penique. Los ricos no ceden nada de su plata. Todo lo quieren para ellos. Entonces, lógicamente, para hacer cambios hay que incorporar al pueblo.		A. Haha... No, better, when do I get on the horse... Look, I was thinking of doing changes within the neoliberal frame. But the wealthy won't yield one penny. The wealthy won't yield any of their wealth. They want it all for themselves. Then, logically, to make changes one has to bring in the people.
...		...
P. ¿Qué papel ha jugado EE UU en la intentona de golpe?		Q. WHat role has the USA played in the putsch?
R. Pues mire, hay que ser justos. Aquí estaba todo listo para dar un golpe y si la Embajada de EE UU lo hubiera aprobado, hubieran dado el golpe. Pero la Embajada de EE UU no aprobó el golpe. Y fíjese lo que le voy a decir: si ahora mismo estoy aquí sentado, en la Casa Presidencial, hablando con usted, es gracias a Estados Unidos.		R. Well, look, we have to be fair. Here everything was ready for a coup and if the US embassy had approved of it, they would have gone ahead with the coup. But the US embassy didn's approve of the coup. And pay attention to what I's saying: if I am here now sitting in the Presidential House, talking to you, it is thanks to the USA.

He claims that there were phone calls into the country from neighbouring coutries, from the OAS, and from the USA which helped stop a coup before the weekend.

A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds; a man of deeds and not of words is like a garden full of turds — Anonymous

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Jun 29th, 2009 at 06:03:02 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: World (none / 1)

On the other hand, the President's referendum was allegedly not allowed by the Constitution, and the President was opposed by the parliament, Supremen Court and military.

So, if the Referendum had gone ahead it would have been called a "self-coup" by an opposition in control of the legislative and judiciary branches of government.

A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds; a man of deeds and not of words is like a garden full of turds — Anonymous

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Jun 29th, 2009 at 06:37:34 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: World (none / 0)

Ugly power struggle?

by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Mon Jun 29th, 2009 at 06:40:06 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: World (none / 0)

At some level the struggle is for influence in the Central America/Caribbean region between Chávez's ALBA and the CAFTA/FTAA.

A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds; a man of deeds and not of words is like a garden full of turds — Anonymous

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Jun 29th, 2009 at 06:54:54 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: World (4.00 / 2)

Chavez tried the same "one-man coup," though, and he was defeated. If people don't want the President to serve another term, they should vote against a referendum that would allow him to do so, and, failing that, vote against him at the general election.

Neither side's hands look clean in this, but the Honduran President seems the least-wrong.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.

by Drew J Jones (pedobear@pennstatefootball.com) on Mon Jun 29th, 2009 at 08:08:55 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: World (none / 1)

A similar coup was also tried on Chávez in 2002, with the support of the US and Spain, but it failed in short order. So we'll just have to wait and see. With not a single foreign government in support of the coup it might just fold.

By the way, watch CNN's Elise Labott trying to back the US administration into an inconsistency:

Background Briefing on the Situation in Honduras

QUESTION: Yeah, but now you're invoking the - I'm sorry, but now you're invoking the constitution to return him. So did you think that what he was doing was in line with the constitution?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE: No, but there's a big distinction here because, on the one instance, we're conducting about conducting a survey, a nonbinding survey; in the other instance, we're talking about the forcible removal of a president from a country. So I think we can distinguish between those terms - those two in terms of what's constitutional and what might be left to institutions.
But I think what's important to remember about the survey is that it was just that. It wasn't even a formal vote. It was a nonbinding survey. And the issue of whether it was legitimate or illegal did not revolve around the survey itself. It revolved around who conducted it and whether or not this could be conducted by the government and which institution in the government could conduct it, and whether or not as it's being conducted state security forces could be used to both manage and secure the equipment that was being used for the survey and provide security. And that's where the divide occurred within Honduras. It was about who conducted this survey, with several institutions in Honduras insisting that the Honduran Government could not conduct it, at least not in the way that President Zelaya had suggested.
And from our point of view, what was important was not inserting ourselves and trying to make a determination of what was legal or illegal, but trying to insist that the Hondurans find a way to resolve this in a way that was in accord with their constitution.

A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds; a man of deeds and not of words is like a garden full of turds — Anonymous

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Jun 29th, 2009 at 09:37:42 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: World (none / 0)

The proper translation of encuesta is indeed survey not referendum as I rendered. This was a non-binding consultation on whether a referendum should be held. I was not familiar with the details and thought encuesta sounded funny.

A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds; a man of deeds and not of words is like a garden full of turds — Anonymous

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Jun 29th, 2009 at 09:50:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: World (none / 0)

Migeru:

He claims that there were phone calls into the country from neighbouring coutries, from the OAS, and from the USA which helped stop a coup before the weekend.

Background Briefing on the Situation in Honduras

QUESTION: Washington Post. There was a report in El Pais newspaper this morning - actually, it was an interview with President Zelaya, in which he said that there had been a coup plot afoot in recent days and it was only stopped by actions of the U.S. Embassy. Can you tell us about that or tell us if that's not correct?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE: I think the only thing we can say at this point is that we were very clear with the different sectors of Honduran political life and Honduras's different political institutions that any resolution to the political conflict in Honduras had to be democratic and constitutional, and that we would not abide or support any extra-constitutional actions.

A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds; a man of deeds and not of words is like a garden full of turds — Anonymous

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Mon Jun 29th, 2009 at 09:55:10 AM EST
[ Parent ]

European Salon de News, Discussion et Klatsch - 29 June | 76 comments (76 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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