If the Obama administration were a flotilla of ships, it might be sending out an SOS right about now. ObamaCare has hit the political equivalent of an iceberg. And last week the president’s international prestige was broadsided by the Scots, who set free the Lockerbie bomber without the least consideration of American concerns. Mr. Obama’s campaign promise of restoring common sense to budget management is sleeping with the fishes.

This administration needs a win. Or more accurately, it can't bear another loss right now. Most especially it can't afford to be defeated by the government of a puny Central American country that doesn't seem to know its place in the world and dares to defy the imperial orders of Uncle Sam.

I'm referring, of course, to Honduras, which despite two months of intense pressure from Washington is still refusing to reinstate Manuel Zelaya, its deposed president. Last week the administration took off the gloves and sent a message that it would use everything it has to break the neck of the Honduran democracy. Its bullying might work. But it will never be able to brag about what it has done.
The most recent example of the Obama-style Good Neighbor Policy was the announcement last week that visa services for Hondurans are suspended indefinitely, and that some $135 million in bilateral aid might be cut. But these are only the public examples of its hardball tactics. Much nastier stuff is going on behind the scenes, practiced by a presidency that once promised the American people greater transparency and a less interventionist foreign policy.

To recap, the Honduran military in June executed a Supreme Court arrest warrant against Mr. Zelaya for trying to hold a referendum on whether he should be able to run for a second term. Article 239 of the Honduran constitution states that any president who tries for a second term automatically loses the privilege of his office. By insisting that Mr. Zelaya be returned to power, the U.S. is trying to force Honduras to violate its own constitution.

It is also asking Hondurans to risk the fate of Venezuela. They know how Venezuela's Hugo Chávez went from being democratically elected the first time, in 1998, to making himself dictator for life. He did it by destroying his country's institutional checks and balances. When Mr. Zelaya moved to do the same in Honduras, the nation cut him off at the pass.

For Mr. Chávez, Mr. Zelaya's return to power is crucial. The Venezuelan is actively spreading his Marxist gospel around the region and Mr. Zelaya was his man in Tegucigalpa.

The Honduran push-back is a major setback for Caracas. That's why Mr. Chávez has mobilized the Latin left to demand Mr. Zelaya's return. Last week, Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernández joined the fray, calling for Honduras to be kicked out of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (Cafta). Mr. Fernandez is a close friend of Mr. Chávez and a beneficiary of Venezuela's oil-for-obedience program in the Caribbean.
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Mr. Obama apparently wants in on this leftie-fest. He ran for president, in essence, against George W. Bush. Mr. Bush was unpopular in socialist circles. This administration wants to show that it can be cool with Mr. Chávez and friends.

Mr. Obama's methods are decidedly uncool. Prominent Hondurans, including leading members of the business community, complain that a State Department official has been pressuring them to push the interim government to accept the return of Mr. Zelaya to power.

When I asked the State Department whether it was employing such dirty tricks a spokeswoman would only say the U.S. has been "encouraging all members of civil society to support the San Jose 'accord'"—which calls for Mr. Zelaya to be restored to power. Perhaps something was lost in the translation but threats to use U.S. power against a small, poor nation hardly qualify as encouragement.

Elsewhere in the region there are reports that U.S. officials have been calling Latin governments to demand that they support the U.S. position. When I asked State whether that was true, a spokeswoman would not answer the question. She would only say that the U.S. is "cooperating with the [Organization of American States] and [Costa Rican President] Oscar Arias to support the San José accord."

In other words, though it won't admit to coercion, it is fully engaged in arm-twisting at the OAS in order to advance its agenda.

This not only seems unfair to the Honduran democracy but it also seems to contradict an earlier U.S. position. In a letter to Sen. Richard Lugar on Aug. 4, the State Department claimed that its "strategy for engagement is not based on any particular politician or individual" but rather finding "a "resolution that best serves the Honduran people and their democratic aspirations."

A lot of Hondurans believe that the U.S. isn't using its brass knuckles to serve their "democratic aspirations" at all, but the quite-opposite aspirations of a neighborhood thug.

"Oil for obedience program"

Priceless!!!!

Defending Dictators
September 11, 2009 | From theTrumpet.com
U.S. response to Honduras crisis is beyond shameful.

Stephen Flurry
Stephen Flurry

When the Honduras Supreme Court booted its thug-in-chief from office in June, after he illegally attempted to trample all over the nation’s constitution, President Obama immediately rose in defense of the would-be dictator. He called upon all political actors in Honduras to “respect democratic norms” and to uphold the “rule of law.”

Yet, as a simple review of the facts reveals, it was former President Manual Zelaya’s utter contempt for democracy and the rule of law that landed him in exile in the first place.

Before 1981, Honduras had a long history of living under military rule, which is why the fledgling democracy drew up a constitution in 1982 that expressly forbids a president to rule for more than one four-year term. Of the 375 articles in the Honduran constitution, only eight cannot be amended by a two-thirds majority vote in congress. One of those constitutional untouchables is presidential term limits. In fact, article 239 says that for a president to even suggest an amendment intended to extend his rule is grounds for his immediate removal from office.

Then-President Zelaya first suggested ditching the Honduran constitution last November, when he proposed that an additional ballot box be added to polling booths across the country. He said he wanted voters to determine whether or not a government body should be established to write a new constitution.

When that proposal failed to get off the ground, Zelaya opted for scaremongering and intimidation—the same tactics his radical leftist ally Hugo Chavez employed to grab permanent control of Venezuela’s government. In March, Zelaya issued a presidential order setting a June 28 deadline for a national referendum on constitutional reforms. The move set the stage for a showdown between the power hungry Zelaya and the defenders of democracy and the Honduran constitution, which included the congressional body, the attorney general, the Supreme Court, the nation’s military and a majority of its populace.

Egged on by the anti-American, Chavez-led alba alliance—a Latin American trade bloc made up of several members who have skillfully rigged elections to avoid losing power in their home nations—Zelaya moved ahead with the referendum, even daring his own people to stop him. No law enforcement official in Honduras would ever arrest me, he declared on May 10.

The next day, Honduran Attorney General Luis Rubi obtained a court order which declared the referendum proposal as illegal. One week later, Zelaya’s goons surrounded the attorney general’s offices, wearing masks and brandishing machetes, and demanded the referendum move forward. “We have come to defend this country’s second founding, their leader said, referring to the referendum. “If we are denied it, we will resort to national insurrection.”

The ugly episode provided Hondurans with a chilling preview of exactly how Manuel Zelaya intended to secure the “votes” he needed to rewrite the constitution and establish authoritarian rule in Honduras.

So, after Zelaya ignored the court order and defiantly pressed ahead with the referendum, the attorney general, backed by the constitution and an overwhelming majority in the Honduran congress, obtained a warrant for Zelaya’s arrest. On June 28, Honduran soldiers, acting on orders from the Supreme Court, arrested Zelaya and exiled him to Costa Rica.

President Obama’s initial response to the action taken against Zelaya was to incorrectly identify it as a coup d’etat. “It would be a terrible precedent if we start moving backwards into the era in which we are seeing military coups as a means of political transition rather than democratic elections,” Obama said.

Today, though it has backed away from calling the impeachment a coup, the Obama administration still views the crisis through an inverted moral compass. Worse still, Washington now appears to be doing Zelaya’s bidding in Honduras.

Last week, after meeting with Zelaya in Washington, Secretary of State Clinton announced that all U.S. aid to the Honduran government would be permanently cut off as a result of its refusal to reinstall Manuel Zelaya as president. And as if crippling sanctions against one of the poorest countries in the Western hemisphere isn’t enough, the State Department announced last week that given present circumstances, the United States would not recognize the results of the November free elections in Honduras!

This goes beyond madness, as Ralph Peters wrote earlier this week. We have a government in Washington that has it completely backwards when it comes to American friends and foes. While punishing those who are struggling to uphold freedom, democracy and the rule of law, we are actively aiding and abetting the cause of murderous thugs who hate what America stands for and wish to destroy us.

Change has certainly come to America. What a radical turn for the worse we have taken, as we wrote back in January.

As shameful as this whole episode is for the United States, you can’t help but admire little Honduras for sticking to its constitutional guns. In response to Washington’s blatant attempt to bring down the Honduran government, interim Interior Minister Oscar Raul Matute echoed remarks John F. Kennedy made in 1961: “Whether you wish us well or not, we will pay any price, we will bear any burden, we will take on any difficulty, we will support any friend and oppose any enemy to ensure the survival and the success of liberty and democracy in our country.”

That price, with the United States now fully committed to empowering dictators like Manuel Zelaya in Latin American, will be heavy indeed.

no mention however of Uribe of columbia seeking to change their constitution FOR A SECOND TIME so that he can run FOR A THIRD TERM. i guess how you pick your friends and how you treat the elites of your country always trumps a piece of paper.

Ousted Honduran leader left isolated in embassy


TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) - Diplomats and activists streamed out of the increasingly isolated Brazilian Embassy in Honduras where ousted President Manuel Zelaya holed up with a shrinking core of supporters and relatives, prompting Brazil to urge the U.N. Security Council to guarantee the compound's safety.

Zelaya's backers ventured out at several points in Honduras' capital to skirmish with police, after hundreds of their colleagues were routed by baton-wielding soldiers from the street in front of the embassy and police roadblocks sealed off the mission building Tuesday. Authorities denied local media reports that three people died in the confrontation.

The entire country was largely shut down, with almost no cars or pedestrians in the streets and few businesses open under a nearly round-the-clock curfew decreed by the interim government that ousted Zelaya in June. It accused Zelaya of sneaking back into the country Monday to create disturbances and disrupt the Nov. 29 election scheduled to pick his successor.

Foreign Minister Carlos Lopez said the government would not try to enter the embassy to arrest Zelaya, but he also said Honduras' interim leaders had no intention of yielding on the central point demanded by the international community: the reinstatement of Zelaya to serve out the remaining four months of his term.

The government briefly set up loudspeakers near the embassy and shut off water and power to the building, apparently to harass Zelaya's supporters inside. At least 85 Zelaya supporters and part of the embassy's staff later left the building; none were detained. Services were later restored to the building.

"We know we are in danger," Zelaya said during interviews with various media outlets. "We are ready to risk everything, to sacrifice."

Soldiers stood guard on neighboring rooftops and helicopters buzzed overhead. About 174 people detained in the clash outside the embassy were later released. A doctor interviewed by Radio Globo said 18 people were treated at the public hospital for injuries.

At the United Nations, Brazilian Ambassador Maria Luiza Viotti cited the tense situation around the compound in asking the Security Council to hold an emergency meeting on Honduras. She voiced concerns about the safety of the embassy and of Zelaya.

Zelaya, forced out of his country at gunpoint June 28, triumphantly popped up in the capital Monday, telling captivated supporters that after three months of international exile and a secretive 15-hour cross-country journey, he was ready to lead again.

He said Tuesday that he had no plans to leave the embassy and he repeatedly asked to speak with interim President Roberto Micheletti.

Later in the day, Lopez, the foreign minister, quoted Micheletti as saying that "I will talk to anybody, anywhere, any time, including ex-president Manuel Zelaya." But Lopez said the offer did not include allowing Zelaya to serve out his presidential term or avoid arrest on a Supreme Court warrant charging the ex-leader with treason and abuse of authority.

A U.N. truck showed up at the embassy with hot dogs to feed Zelaya's supporters and Brazilian staffers - the only food that U.N. workers could find in a city where nearly every business was closed.

A Zelaya loyalist, Loliveth Andino, stood alone outside an army barricade near the embassy and expressed hope that Zelaya could return to the presidency.

"He was the one who made sure our rights were respected and our voices were heard," Andino said.

(AP) Honduras' ousted President Manuel Zelaya speaks on a cell phone next to his wife Xiomara Castro de...
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Diplomats around the world, from the European Union to the U.S. State Department, urged calm while repeating their recognition of Zelaya as Honduras' legitimate president.

Jose Miguel Insulza, the secretary general of the Organization of American States who is trying to persuade Micheletti to step down and restore Zelaya to his office, said he was "very concerned" that the situation could turn violent.

The government said in a broadcast statement that security forces "have orders to detain those people getting together in neighborhoods with the purpose of causing uneasiness to the rest of the population." Raids targeted attempts by Zelaya backers to set up barricades of rocks or burning tires, mostly in poorer neighborhoods.

A 26-hour curfew imposed Monday afternoon shuttered businesses and schools, leaving the capital's streets mostly deserted. All the nation's international airports and border posts were closed and checkpoints were set up on highways to keep Zelaya supporters from massing for protests.

The government announced Tuesday evening the curfew was being extended 12 more hours, until 6 a.m. Wednesday.

Zelaya was removed after he repeatedly ignored court orders to drop plans for a referendum calling for a popular assembly to reform the constitution. His opponents accused him of wanting to end the constitutional ban on re-election - a charge Zelaya has repeatedly denied.

The Supreme Court ordered his arrest, and the Honduran Congress, alarmed by his increasingly close alliance with leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuba, backed the army as it forced him into exile in Costa Rica.

Since his ouster, Zelaya has traveled around the region to lobby for support from political leaders, including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

U.S.-backed talks moderated by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias stalled over the interim government's refusal to accept Zelaya's reinstatement to the presidency. Arias' proposal would limit Zelaya's powers and prohibit him from attempting to revise the constitution.