FNRP leader Emo assaulted by Zelaya bodyguards

Emo hugging Zelaya at Brazilian Embassy, 09/21/09

Mahadeo Roopchand Sadloo Sadloo, better known by his nickname Emo, and one of the most well-known faces of the Resistance (FNRP), was assassinated yesterday at his tire shop in Tegucigalpa. Emo (variously being reported as Emo, Emmo, or Emmoo) was a naturalized Honduran citizen with 12 children.

Based on witnesses' testimony, the murder appears to have been a paid assassination, and judging by the composite drawing of the perpetrator, the killer was a young man in his early 20s or perhaps even younger. The victim died of five gunshot wounds to the head and thorax.

Xiomara Castro de Zelaya, probable FNRP/FARP (Resistance) presidential candidate and wife of Manuel Zelaya, immediately called it a "political crime" and a warning for her husband. That is an extremely interesting spin, since the only documented threats reported by Emo himself were from Mel Zelaya's own bodyguards. Xiomara eulogizes, “Emo has been a bulwark of the Resistance; he has accompanied Mel; he has been at Mel's side", but fails to mention that Mel's bodyguards have used violence in the past four months to keep Emo away from Mel.

Mel Zelaya said that this action was "a declaration of war against the Resistance" — another interesting political spin, since it is highly doubtful that his bodyguards would have used aggression against his long time loyal follower on several occasions without Mel's knowledge. Mel is calling for "strong and massive" protests and claims that there is a plot to assassinate the leaders of the FNRP.

Honduras President Pepe Lobo says that the full force of the state will be put forth to bring the perpetrator to justice. Today police offered a L.100,000 reward to anyone who could provide conclusive information.

As usual, none of Resistance friendly media or the international media report the aggressions documented by Emo himself in a official human rights complaint against Mel Zelaya's bodyguards, who apparently abused him during visits to several cities.

Emo considered Zelaya "his leader" and was one of his most vocal supporters, always at the forefront of every protest, often giving interviews and soundbites to both local and international media. The photo above shows Emo hugging Zelaya at the Brazilian Embassy when he returned to the country on September 21, 2009.

Emo made an official denuncia before CODEH (Committee for the Defense of Human Rights) on July 21, 2011, characterized on CODEH's website as "physical assault and harassment". According to Emo's complaint, although he considered himself a close friend of Zelaya and part of Mel's inner circle, beginning on May 28, 2011, when Mel Zelaya returned to Honduras, he was repressed and beaten to keep him away from Zelaya by Zelaya's bodyguards, who he names in the complaint.

Emo reports several other instances in which he had traveled to various parts of the country to support "his leader" but was beaten, punched in the face and stomach, choked, knocked to the ground, threatened with a gun, and insulted as being a "nobody" and a "bum" by the bodyguards. He also wrote that he witnessed the bodyguards using aggression against other Zelaya followers, women and men, who were knocked to the ground only because they wanted to say hello to their hero.

The complaint says that Emo reported all of this to other Resistance leaders, Rafael Alegría, Rasel Tome, and Mel himself but received no response.

Zelaya may have thought that Emo had outlived his usefulness and had instructed his bodyguards to keep Emo at a distance from him. Perhaps Emo was disillusioned with Mel's actions since his return. We will probably never know the actual circumstances but it would be very difficult to believe that Zelaya's bodyguards were acting without his knowledge or against his wishes.

CODEH is not a credible organization and it's president Andrés Pavón has made some outrageous, unsupported accusations over the years. Perhaps the most ridiculous was when, in an effort to sabotage the 2009 presidential elections, he reported on a Cholusat Sur television program that he had uncovered a mass assassination plot by the military in which they were going to massacre 1,200 UCD (anti-Zelaya) members during the election in order to blame the massacre on the Resistance. Pavón claimed to have proof and slyly grinned while he showed the cameras two photos of two soldiers standing, doing nothing. The photos could have been taken on any street corner or military installation and showed nothing at all except two soldiers talking to each other. At times during this great revelation, he even appeared to be snickering, as if he himself couldn't believe the gullibility of anyone who would believe this farfetched story.

However, CODEH published Emo's complaint on their website on July 21, 2011, and included two photos of Emo signing the document, so I tend to believe that Emo actually made the denuncia. Interviewed yesterday, Pavón stated that he had not taken action on the complaint as a week afterward, Emo told him that he had "reached an accord" with the bodyguards. The complaint could have been false, but why? Up until an hour before his death, Emo was supporting Mel Zelaya's corrupt protege Flores Lanza in a protest in which he carried a banner with a likeness of Mel. Could it be that the resistance needs a fresh martyr?

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Related article from a Honduran blogger (in Spanish):

Quién sale beneficiado con la muerte de Sadloo? (Who benefits from the death of Sadloo?)

WSJ's O'Grady on the Truth Commission

Wall Street Journal's Mary O'Grady wrote an article about Honduras' Truth Commission Report.

The Truth Comes Out in Honduras
By MARY ANASTASIA O'GRADY
JULY 25, 2011

A commission established by the Organization of American States shows that Manuel Zelaya precipitated the crisis that led to his ouster.

The Honduran Supreme Court's order to arrest then-president Manuel Zelaya and the military's decision to deport him to Costa Rica in June of 2009 was a blow to international socialism.

Mr. Zelaya had been flagrantly violating constitutional law by trying to prolong his tenure. But his friends—the Castro brothers and Hugo Chávez and their acolytes—called his arrest a right-wing military coup. As the left often does when it loses a bid for power through violence, they demanded a "truth commission," so they could trot out "witnesses" to the injustices they claimed had taken place in Honduras.

A truth commission established under the auspices of the Organization of American States (OAS) released its report earlier this month. But the zelayistas didn't quite get the condemnation they sought. Instead, the report is a solid indictment of the former president as the provocateur of the crisis and a corrupt head of state. Given the intense international pressure to produce something that would save face for Zelaya backers, this can mean only one thing: The evidence against him was overwhelming.....

Read the rest of the article at the Wall Street Journal if you have a subscription, or read it at America's Forum for free. ;-)


Mary O'Grady admits that she didn't read the entire report, which weighs in at some 1,800 pages. I have read parts, including the corruption part and she's right: Their evidence against Zelaya and Enrique Lanza Flores (who has been crying 'political persecution') is damning. By the way, much of what was included in the official report (they only gave examples) was reported in this blog in 2009.

I've uploaded a copy of the Truth Commission Report to Scribd (in nine parts plus a summary of recommendations) if anyone is looking for some bedtime reading.

Hat tip to Ed for sending me the WSJ article and finding the other link for me.

The ultimate hypocrisy

Zelaya shrugs

Ya gotta give him credit, the guy has nerve.

From an AFP news article, referring to the truth commission report, which claims there was a coup on June 28, 2009, but also blames Zelaya for breaking several laws prior to that:

Zelaya for his part rejected any culpability for the coup.

"I never in my life violated any laws," he told AFP, when asked to comment on the commission's findings.

Had he in fact, violated the law, Zelaya said, he would be facing criminal charges now, which he pointed out, is not the case.

"There have been no charges filed against me," he said.

"What are these laws that I am supposed to have broken?" he said. "What is the infraction that I am supposed to have committed? Somebody tell me," Zelaya said.

I laughed until I choked on this.

UCD: Open letter to President Lobo, June 22, 2011

The following is an unofficial translation of an open letter to Honduran President Pepe Lobo from the Unión Cívica Democrática (UCD). The original letter in Spanish can be found on the UCD website. You can find out a little more about the organization on Wikipedia (in English or en español). My comments will be in the following article.

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Tegucigalpa, MDC, June 22, 2011

PUBLIC LETTER
TO THE PRESIDENT Porfirio Lobo Sosa

Esteemed Mr. President,

On behalf of the Civic Democratic Union, we are pleased to send to you, set forth publicly, our concerns about the way that you are leading our country.

Above all, we are worried about your attitude and the language that is used increasingly when referring to people that are not of the left, to businessmen of the country, and to all those professionals who with their efforts have dreamed of a destiny for our homeland community.

We do not understand how a person who has made national reconciliation the main purpose of government can maintain a confrontational stance, belittling and insulting those you call the "right". And we worry greatly that you say that there are powerful "recalcitrant" groups who oppose every reform in the interests of our Honduras. Even more, you represent that you feel "threatened" by these groups. By not identifying them by name, you offend all of us.

If you want to promote reforms that promote the generation of investment, employment and wealth, if you intend to end corruption in government, if you aim to strengthen social programs, education and health sectors, so abandoned and neglected, if you seek to reduce poverty decisively, with more action and fewer speeches, if your desire is to achieve a better democracy, more participation, with more independent branches of government and with stronger institutions, with the definitive establishment of the rule of law, if your purpose is that public resources are managed with honesty, prudence and efficiency, do not think that there is anyone on the "right" who is not willing to support you strongly.

What can not be supported is the ambiguity and the unknown. Calls for constitutional reform without knowing the content. Populist stances, the pronouncements known to be failed doctrines and ideologies that have only brought misery and backwardness to countries where they are implanted. Contempt for the laws. Disregard for the Supreme Court. Intolerance and despotism. The cast of others without accountability.

Mr President, all, absolutely all are Hondurans with equal rights. Even those who do not agree with your decisions. And you are the president of all and should be of all.

Everyone has a right to know what direction you are taking your Government: The direction offered in "Honduras is Open for Business" or the direction revealed by the report of Chargé d'Affaires of Venezuela (that you recognized as 90% true).

Mr. President, the members of the Civic Democratic Union are not your enemy. Like you, we want the best for our country. And our contribution to that end is our permanent demand that what prevails in Honduras is democracy, the law, respect, honesty and order, and in that context, a better future will be brought to children of all citizens, with the firm conviction that a country with no respect for law and with a majority of its citizens in a situation of exclusion and poverty is not viable.

Sincerely,

Unión Cívica Democrática

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See the next article for my comments.

Comments on the UCD Open Letter to President Lobo

Confidence: Lobo does what is best for the country?
Cid-Gallup poll taken between June 14 and 20, 2011

Always: 6%
Almost always: 33%
Almost never: 46%
Never: 15%
No response: 1%


UCD made some good points in their open letter to Honduran President Lobo. We cannot figure out where this country is headed or who is directing the journey. In the June Cid-Gallup poll, 78% of Hondurans believe that the country is on the wrong path. On the one hand, we have a huge 'Honduras is open for business' event, making promises of investor security and ease of doing business. On the other hand, we have government condoned invasions and expropriation of business and private property, huge new tax packages, more violent crime than ever, and a general belittling of businessmen as if they are the enemy.

Where are jobs to come from if not from businesses? The government cannot hire every Honduran, though they certainly try their best with a hugely over-bloated bureaucracy that spends so much on salaries that there is nothing left for programs.

President Lobo and several members of his administration have made broad accusations to the media that slander and discredit large groups of people. Besides promoting division in the country, this "dirties" everyone in that class and does nothing to address the real problems (whether criminal or ethical) that he vaguely implies. Lobo has done that many times, including making wild comments that the 'elite' want to/are/will plan a coup against him.

No, I'm not suggesting that corruption, tax evasion or illegal acts should be swept under the rug — just the opposite. Rather than making vague statements to the media, and using disrespectful terms like "fat cows", "crybabies", and "los ricos" (the rich), which only serve to divide, not reconcile the population, I think that these public officials with access to official documentation have a duty to file formal denuncias and ensure that legal action is taken against corrupt government officials and businessmen. But in Honduras, no one is ever held accountable for their actions, and that feeds the general perception that everyone in Honduras is corrupt.

Lobo's inaugural day statement which received the most applause — and the one I feel most foolish for believing — was "No more corruption! Corruptos are going to go to jail, period!" During this year and a half of his administration, there has been no evidence of that at all, not even a baby step in that direction. What we have seen is Lobo pressuring the courts and the congress to ensure that certain corruptos do not receive justice and that laws are ignored when it is convenient.

From the Cid-Gallup poll, 42% believe there is more corruption in this government, 42% believe it is the same, and only 13% believe there is less corruption.

We have also seen President Lobo passing the buck to underlings instead of taking a public stand on alleged corrupt acts, like the recent diplomatic scandals (one in which a diplomat transported US $450,000 in cash from Mexico to Panama). No, the President does not run the Ministerio Público or the courts — or at least he isn't supposed to — but a strong statement from the president about diplomats that he himself has appointed would be welcomed by the population who want to see some real action taken against these officials, not just removal from their positions. When the worst anyone needs to worry about is a slim possibility of being fired, but still being allowed to keep their illegal gains and no chance of criminal charges, that makes corruption a win-win prospect.

It isn't just Lobo who promotes division in the country by smearing broad groups of people. There seems to be an epidemic in his administration. Minister of Finance William Chong Wong has made frequent claims that many large businesses do not pay taxes and that large law firms are involved in falsifying documents. So? Isn't it the government's job to ensure that taxpayers pay what they owe and that appropriate action is taken against tax evaders? Hundreds of small businesses are closed every month for tax evasion and paperwork irregularities. Why aren't the big businesses treated the same way?

Director of the DEI, José Oswaldo Guillén claims that corruption among port authorities results in under-valuation of imported vehicles with the cost to the government of L. 400 million in lost taxes. If that is so, isn't it his job to report these crimes and press for criminal action against those who committed fraud and falsified government documents? Why isn't criminal action taken against government employees who accept bribes and commit fraud?

President of the Congress Juan Orlando Hernández claimed that many congressmen violated the law regarding tax exemption of their personal imported vehicles, sometimes using the same exemption three or four times and sometimes using forged documents. But he did nothing to expose the individual congressmen or to propose legal action against them, instead merely implying that many in congress were guilty without naming names.

These aren't new accusations. Most of these claims have been made for years and in prior administrations. In my mind, if officials have evidence of all of these crimes and do nothing, that makes them accomplices to the corruption.

So what is the general public to think? That all government officials, all congressmen, and all businessmen are guilty of corruption and that no one will ever do anything about it. It's no surprise that citizens have no respect for their government or the laws. That is not good for the country. If the population were to see real action on the corruption front, applied equally to members of all political parties and all individuals regardless of their economic status or personal connections, Hondurans might start believing in their government again. (Poll: tendencies in the opinion of Lobo's performance.)

During Pepe Lobo's 2009 presidential campaign, he refused to give his opinions on even the most basic issues, such as "Who is the president of Honduras?", consistently stating that he needed a 'gran dialogo nacional' (grand national dialogue) first. Now he says that he was given a mandate and that he can't be bothered with getting public opinion. He is publicly dismissive of opinions coming from anyone who he considers of the "right". Lobo gives the impression that 'reconciliation' to him means kowtowing to the radical FNRP, the teacher unions, and the international community while ignoring the views and the serious issues of the rest of people of Honduras.

President Lobo has made some popular decisions which have been cheered by most of the population — but unfortunately, he invariably seems to backtrack on those decisions in the interests of reconciliation. One example is his position that "a day not worked is a day not paid" for the teachers. The Ministry of Education began deducting for "strike days" from the teachers' paychecks. In an emergency proclamation it was declared that teachers who did not return to work by a certain day would be suspended without pay and some were.

But now it has been announced that the suspensions will be reversed and that all teachers would be paid for all days whether worked or not. Apparently this was a negotiation concession, but rather than having the intended effect, the union leaders immediately remarked to the media "what a weak president we have", and teachers in several schools went on strike again! Lobo's threats will never be taken seriously again and teacher unions will continue to hold the children of Honduras hostage, because they know they can win.

Mel Zelaya interview translated to English

Here is a special treat for those of you who don't get Honduran TV and/or don't speak Spanish. This is an interview of Mel Zelaya last Sunday, the day after his return to Honduras, by Amy Goodman of DemocracyNow!, translated word by word to English. If you've never heard Zelaya, I highly recommend that you watch this to get a flavor for what he is all about.




And here is part two of the interview:




This interview was much more tightly controlled, in the US style, than most of Zelaya's interviews on Honduran or Venezuelan television in which he allowed to ramble on and on for hours. The interview came to an abrupt end to Ms. Goodman's surprise when apparently Zelaya received an important phone call. Probably only the "Commandante" could draw Mel away from the cameras.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this.

Two betrayals of Honduras

The betrayal of Honduras
By José R. Cárdenas Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - 11:34 AM

"The Associated Press dispatch from Honduras this past weekend opens thus:

"The return of ousted former President Manuel Zelaya from exile Saturday brings Honduras' nearly two-year political crisis to an end and hope to one of the poorest nations in the Americas."

"Sure. And if you believed that, you'd believe Fidel Castro is going to call for free and fair elections in Cuba next week.

"Only the willfully deluded or the dangerously naïve would believe that the return of the disgraced former president means anything more than increased civic disturbances, more violence, and more chaos in one of Latin America's poorest countries.

"Why? Because that is the way Hugo Chavez wants it.

"The Venezuelan autocrat has bankrolled the two-year exile of his puppet Zelaya, as well the international campaign to force the oligarch-turned-populist's return to Honduras. Chavez has never gotten over the fact that Zelaya's attempt to replicate the Chavez model in Honduras was cut short by his impeachment by the Honduran Congress and his removal from office by order of the country's Supreme Court for violating the country's Constitution and other illegal acts. (Zelaya's apologists insist on characterizing what transpired as a "military coup.")"

Read the rest of this excellent article at Foreign Policy.

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Needs no translation

Speaking of betrayals, at this moment I am reading that the Organization of American States (OAS) session to discuss the re-admittance of Honduras back to the arms of the OAS — which was supposed to be a slam-dunk with the exception of Ecuador — is now being delayed for two hours because Hugo Chávez is making a last minute demand that the Honduran 'golpistas' be brought to justice.

So much for the 'gentlemen's agreement'. There are no gentlemen involved here!

Pepe Lobo's secret pact with Hugo Chávez

Hugo Chávez and Pepe Lobo

Honduran Leader’s Secret Pact with Hugo Chávez

Roger Noriega | Tuesday, May 31st, 2011

"Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez is moving to consolidate his hold on Honduras, after orchestrating the return last Saturday of his puppet, Manuel Zelaya. Officials in Chávez’s inner circle are wondering how their cash-strapped government can finance yet another “revolutionary” government in Central America. What they fail to realize is that Chávez’s backup plan is to sow chaos in Honduras so it is hospitable territory for his partners in the illegal drug trade and a headache for the United States and Mexico.

"Sources within the Venezuelan foreign ministry are delighted that Honduran President Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo was so quick to pledge his loyalty to Chávez and the same radical reforms that got Zelaya deposed in 2009.

"Lobo’s surrender came at a secret meeting in mid-May with Venezuelan envoy Ariel Vargas, held far from the presidential palace at Lobo’s suburban home northeast of the capital. According to sources inside the Venezuelan government, Lobo posed as a fervent revolutionary and begged for Chávez’s patience as he maneuvered around domestic opposition to fundamental constitutional reforms that will allow the people to sweep aside the old order. Lobo suggested to Vargas that he needed help in neutralizing opposition within his own Nationalist Party and the Catholic Church."

.....

"Venezuelan diplomats familiar with Lobo’s offer agreed that the most appealing part of his proposed pact is that they would no longer have to rely on the mercurial Zelaya, whom they have come to regard as a clown and a pest. Chávez will let Lobo believe that they are partners, but the Venezuelan will never accept the rightist Nationalist Party president as an instrument of radical change. Instead, Caracas already has begun to pour millions in support to the National Front of Popular Resistance (FNRP), which will soon be accredited as a political party as part of the “national reconciliation” deal imposed by Chávez. By fabricating a well-financed rival to Honduras’ two traditional political parties, Chávez is convinced that he can rout the opposition and install minority governments to push through drastic economic and social changes."

.....

"For Chávez, Honduras is a win-win-win proposition. If he manages to install a friendly government, he will have a malleable partner who will join the conspiracy against the United States. If his machinations merely sow political chaos and social mayhem, his allies in the illegal drug trade will prosper. And, in either case, saving Honduras will require heavy lifting and substantial support by the United States."

Read the entire article: Interamerican Security Watch

Roger Noriega is a former Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs (Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean) and a former U.S. Ambassador to the Organization of American States.

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No doubt there will be immediate claims that this is ridiculous and false, but it rings very true to me.

Waiting for the show

Waiting crowd
Photo: El Heraldo

It is 11:50 as I begin to write this and Mel Zelaya is a no show so far. Free trips to Tegucigalpa were offered from around the country yesterday to ensure the cheering crowd would be in place with no delays. The crowd was in place by 9 a.m. HCH TV has reported that some are becoming uncomfortable with the delay.

So far this morning, there has been a festival atmosphere with musical entertainment and a few speakers, though some have complained that certain Resistance leaders, like Juan Barahona, were noticeably missing.

There are absolutely no police or military in sight and no repression of the activities. All of the television stations are operating normally. A media helicopter has been circling the area for almost two hours.

A large force of soldiers is in place to protect the airport if necessary, but they are far away on the other side of a fence and the other side of the runway. This is an operating commercial airport and other flights have been coming in normally, including an American Airlines flight. Each time a plane comes in a weak cheer from the crowd arises until they realize that it isn't Mel's plane. Typical of Mel to think that the world (and airport) revolves around him, not to mention that a formal luncheon with all dignitaries, including Insulza, is waiting for him. If his flight is delayed because he missed his planned arrival time of 11:00 a.m., no doubt the government will get the blame.

Oh, I am laughing right now! Campesino leader Rafael Alegría on TV Globo has just said that they calculate the crowd to be around a million! Watch for your US news to be reporting that fallacy tomorrow. I would estimate the crowd to be around 2,000 people. Maybe to be generous, you could stretch it to 3,000-4,000. Judge for yourself from the photos and video that I will post later.

At 12:12 p.m., an announcement was just made saying that he will arrive in 10-15 minutes. El Jefe is getting bored and hungry and planning to go watch the game which starts in about 45 minutes. I'll be updating this article with my photos and video.

At 12:34 p.m., an announcement was made that Zelaya would arrive in 3-5 minutes, but one channel was showing "live" video from Nicaragua and the entourage had not even left yet. El Heraldo is reporting that President Ortega is not coming after all.

It's now 12:47 p.m., and nothing yet! These people have been standing in the hot sun for hours.

1:07 p.m., another plane just arrived, reported by CholusatSur to be Zelaya, but Telesur is showing a live video of Zelaya speaking in Nicaragua!

1:35 p.m. (getting ridiculous, huh?) and still no Mel. The media keeps reporting that he will be here in 5 minutes, but Telesur only says "within the hour". The crowd is increasingly less animated — because they are hungry! Some interviewees said they hadn't eaten today and one mentioned that his group has been there since 6 p.m. yesterday. Some are complaining about the disorganization and apparently now it is starting to rain. This is all so typical of Zelaya — also typical is that the Resistance is getting the blame for the disorganization, not Mel.

I'm beginning to feel foolish for wasting my day with this nonsense. I can't imagine how disrespected the crowd, who have traveled so far, feels.

2 p.m. Zelaya's plane is said to be in the air. The 'news' of many of these TV stations consists of phone calls and reading text messages from viewers. Many of the messages are becoming increasingly angry. The journalists always say that it isn't Mel's fault. CholusatSur (for the 4th or 5th time) has announced that Mel has arrived. Gotta go.... No, another false alarm.

2:15 p.m. I can't upload my photos or work on my video as I have to keep the camera at the ready — like all the other folks who have been waiting for hours. Five more minutes, five more minutes, five more minutes. The crowd is going to be angry by the time Z arrives. If he tries to blame the delay on Lobo....who knows what might happen. Three hours and 15 minutes late, and still counting.

2:45 p.m. His plane landed about 2:35. He and the diplomats are going through immigration and customs formalities now. The crowd is waiting quietly. In a telephone interview with Telesur from the plane, Zelaya spoke of the golpe he suffered but evaded questions about whether he was coming back to lead the FNRP or whether he would be pushing Lobo to join ALBA.

3:00 p.m. This crowd has been waiting for four hours to see their leader! Some have been waiting since 6 p.m. yesterday. I guess Insulza and the other dignitaries waiting to welcome him have been waiting a few hours for their lunch, too. Total lack of respect for everyone, most of all the pueblo that he claims to represent. It's all about Mel. Always has been.

3:20 p.m. The crowd has increased by, oh, I would guess 1,000, maybe more. A couple of hours ago, I told El Jefe that I bet that Zelaya is waiting for a larger crowd before he comes. Call me cynical, but I'll bet that the Resistance leaders sent out buses to pick up more people. Still no Mel.

3:21 p.m. What was that old Gerardo show building up the suspense for opening a treasure chest or something and then there was nothing there? Anyone remember that? I feel like Gerardo must have felt. Additionally, I seriously doubt that my batteries or my shaky hands will hold up for any speech from Zelaya. If Patricia Rodas is there, forget it!

3:32 p.m. Incredibly, Zelaya is on the stage giving interviews to reporters with his back to the crowd who have been waiting in the hot sun for 4 1/2 hours. I'm just flabbergasted.

3:50 p.m. I was attempting to get Zelaya's speech when my camera card filled up. Apparently it is going to take 30 minutes to download all the videos and I can't use my camera in the meantime. Darn! Anyway, Zelaya thanked Hugo Chávez to huge cheers from the crowd. He thanked Pepe Lobo and the crowd was silent. All the corruptos are there with Zelaya.

4:03 p.m. Oh, he's back all right. Honduras needs to get back into Chávez's ALBA and the US is the devil.

4:15 p.m. Various foreigners are giving speeches with pregnant pauses waiting for wild cheers for Chávez, ALBA, socialism, etc. Very interesting but those cheers are very, very weak or sometimes missing entirely. They look surprised and a little embarrassed.

4:35 p.m. Well, all in all, the speech wasn't much. Mel spent more time in the greetings and the thank you's than the actual meat of the speech, which I basically covered above: ALBA! Chávez! Golpe! Patricia Rodas, who some say was the evil mind who led Zelaya astray and ultimately resulted in his downfall, gave some interviews in which she was her same old divisive self, ranting about the golpe and saying this was just the beginning. There was no talk from Mel or anyone else that even hinted at reconciliation. Anyone who was truly interested in reconciliation would be talking about the future, not about golpistas. I've heard the word 200 times today.

And that's it! I'm done. I lasted longer than many of the television stations who went back to regular programming even before Zelaya's speech was finished. It all gave me a headache. I don't know if I even have the interest or energy to go through all those videos or whether anyone would have the interest in watching them..... signing off at 4:45 p.m.

BTW, I'm very happy that there was no violence!

The second coming of Mel Zelaya

Tomorrow, May 28th is the big day. The second coming of the messiah, or at least that is how the return of the former president Mel Zelaya is being treated in some quarters. I don't know how Zelaya could possibly live up to the expectations. For that, I am sorry. Not sorry for Mel, but sorry for the people who think that his coming will somehow change their lives or prospects.

I'm also very worried about what is going to happen tomorrow. The FNRP marches have often resulted in violence. I'm afraid that the 'show' tomorrow is not only staged to show Mel's popularity, but also may be to show that Honduras is ungovernable and for that, "the conditions are not right" for Honduras to be accepted back into the OAS.

In a really strange twist, Andres Pavón, pro-Zelaya head of CODEH, announced to the media that Zelaya was only returning for 24-hours to test the waters, so to speak, regarding his personal security. Pavón is the same person who exposed a 'conspiracy' right before the 2009 elections, claiming that he had proof that the military was going to massacre 1,200 UCD members (white shirts) in order to blame the massacre on the Resistance. Yes, that makes no sense and no one paid any attention to his crazy claim, but it shows the type of person he is. I have no idea what his purpose was in making this statement about Zelaya.

Both Juan Barahona and Mel Zelaya instantly denied Pavón's report, saying that Mel was coming to stay. But the whole thing got me thinking that a big riot (or worse) is the plan, using it as 'proof' of Honduras' lack of human rights, Zelaya's inability to be safe in Honduras, or proof of repression by the security forces. Mel could go back to his life of luxury and security in the Dominican Republic and continue to cause harm to Honduras while playing the victim to the international community.

The FNRP seems more anti-everything than ever these days. Various factions of the FNRP have come out against their own leaders, against Mel Zelaya, against the Cartagena Accord, against Pepe Lobo for signing the Accord, against Honduras rejoining the OAS, against becoming a political party, against reconciliation, even against a plebiscite to hold a constitutional assembly, which has been their main demand from the very beginning. It would almost be humorous if it wasn't so seriously sad for Honduras. The FNRP has been promoting division and hate, and even violence in some cases, for two years now. It could all backfire on them and on Zelaya. When you train a dog to bite, sometimes you can't control them when you need to.

Preparations are being made — t-shirts and flags are being printed, 400 buses have been hired to transport anyone who wants to go to the party from all over the country. One expatriate asked his neighbor who was paying for all that and the response was "Who cares?! It's all for free!" Another Facebook friend mentioned that the "ricos" were getting onto planes to leave Tegucigalpa.

José Insulza, Secretary General of the OAS, is here, too, to welcome back Zelaya. They will all be having lunch at the presidential palace tomorrow. Hopefully Insulza will stay safe in his luxury hotel during the melee because the last thing that we need is for something to happen to him while he is in Honduras or to Zelaya either.

The FNRP have demanded that the police or military not be there or along the route. As of the latest word, the security forces have agreed. Of course, Lobo has guaranteed Zelaya's safety so there will have to be some around him. I wouldn't want to be in Lobo's or Minister of Security Oscar Alvarez's shoes right now. There are no good solutions. They are going to be damned if they do and damned if they don't. Mel will also have his own security to protect him against the protectors.

Really I'm just speculating about all this, but I am very worried. This is a group that wants martyrs. I'll be glued to the television tomorrow — probably with my laptop right in front of me.

But I'm a world class worrier. Don't pay any attention to me. Almost four thousand Hondurans believe the game tomorrow is more important than Zelaya's return.

Why Petrocaribe may not be a good thing

I predicted that one of the first steps after the signing of the Cartagena Accord would be Honduras signing a Petrocaribe agreement with Venezuela. Honduran President Lobo said that Venezuela's Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro brought it up during the signing: "And Petrocaribe?", to which Lobo responded by saying that if offered, he would jump on a plane on Monday.

The idea of rejoining Petrocaribe has already been tossed around to the Honduran media for the past two months, surprisingly first mentioned by prominent businessman Adolfo Facussé, widely considered by pro-Zelaya forces to be a golpista and strongly anti-socialist. He and high level government officials, including Pepe Lobo, publicly and falsely implied that Petrocaribe would mean lower gas prices for Hondurans at the gas pumps.

Petrocaribe is an organization in which member states purchase fuel at market rates from Venezuela. The benefit is that the countries only have to pay 50-60% of the purchase within 60-90 days and are able to finance the rest for 25 years, including a 2-year grace period, at 1% interest. Payments in the form of goods or services may be accepted by Venezuela. The amount financed is supposed to be spent on social projects to help the developing countries.

In theory, it sounds good. In practice, not so much. Supposedly, US $104 million of Honduras' Petrocaribe funds are still sitting in a bank account somewhere, but that in itself is very odd (if true) since the money was supposed to be used for social development projects. Here we are in 2011, three years and three presidents later, and none of the money has been put to use in this impoverished country?

In a January 28, 2008, Wikileak cable, former US Ambassador to Honduras Charles Ford wrote: "Zelaya may also think he can evade the conditions of both Petrocaribe and other donors and divert the funds to cover current spending, for corrupt ends or for the political campaign of his preferred successor, Patricia Rodas."

The Petrocaribe agreement gives no requirements about how the money is to be used or accounted for and there are no reporting or auditing requirements. It's impossible to know whether all of the financed funds were ever deposited or were diverted along the way. A transparency committee was supposed to be formed to oversee the administration of the funds, but I don't think it ever was since the media was constantly asking, "Where's the money?".

Certainly we would have heard about it if the funds had been used for social projects, since the Honduran government spends millions on publicity every year telling us of the good deeds that they do. The money may have partly been used for the government's 2008-2009 operating expenses or the hugely expensive Cuarta Urna publicity campaign, or maybe even just distributed directly to Cuarta Urna supporters. Zelaya's former Minister of Finance Rebeca Santos (who is also facing corruption charges) refused to provide the media with any accounting of the Petrocaribe funds despite constant demands in 2008-2009.

You can read a brief description of Petrocaribe at Wikipedia. (Note that this article is not updated. Honduras formally ceased being a member in 2009 while under Micheletti, but Chávez had already unilaterally and without the required 60-day notice stopped shipping fuel to Honduras on June 29, 2009.) During the period of January through June 2009, Petrocaribe and ALBA accounted for 71% of Honduras' external financing according to Maurico Díaz of FOSDEH, an independent organization that monitors Honduras' foreign debt and development.

According to Joel Hirst, a respected researcher for Council on Foreign Relations who is writing a book on ALBA, the reality in countries like Nicaragua is that the main benefit is actually a massive slush fund that is used (at the expense of future governments and future generations) for controlling the media and ensuring reelection of Chávez-approved candidates, as well as making multi-millionaires of those officials.

Mr. Hirst told me, "But the short story is the prices don't actually come down, it is a method to transfer money to the [political] leaders. Chavez has the same deal with his Petrocaribe El Salvador, but instead he transfers the gas to 22 FMLN municipalities who pay back half and transfer the other half to the party coffers."

Hirst went to explain how Petrocaribe works in Nicaragua: "Basically, you [the Nicaraguan government] pay 50% up front. At the pump, the buyer pays market rate. The other 50% goes into this company called ALBANISA controlled by Ortega's son. Of that, 25% is funneled back to Chavez and 25% is funneled into ALBACARUNA which is a micro-finance institution which currently has about 500 million in liquidity. That's where they pulled the money for all the social programs, the re-election campaign, and the purchasing of hotels, TV stations, etc. The other 50% to be paid immediately to the Chavez government can be repaid in kind. So Ortega takes his 25%, buys fincas [farms] and ranches, and has the PetroNIC buy the stuff (at a high price) from his fincas and ranches to pay back the 50% owed to Chavez. It's what they call a "negocio redondo"."

Lobo also mentioned a fertilizer deal with Venezuela. According to Hirst, this is but another piece of the puzzle: "But in Nicaragua, it's broader than PetroCaribe. Venezuela has provided 500,000 tons of fertilizer to Nicaragua which is treated in roughly the same fashion. This has made Ortega the wealthiest man in the country."

Initially, the Honduran media regurgitated the lower gas price lie, but have since begun to report the truth after asking harder questions of the politicians. Lobo now admits that signing Petrocaribe would not mean lower gas prices.

But the fable is easy to sell to the common folk, who believed Zelaya when he personally took credit for lowering gas prices in television ads. After all - they saw it at the gas pumps! Never mind that the price of oil in the world market went from around $110 per barrel when the congress approved Petrocaribe in mid-March 2008 down to around $46 a year later. A channel 10 viewer poll just this week showed that 67% of the callers believed that Petrocaribe would bring the benefit of lower gas prices to their pockets, even though that particular news organization was reporting the truth about the contract.

A May 10 comparison of Central American gas prices showed that Belize and Nicaragua, both Petrocaribe members, had the highest prices at US $5.98 and $5.15, respectively. Non-Petrocaribe Honduras was right in the middle of the seven Central American countries with a price of $4.76 (all prices based on the cost of regular gasoline).

With gas prices beginning to fall in the world market, this is the perfect time for Honduras to join Petrocaribe. Consumers will begin to see the lower prices at the gas pumps and won't be as tempted to demand transparency for the funds.

Don't be fooled by false promises and red tractors. Read the Petrocaribe agreement [in Spanish] for all the proof that you need.

One last ironic point, in 2008 when the Liberal-led Honduras congress approved the Petrocaribe contract, the Nacionalista party abstained from voting. Party leader Rodolfo Irias Navas spoke out against indebting Honduras to Hugo Chávez. Now the Nacionalista party is in power and they are pushing for Petrocaribe. It's all politics, isn't it?

As Congressman and caricaturist Dario Banegas illustrates in the cartoon below, entitled 'Melobo', sometimes it is hard to tell them apart.



Other articles by Joel D. Hirst that may be of interest:

Honduras' "Pepe" Lobo Should be Wary of Constitutional Reform

"Revolutionary Brotherhood"—21st Century Socialist Revolution

What is 21st Century Socialism? (brief comparison chart)


A complete list of Joel's articles (both in Spanish and English) can be found here.

Mel Zelaya's entourage and what's next?

Juan Barahona, Hugo Chávez, and Manuel Zelaya

The circus is coming to town!

Juan Barahona, sub-coordinator of the FNRP (Resistance movement), has announced that former president Manuel "Mel" Zelaya will return to Tegucigalpa, Honduras at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 28. Accompanying Mel will be Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and Nicolás Maduro, Foreign Minister of Venezuela and Chávez' right-hand man. Both men are strong XXIst century socialists and strongly anti-US, a country which they refer to as the imperialists, blaming imperialism for all the woes of Latin America.

Also accompanying Mel will be one or more unnamed former Zelaya cabinet members — or "all of the exiles" according to Barahona [in Spanish]. Most, if not all, of the 'auto-exiles' have corruption and abuse of authority charges pending against them. But what is good for the goose, is good for the gander.... despite Honduran President Lobo's election day promise that "all corruptos will go to jail, en punto!", he seems willing to make any deal with anyone in the name of 'reconciliation'. I saw him on television tonight and I have to say that he looked more stressed than I have ever seen him.

My guess is that the distinguished foreign visitors will not only be around to up the ante for the 'Mel show' but will also be meeting with Pepe Lobo to enforce whatever agreements Lobo has made in secret with Zelaya and Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. I'm pretty sure that we soon will be hearing an announcement of Honduras joining Chávez' Petrocaribe and perhaps even talk of Chávez' ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas) not being such a bad thing after all. (More on Petrocaribe in my next article.)

The Resistance has promised a massive turnout of people to welcome back Mel and the show won't be complete without showing the world "repression by the golpista security forces". My guess is that there will be orchestrated lawlessness and violence to provoke action on the part of the police, complete with video cameras at the ready to capture only the second half of the action. Lobo has promised to provide protection for Zelaya.

Who is Juan Barahona?

Juan Barahona is a union leader, member of the former Honduran Communist Party and long time "revolutionary" who recently returned from a visit with Castro in Cuba. This interview, translated to English, tells how the four conditions (which were not mentioned by Lobo or Chávez or even Zelaya after the Lobo-Chávez meeting) came about.

Since any demands imposed by Chávez or the US would be looked upon with great suspicion both within and outside of Honduras, the proposal was softened by including neutral Colombian President Santos. (Where is Wikileaks when you need them?) Oddly, in a public comment after the original "mediation", Chávez said that he understood that the Resistance only included about 5% of the Honduras population and that a constituyente wasn't necessary anymore because the Honduran congress had passed an amendment to the plebiscite and referendum law, seemingly stabbing the FNRP in the back, at least publicly.

A week after the meeting in Colombia, Barahona, other FNRP leaders and several ex-Zelaya cabinet members met with Chávez and Zelaya in Venezuela specifically requesting the four points which Zelaya later announced as though they had been part of the original talks.

Juan Barahona, in the referenced article, boldly predicts that "on June 28 the auto-convocation of the National Constituent Assembly begins." He further states that they have fear that Lobo will sign an agreement but later not fulfill the terms after Honduras has been accepted back into the OAS so the FNRP has proposed a "Verification Commission" in which Presidents Santos and Chávez will guarantee the agreement is complied with. Colombian Foreign Minister María Holguín arrived unexpectedly this week to meet with President Lobo but the media was unable to find out what was agreed to or whether any documents were signed. Lobo is not talking.

Barahona also says that as a part of the human rights requirement, they have demanded punishment of all who took part in the June 28 "coup". Zelaya has often spoken of vengeance against the golpistas, despite the prior agreements to provide amnesty for all political crimes.

At least one FNRP faction, however, took objection to Zelaya and Barahona's dealings with Chávez, stating that the agreement blessed by Zelaya, Barahona, and other FNRP leaders has "been given very untransparent treatment by the leadership committee of the FNRP, which has manipulated information, kept secret the documents of the accord, and unreasonably refused to account for its actions before the full coordinating committee". Much of the same could be said about Pepe Lobo.

Constitutional Assembly

I don't believe that in a fair election a Constituyente would be approved because the vast majority of the population would vote against it, but, on the other hand, rumors abound that both Lobo and Juan Orlando Hernández, President of the Congress and strong potential 2013 presidential candidate, would both love to see reelection of presidents allowed. They have the means and ability to both manipulate public thinking and public spending (and thus public opinion).

Currently Lobo's popularity rating is in the dumpster, even lower than Zelaya's was at his worst, but enough handouts in the right places could turn that around, just as it did for Zelaya. Honduran blogger Ardegas wrote an excellent article [in English and in Español] analyzing Lobo's first year in office that I think represents the view of many Hondurans.

But the general unhappiness with Lobo's government from all sides of the political spectrum might result in many people deciding that anything would be better than the current corrupt system. Additionally, many people vote the party line regardless of what it might mean for the future of the country, so if Pepe says 'go', it's a go for them.

But Zelaya says...

In Nicaragua speaking the Foro de Sao Paulo, Zelaya himself interestingly says only that he "possibly" will return in the next days, "si Dios quiere" [article in Spanish]. El Heraldo quotes him as saying his lofty purpose is to "restore liberty and the political processes in Honduras".

In his discourse at the forum, Zelaya sang the praises of both "Comandante" Ortega and "Comandante" Chávez. Zelaya denounced capitalism as generating corruption and violence, pointing out that imperialism has been the cause of all 144 coups in Latin America and that, with every day that passes it is proven that the US, its government and the US Department of State were behind the coup that provoked his exit from power. He sarcastically exclaimed, "What a coincidence!" that four of the six coups in the 21st century were in ALBA countries, wildly stretching even the the most liberal definition of a coup. "Capitalism is the antonym of democracy and socialism is the synonym of democracy."

Mel Zelaya loves being in the limelight and loves playing the victim, as he often did while president (see this 2007 article, "Oh, boo hoo, everyone is against me"). In the past year and a half, he could barely even get coverage in Chávez' Telesur. Out of desperation for coverage, he recently spoke for more than 3 hours to a surprised Mexican reporter.

We should be in for some good shows in the coming weeks, but I don't think it will last much longer than that. One of Zelaya's flaws is that he gets carried away with himself when speaking. Another flaw is that he doesn't seem to remember what he said from one speech to the next — or possibly thinks that others don't remember. But most of all, I think that he is deluded about how much power and influence he really has in Honduras.

Zelaya is going to become just another ex-president and a clownish one at that. With Honduras in the OAS, they won't need him anymore. His specialty is dividing, not uniting the people and reconciliation is the last thing on his mind. I think that will become clear very soon. He doesn't really have any concrete ideology other than first looking out for numero uno.

He's been using the Resistance because it was all he had. If, for an extreme, non-probable example, he were to be named the head of the Liberal party (which he won't be!), he would drop the Resistance and its ideology like a hot potato. After all, he is one of the elite despite his (and others) attempts to jump on the Resistance bandwagon and pretend to be one of the common folk. As he begins to recognize his lack of influence, his speeches will become more extreme and radical until finally no one will want to listen to him.

Hopefully he will not encourage violence as a means of showing his perceived power.

Mel Zelaya to return to Honduras

Mel Zelaya

Rasel Tome just announced to Habla Como Habla television that exiled former president Mel Zelaya is returning to Honduras next weekend. He wouldn't say when Zelaya would arrive, only that he was coming into Toncontín airport in Tegucigalpa and that it would be Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, May 27-29.

He implied that the Honduran government had conceded to the four points that Zelaya insisted upon after the meeting between Honduran President Pepe Lobo, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, and Colombian President Juan Santos. I haven't heard Pepe Lobo speak of these requirements, particularly the constitutional assembly. These points were not announced in the press conferences after the meeting in Colombia and appear to have been something that Zelaya (who wasn't there) came up with in the days after the meeting. There has been no public indication whether Lobo has or has not agreed to these points.

One of those points is that all of the "exiled" compatriots who escaped the country after June 28 (most likely because of their involvement in corrupt and illegal acts) return immediately and "securely". Whether that means body guards or immunity against prosecution, I don't know. Anything is possible in Honduras. Anything that is, except guaranteeing the safety of anyone.

Another point was initiation of a plebiscite for a constitutional assembly. Respect for human rights was the third point. And finally that the FNRP (Frente Nacional de Resistencia Popular) be recognized as a "belligerent" political and social organization. There is nothing that I'm aware of preventing the Resistance from becoming a political party, but some leaders in the Resistance, which is a very divided group, have said that they don't want to be a political party.

From his mansion in the Dominican Republic for the past month, Zelaya has been singing the praises of Hugo Chávez as the savior of Honduras who has done what no one else in the world was able to do: find an exit for the political crisis. Never mind that Pepe Lobo has been telling Zelaya that he can return whenever he wants to for more than a year. In his last comunicado of May 12, Zelaya demanded that the USA immediately pronounce itself in favor of the Chávez-Santos mediation.

Last week, Zelaya's wife filed a denuncia claiming that she had been told of a plot to assassinate Mel, claiming a certain friend had told her of the plot. The friend immediately denied to the media that he had said any such thing.

I predict that Honduras will shortly join Chávez's Petrocaribe as one of the under-the-table agreements that was made in Colombia. Several politicians and some businessmen have been issuing false and deliberately misleading statements that joining Petrocaribe would mean lower gas prices for Hondurans at the gas pumps.

This makes the 110th time we have heard that Zelaya will return to Honduras. Will he? Or won't he?

As I post this, not even the AP or the Honduran newspapers have reported it. Maybe Zelaya just isn't news anymore. Thanks go to El Jefe for the tip!

Translation of the Good Teacher video

To cleanse your palette after that last video, I'm including a translation of the Good Teacher video posted a couple of weeks ago. Thank goodness there are thousands more sensible Honduran teachers who put the future of the children before their own personal and political motives than there are teachers like Hector Cruz.




Lady in yellow shirt: ....to move forward. It is not fair that they [teachers] come to pull out students from school. They have to continue receiving classes.

Reporter: Have you received any threats that they might come and take them out?

Lady in yellow shirt: Yes, they have threatened us.

Reporter: Is that the reason why you are here? Are you taking care of your children?

Lady: Yes, we are taking care of our children.

Reporter: So, you have stopped your chores to come here and take care of them?

Lady: Yes, we always do that, the majority of the parents.

Lady Reporter: What responsibility by the teachers in Cerro Grande in the school with the same name! It is amazing that they have shared their sentiment with the parent association to make sure that their children attend school, even if they hear the contrary in the news. They also send a message to the union leaders in whom they have lost credibility.

Teacher Irma Lopez (Blue shirt): We are always working. First, for our own satisfaction, and second, because we see the problems in our teacher unions — as if they are making a “political salad” between politics and the union members. So what we want is that the union leaders make wise decisions during the negotiations. A negotiation is not done with the teachers on the streets. We have seen the problems that arise from violence. We have lost lives and the union leaders don’t make any decisions. I think that sometimes we can not solve problems on our own, that is why we have to seek help.

Irma Lopez: I consider that many have been given the wrong advice. I tell you this from personal experience as a teacher who has always been in the front of this struggle since 1972. Now, I do know we are going the wrong direction, going to the streets and violating the rights of the children, who aren’t to blame for wasting their time in their houses because we are on the streets.

Reporter: Do you still have confidence in the union leaders?

Irma Lopez: Well, I am going to tell you my personal opinion. Personally, I have no confidence in them [the union leaders]. These last actions have failed. These failures haven’t been evaluated. They have not given us a clear report. The truth is we are in limbo. They treat us like puppets. They bring us and take us here and there. I think many teachers get a thrill about protesting on the streets. It also happened to me during the 70’s. But I think that we don’t get success from those emotions. We get success from wisdom and good thinking in order to know how to lead. We are an enormous group. It is worrisome now that there are so few teachers who support the union leaders.


Related articles:

A very, very bad teacher
A good Honduran teacher

A very, very bad teacher

I showed you a video of a good teacher a couple of weeks ago. A translation of that video is posted here. This week, I'll show you a video of a very, very bad teacher. His name is Hector Cruz Moncada and he is not only a teacher, but a school director (principal) in Tocoa, Colón.

The news video is in Spanish, of course, but a Honduran friend translated and wrote a transcript of the video shown below — with collaboration on the slang from my Facebook friends. (Thanks, everyone!) I missed recording his interview shown on the news the day before in which Sr. Cruz warned that they were arming the students and teachers.

In this video, Maestro Cruz threatens the life of a brother of President Lobo, saying Lobo will be feeling the same things felt by the relatives of teacher Ilse Ivana Velásquez Rodriguez who was run over and killed by a press vehicle (Habla Como Habla) during a protest. He also indicates that they have gotten bomb-making material from "other Central American governments" and that engineering teachers will be building bombs in the school laboratories to be used to "burn Tegucigalpa", the capital city.

A few days afterward, Cruz issued an apology.

While I was waiting for the translation, I originally wrote that I would be willing to bet that Hector Cruz is still employed by the Department of Education and that no action will be taken to remove this violent man from a position of authority over children and teachers. But his name was included among the original 305 teachers who were suspended for not showing up to work on April 4. However, it now looks like President Lobo will be backtracking on the teacher suspensions. It will be hard for students to learn responsibility when they see that in the 'real world' of Honduras, no one is ever held responsible for anything.

I asked the translator what she thought of Cruz and she responded with this:

"He is going to continue brain washing the students. As a [Honduran] student myself, I was also exposed to that type of brain washing techniques. My husband was exposed to more severe and stronger individuals at the university level. This is not something new. While I was growing up, some of those teachers were communists and one of them was killed. Still I think that weak brains fall for those ideologies. We didn't because our values were well established. During that time, they [the teachers] offered us liquor and smoke. Nowadays, money and technology is taking great part as payment. A growing teenager might be capable of falling for an Ipod, money, computer.

But it is true that at the university (CURN/UNAH) students had to support or at least pretend to fall for the revolutionary ideologies to pass certain classes such as "El Hombre y la Ciencia". El Comandante Cero used to come at night and give lectures in the Centro Universitario Regional del Norte/Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Honduras. Mentioned lectures were given only to students and instructors that were recognized communist leaders. Those visits were only known after the fact of course.

My husband says there were also students that were government spies and in one instance he recognized one that worked for the DIN (now has a different name), he immediately made a "hush, hush" signal to my husband. My husband says that he always kept himself neutral to this because the less you knew, the less danger you were exposed to. Imagine this was in the 80s. There were always the students that were in "la la" land and never saw anything or opted out to just play safe like my husband.

I think that all those university students that during that time went to Russia/Cuba to study should ring a bell. "

Translation of video of Héctor Cruz Moncada,
school director in Tocoa, Colon

Cruz: The military is not gonna be able to put up with us. We have industrial mechanical experts and mechanical engineers. We have chemist, physicists, and pharmacists. You are going to see that we are going to prepare our own bombs made by our own chemistry and physics instructors in the capital of the republic (Tegucigalpa). And, what goes around, comes around, we are going to have to confront all those cops, just the same way they are disrespecting us.

Reporter: These are the declarations given by the director of the Froylán Turcios school in Tocoa, Colon. This was aired yesterday. We have more exclusive declarations given by this same principal. The following is a direct threat to the president’s brother.

Cruz: Through the Central American governments who have the raw materials [for bombs] and we are analyzing in the laboratories that we have in different schools, that I am not going to reveal the information to anyone, because that is our strategy.

Cruz: The president Pepe Lobo won’t even know what hit him. He is gonna get it directly ... he better remember that he has a dear brother named Ramón Lobo Sosa. That is the dearest brother who has supported him always. He is going to feel what the brothers and nephews of the teacher Ilse Ivana Velásquez Rodriguez felt. It is not enough for him for a teacher to get killed, that is inhumane. If they continue killing more teachers, more students and more family....watch out....the general strike is approaching.

Reporter: Now you heard a threat, a death threat. We don’t know if the attorney general, the police, and the president Pepe Lobo are already acting [on this threat]. Yesterday’s threat was against the security of the state: “We are making bombs, we are arming the students and we are going to burn Tegucigalpa”. Today’s threat is directly against the president’s brother, Ramón Lobo Sosa, who resides in the town of Bonito Oriental, Colon.

Reporter: Yesterday we also presented a legal complaint that the president made against some people who threatened his sister who lives in Juticalpa, Olancho. This is a situation that he is trying to deal with as a personal matter. These types of problems are not in his job description as president. He will have to go and talk to the people who are making the threats. Still, we can not ignore what is happening to the President of the Congress, whose mother was also displaced from her house due to strong threats as well. In what kind of country we are living? Where are we going with all this?

Reporter: We have clearly explained the responsibilities that a teacher should have and the rights that they can opt for but in no way the path they are following. Let’s hope that this will only be a teacher union battle trying to show their achievements, but not with the involvement of third parties trying to collapse the country another time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Related news reports about Héctor Cruz (in Spanish):

La Tribuna
La Prensa

The original Good Teacher video and the new translation.