Honduras coup, Act III, Day 31/ Update 3

Update2:  Associated with that brilliant picture from El Libertador (I took the liberty of supplying the obvious caption), we have the text of a letter that Zelaya wrote to Llorens, and it’s not quite as sweet:

It’s obvious that your perspective differs from that of the Honduran people and that the US will not dispose  its interests to defend Honduras, but I will guarantee to you, Mr. Ambassador, that in the long view, this situation will have serious repercussions for the entire hemisphere and history will condemn the US for not having defended a legitimate democracy in a country which today more than ever is fragmenting due to misery and injustice. You know the danger of a scenario like this (of a coup), not only for Honduras but for the whole hemisphere, setting a dreadful precedent for the region and the world, leaving the United States before the world as a weak society or as one without democratic intentions

It goes on at length, never getting less frank, saying (paraphrase):

The coupistas feel supported and encouraged

You know how things were under John Negroponte [death squads]

The only laments I hear are not from the coupistas, but from the Honduran people, to whom you are deaf

You have no empathy for those whose human rights are being violated

On various occasions, you have shown the great generosity of Secretary Clinton in asking you not to leave Honduras while the UN and the OAS ordered the departure of ambassadors from Honduras.

It’s indisuptable that the Arias proposal, made by Secretary Clinton, is being manipulated by the de facto regime and that it permits them to impose conditions and agendas

Regarding Barack Obama’s declarations that it’s hypocrisy to ask the US to intervene, who are the hypocrites. It seems that the coupistas know things you don’t want the world to know. This conduct daily diminishes the stature of the US. The US intervenes whenever and wherever it wants to, so we understand that it’s not convenient for you that President Zelaya returns to Honduras.

Honduras is being looted and the thieves will go to Miami with what they’ve stolen

We hold you and Secretary Clinton responsible for those who have died or been wounde.

We would like to know your intentions

Added: Zelaya added to that a statement on Radio Globo that people should not participate in elections, because that is a way of legitimizing the coup. He believes that the coupistas will be judged by an international court and sentenced to life in prison.

Correction. Section 7008 of Public Law 111–8 forbids all assistance to governments formed through coups. See below for the exact text. My error. Mea culpa.
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Update3: Miguel Angel Ferrer, via Narconews:

It’s well known that one of the largest supporters of the coup against Honduran president Manuel Zelaya, was a Cuban multi-millionaire named Rafael Hernández Nodarse; more commonly know by his alias “Ralph H. Nodarse.” He is the owner of San Pedro Sula’s most popular TV station, Channel 6, which has played a decisive role in the justification of the coup and in the campaign to support Micheleti and the other insurrectionists.

Perhaps slightly less well known is that, before the coup, Ralph Nodarse was an active participant in assassination attempts against president Zelaya. And it may not be common knowledge, outside of Honduras, that his name came to light in a bombing attempt against former Honduran president Carlos Roberto Reina.

Outside of Honduras people probably don’t know about the meetings Nodarse held in his San Padro Sula house with members of the Miami mafia to plan action against President Zelaya and his chancellor, Patricia Rodas, for their pro- Cuba posture in the meetings in Trinidad and Toago in April; two months before Micheleti’s coup in June.

Narconews has two other articles, one a humorous but informative one by Belen Fernandez and the other by Al Giordano on how the teachers are adapting

Brother John has a nice piece about doing aid work not as a top-down, this-is-how-you’re-going-to-do-it effort, but as a community. Sustainability, disaster prevention, and a little bit of cash for the community are all part of the planning.

And Radio Globo goes to static, at 10:20PM.
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Update: The concert is on Radio Liberado. (oops. Looks like a few other people figured it out. Net congestion is bad. It’s not quite as much fun hearing every other note.)

Lockerbie: What The US Press Won’t Tell You

Namely, that there’s evidence that Iran, not Libya, did the bombing — but that the CIA did its best to pin it on Libya so that Iran, who was holding some American citizens hostage at the time, could be persuaded to free them.

So yes, when the cancer-stricken al-Megrahi was greeted as an innocent man by his hometown after being freed, this wasn’t the Libyans thumbing their noses at the US as our press has framed it, but their honest (and probably accurate) belief.

Could This Be Why Dick Armey’s Suddenly Made Himself Scarce?

Readers may recall that Dick Armey and his pharmaceutical-industry astroturfing outfit FreedomWorks have been at the forefront of the efforts to shut down the Democratic town halls held during the Congressional recess this month. But late last week, in what was seen as an apparent effort to remove himself as a polarizing figure for observers who noted his role in orchestrating the attacks on the town halls, he abruptly resigned from DLA Piper, a DC-based law and lobbying firm.

The timing is rather interesting, as two days ago Horace M. Cooper, who was one of Armey’s key staffers during his time as House Majority Leader, was indicted for his alleged part in the huge and ever-growing Abramoff scandal.

Now, the GOP/Media Complex’s members can be by and large trusted not to interrupt any TV appearances by Dick Armey with embarrassing questions about Jack Abramoff, but I still somehow doubt we’ll be seeing him on anything other than perhaps FOX News for the foreseeable future.