June 28, 2009

Honduran President Mel Zelaya arrested

Honduran President Manuel Zelaya

Confirmed by CNN International, the Honduran Ambassador in the US, and El Heraldo newspaper:

The much rumored Honduran coup d'etat (golpe de estado) has occurred.

Honduran military arrested President Mel Zelaya around 5 a.m. this morning, what was to have been the day of the illegal referendum pushed by Zelaya despite declarations of illegality from the Attorney General, the Congress, and the Supreme Court. Military personnel escorted Zelaya to the Hernán Acosta Mejía air force base and he has been removed from the country. Military forces have taken control of the presidential palace and are confiscating the election materials in Tegucigalpa.

The government of Costa Rica has confirmed that Zelaya is in Costa Rica. The Costa Rican Minister of Security reported that Zelaya is in "magnificent" condition with no personal injuries whatsoever. She reported that Zelaya said he was kidnapped and that he did not ask for asylum. She believes that he will hold a press conference in the next hour.


CNN en Español video from Tegucigalpa shows Zelaya supporters protesting peacefully in front of the presidential palace but the crowd appears to be dispersing. In one video, two women begin beating on the soldiers who are only walking down the sidewalk at the time.


Information is sketchy because much of the capital city is without electricity, radio stations are off the air, all of the Honduran TV stations have been silent on the issue, showing sports, cartoons, and normal programming. The government propaganda station has been taken off the air. All of the Honduran newspaper websites are overloaded and can only be accessed sporadically. I was able to access La Tribuna to read one article but am no longer able to access La Tribuna for updates.

At this moment, inbside or outside of Honduras, CNN en Español seems to be the best source of information. They are primarily doing telephone interviews. An interview with the leader of the large Paz y Democracia group (Peace and Democracy) reports that the military was acting legally under orders of the Supreme Court and that this "IS NOT A GOLPE DE ESTADO."

Hopefully, the Honduran newspapers will be available soon.
If you are unable to access any of Honduran newspaper sites via the front page, try this link:

Militares detienen al Presidente

Here is a Google English translation of the same article

A Honduran government news conference is expected at noon today, Honduran time.



Background information:

Honduran crisis: the day before the election


Hugo Chávez threatens to intervene in Honduras


La Cuarta Urna (the fourth ballot box)

Yes, it's my birthday...

See? Same number of candles as last year.


....and I've heard that people throughout Honduras will be marching in the streets and meeting in schools and churches today. They don't do that for just anybody, you know? ;-)

Seriously, El Jefe had to remind me because the only thing that June 28th signifies to me lately is the referendum! Am I engrossed in this, or what?

Thank you all for the 'happy birthdays.' Oh, and in case you are wondering: Yes, I will be 29....once again. Hahaha.


All together now:

♪ Happy Birthday to La Gringa ♫

♫ ¡Feliz cumpleaños a ti! ♪

♫ Queremos coca cola ♫

♫ ¡y pastel también! ♫

June 27, 2009

Anonymous report: Explosions near the presidential palace

Anonymous comment just received:

"It's 6:45 pm & I live a few blocks away from the prez (presidential) palace, and just in the last 40 minutes, we've heard 3 very loud explosion sounds. It's not thunder and it's not a transformer!! But I don't see any smoke. Could it be "fake sounding" bombs to keep people indoors??!! I'll update if I hear more!!!!"

Then again:

On Sat, Jun 27, 2009 at 7:17 PM, Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Honduran crisis - the day before the election":
Me again!!! Fourth loud BOOM at 7:10


Nothing is on the Honduran TV channels about this right now and no updates in the online news so far. We'll see if this is a prank or something.



Update 10:00 p.m.: Anonymous and Anonymous, who both say they also live near the presidential palace, say that they heard nothing, so they are disputing Anonymous.....

Come on folks! How about thinking up a nickname? It's not that hard. There is Mary, Maria, John, Juan, etc., etc., etc.! No one is asking for your address or social security number. ;-)

Update 11:40 p.m.: And yet another Anonymous says:


On Sat, Jun 27, 2009 at 11:10 PM, Anonymous  wrote:
Hi la Gringa what a great blog! I just discovered it via a friend....in reference to the booms being heard, I'm in the area near the airport and have been hearing booms since the pres' last cadena but more than explosions, they sound like firecrackers or gunshots.


So its a tie. Anonymous and Anonymous are hearing things and Anonymous and Anonymous are not hearing anything. Is that clear?


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