Honduras coup, Act III, Day 34

A day of very light posting.
Update2:

Just to confuse things, Oscar Arias has proposed a Constitutional Convention for Costa Rica.

From Tiempo: A woman, shot 5 times, and her seven-year old daughter, shot 8 times, in Belen, Gualcho upon leaving church. There is no known motive.

Visas are not being issued, but who is it really hitting? According to a transcript linked by Greg Weeks (via Nell of ALovelyPromise), it’s not hitting businessmen because they have multiple entry visas. And since tourist season is ending, it’s not affecting tourists. And it’s not affecting people seeking emergency entry. This led Jose de Cordoba of WSJ Mexico to say: So it’s basically tourist visas. And what – how many would you be putting out? I mean, the tourism season is over, but school is about to begin. So I don’t think that it’s a big impact. I think it’s a minor action to make a lot of noise, but really very little, it seems to me. the spokesman also took pressure through trade off the table because CAFTA prevents such measures (Ed: unless, of course, the United States wants it not to). Subsecretary Christopher Millen promised more pressure but refused to specify of what kind. Maybe State will think unpleasant thoughts about the coupistas. The former head of the Central American Bank of Integration (BCIE), Federico Alvarado and the head of the business council, Almicar Bulnes are apparently threatening BCIE with withdrawal of funds, which they apparently think will put the bank into default. Unfortunately, Tiempo provides no context. According to La Prensa, BCIE has taken a pause to decide whether it will continue distributing funds in Honduras.

The FIDH, a Spanish human rights organization represented by Judge Baltasar Garzon (who pursued Pinochet) stated that there is political persecution and systematic repression. The Cardinal met privately with the business council, COHEP. Deal cutting?

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Update. Via Magbana at Honduras Oye, The Real News has 10 minutes of Al Giordano. Two takeaways:

there were 40,000 people at the recent concert

Channel 36 is still down

I don’t think that the Frente (anti-coup front) is absolutely opposed to elections as Giordano says. But they are justifiably suspicious and some are absolutely opposed. I also think Giordano is wrong in thinking that leaders like Zelaya and Clinton are irrelevant. Leaders are rallying points who help to give a political movement focus. They provide a human face to the goals and aspirations. This cuts both ways. Many Americans probably can’t bring themselves to believe that things are so bad in Honduras because Hillary and Barack are in charge. And if Zelaya is not allowed to return, how will legitimacy ever reappear, short of a complete collapse of the Honduran government and a reconstruction de novo? But of course over-dependence on leaders is why the US social movement of the 1960s petered out.
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From the news ticker at Honduras Oye

President Zelaya has announced he will hold a press conference, tomorrow, Wednesday, to address the outcome of the OAS mission’s trip to Honduras.

El Frente Nacional has announced that, in light of Micheletti’s refusal to agree to the San Juan Accord, they accept the challenges ahead of them especially the restitution of constitutional order

Report from Honduras en Lucha that a new assault against Radio Globo is underway. Also reporting that the golpistas have sabotaged Maya TV’s audio function.

* The DA promises to investigate the attack on channel 11
* The United States “continues to study” what kind of coup this has taken place.
* Chairwoman of UC Berkeley Anthropology Rosemary Joyce has started a petition by scholars and academics to protest the intellectual vandalism of the Honduran regime as it attempts to re-write history. She also has a blog, Honduras Coup 2009, frequently quoted here.
* Separately, a petition of support for Dario A. Euraque has been started.
* Feminist International Radio Endeavour (FIRE) has documented the rise in violence against women since the beginning of the coup; there were 51 murders in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula in July alone vs 312 throughout Honduras in all of 2008; this is said to be a 60% increase. And the violence is more generalized than murder: “Women appear to be targeted in a specific more sexually aggressive ways, ranging from verbal obscenities and threats to being grabbed or beaten on their breasts or buttocks, had batons jammed between their legs, to more extreme forms of torture and rape while in detention centers…”

Ave Atque Vale, Senator Kennedy

Ted Kennedy was a champion not only for the right of all Americans to health care, but for the full range of human rights. He was a mighty defender of American values. He played a major role in passing, among other laws, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (eliminating immigration quotas based on national origin), the National Cancer Act of 1971, the Federal Election Campaign Act Amendments of 1974 (establishing public financing for presidential elections), the COBRA Act of 1985, the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, the Ryan White AIDS Care Act in 1990, the Civil Rights Act of 1991, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, the Mental Health Parity Act in 1996 and 2008, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program in 1997, and the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act in 2009.

Beyond his political achievements, his political presence was an inspiration to liberals to fight for the right of all people to a decent life. The greatest tribute we can give to Senator Kennedy is to stand up and keep fighting.

Heh Heh Heh

I’ve never been a big fan of Whole Paycheck — both because of their CEO’s politics and his desire to drive local, better stores out of business — so when said jackass CEO, John Mackey, wrote an editorial in the Wall Street Journal that attacked health care reform, I was pleased to see it finally trigger a hard-core boycott of Whole Foods.

How hard-core? Enough to seriously damage the brand’s reputation. And enough to set off calls for Mackey’s removal.

Mackey’s got away with so much for so long that he thought he was untouchable. He thought wrong.