Lugar Clinton: Explain Honduras Foreign Policy Please

Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) has Secretary of State Hillary to explain our U.S. foreign policy on Honduras. Thank you. Essential topic. Lugar is basically saying: why are we doing what we're doing? Following the Senate protocol of gentility, Lugar gently forges ahead:

I request that the Department provide interested Members a detailed clarification of the steps that it has taken, and intends to take, in response to the events that transpired in the run-up to and period after the forced removal of President Manuel Zelaya from Honduras," Lugar wrote to Clinton. Your explanation of U.S. policy toward Honduras and your outreach to the Senate can improve the prospects of confirming Mr. Valenzuela before the Congress recesses in August," Lugar wrote. The Senate is scheduled to go on recess August 8.

The Honduran Congress, Supreme Court and Military jettisoned former President Manuel Zelaya out of the county for insisting on holding an unconstitutional referendum the day before he was removed from the country, to query citizens about extending his, or any, president's term in office. Roberto Micheletti, a member of Congress, was installed as interim President until the November elections. According to the Honduras Constitution, a president is not authorized to call such a referendum. Congress may do so, but a president may not. Zelaya had ballots printed in Venezuela and shipped in. Unconstitutional. Zelaya has not been allowed to enter the country since. He is spending most of his time in neighboring Nicauragua and camping on the border. The Obama administration sternly counseled the Michelletti government to reseat the democratically elected President Zelaya. Michelletti refused. The U.S. has withheld $1.6 million in military aid, is threatening to withhold $16 million in economic aid. We revoked the visas of four Honduran diplomats. We have advocated for mediation with Costa Rican president being the mediator. It appears the mediation has failed on every level. Obama et al took days to advise, kinda-sorta, the Iranian government to mind how their thugs were beating and killing the Iranian citizens, but Honduras upholds their own constitution, and we offer no support. We have offered no support to a country who was on track to become another Venezuela under the rule of a power-theiving president. Senator Lugar is doing the right thing. Now I hope he takes the kool-aid that will be offered from Clinton and says "no thanks," and continues the conversation on a very serious note.

Background: Honduras Constitution: Zelaya Removal Constitutional Honduras Thousands in the Street: Michelletti Supporters in the Streets Honduras Defending Constitution: Constitutional Succession Honduras Threatened with Banishment from Organization of American States Zelaya Returns to Honduras: Micheletti Government to Block Zelaya Plane Micheletti Still Denies Zelaya Engry: Zelaya Visits Hillary Instead Honduras: Last Bastion of Democracy Zelaya, Micheletti in Costa Rica: Zelaya, Micheletti Meet with Negotiators Zelaya Returns: Zelaya Retreats

Honduras Thousands in the Street: Micheletti Supporters in the Streets

The political situation in Honduras is not difficult for most of us to understand, since the Honduran constitution is all over the web. Most Americans get it right, but not the politicians dreaming of their own empiric crowning. What the media is not telling us or showing us are that Hondurans by the thousands are in the streets, and they support Roberto Michelletti's constitutional succession. Video below. When Venezuela's Hugo Chavez seized power for as long as he wants it in May 2007, little was seen in the mainstream media of the protests against Chavez. You can see and read that sad story here and here. This is what Hondurans had to look forward to, but instead they got ahead of Zelaya and sent him packing. If you listen to the media, you would think the only protesters are Manuel Zelaya supporters hanging out on airport runways and the Nicaraguan border. That is a wrong impression. Watch the Pajamas Media video below. Links to Zelaya-Michelletti background below the video.

Honduras Thousands in the Street Video

Background: Lugar Clinton: Explain Honduras Foreign Policy Please Honduras Defending the Constitution: Constitutional Succession - Defending Democracy Honduras Constitution: Zelaya Removal Constitutional Honduras Thousands in the Street: Michelletti Supporters in the Streets Honduras Threatened with Banishment from Organization of American States Zelaya Returns to Honduras: Micheletti Government to Block Zelaya Plane Micheletti Still Denies Zelaya Engry: Zelaya Visits Hillary Instead Honduras: Last Bastion of Democracy Zelaya, Micheletti in Costa Rica: Zelaya, Micheletti Meet with Negotiators Zelaya Returns: Zelaya Retreats

Micheletti Still Denies Zelaya Entry: Zelaya Visits Hillary Instead

Ousted Honduran president, Manuel Zelaya will not attempt to land his plane inside Honudras again today, because the administration of Roberto Michelleti won't allow it. Instead, Zelaya will visit with U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton in Washngton, D.C.

Roberto Micheletti

...he changed his mind after Honduras' interim authorities closed the airport and vowed to arrest him for violating the country's constitution in a desperate bid to remain in power.

Hanging out in a mall in Managua, Nicaragua yesterday, Zelaya will look for warm pablum from the U.S. government who unbelievably supports his socialist agenda in the country of Honduras who wants no part of it [except for the poor who received a minimum wage increase of 60%].

Some of his supporters reportedly are even considering smuggling Zelaya across the mountainous border area from Nicaragua. In recent years, Zelaya began peppering his speeches with fiery sentiments, casting himself as defender of the working class.

A little about Zelaya's background:

It was unlikely rhetoric [defending the working class] for the son of a wealthy rancher who was imprisoned and later pardoned for the 1975 massacre of six peasant activists accused of invading the family's land, as well as two priests - one from Wisconsin. Their bodies were pulled from a well in front of Zelaya's property

By the way, the "working class" in Honduras does not include business owners, who say that 150,000 jobs were lost due to the excessive minimum wage hike, which was far more than labor requests. Read what business thinks about Zelaya here. How does Zelaya live today?

Nearby is the sprawling Zelaya ranch, with burnt-orange columns and a Spanish tile roof. The driveway is lined with palm trees and a satellite television dish protrudes from the lawn. The front door opens to a stunning view of densely forested mountains.

A pair of Pekinese and a friendly golden retriever share the home with Zelaya's mother and the caretaker and his family. Soldiers guarded the property after the coup, though Zelaya's mother fled into hiding in Tegucigalpa.

To be fair, there are many reports from those who worked for the Zelaya family before he became president, including working for his father. They talk of a benevolent family who eventually donated parcels of land to workers. But...

Not everyone agrees.

"The family was always respected," Lazo said. "But all of the things he wanted to do with that referendum, it was like he was being pushed by something, pushed to the left."

Hillary has just returned from a visit to Honduras to meet with the Organization of American States (OAS), where no consensus was reached. Taxpayers paid for her jaunt there to meet with a group that wants to shore up (as my husband says) a "friggin'" dictator. I haven't heard a single word from the Obama administration about Zelaya attempting to assume control of oil terminals and reduce imports to one company in December 28. Zelaya and his real-time-friend, Hugo Chavez have quite a con going on.

Zelaya's detractors say he was influenced by Chavez, a self-proclaimed socialist who has given Honduras $300 million in financial aid since January and provides oil on credit. The Venezuelan president has formed a leftist bloc of nations fueled by petrodollars that he hopes can challenge Washington's regional influence. Honduras' formerly war-torn neighbors all elected leftist leaders recently - Guatemala and El Salvador for the first time in decades. All are Chavez allies. Chavez used referendums to win the right to seek re-election repeatedly. Many feared Zelaya was doing the same - and would then follow Chavez in weakening the courts and Congress and launching socialist takeovers of key businesses.

Roberto Micheletti said Zelaya was not ousted in a coup. He was ousted through a Constitutional Succession. Has the Obama taken any consideration of this claim? Background: Lugar Clinton: Explain Honduras Foreign Policy Please Honduras Thousands in the Street: Michelletti Supporters in the Streets Zelaya Returns: Zelaya Retreats Honduras Defending Constitution: Defending Democracy Honduras Threatened with Banishment from Organization of American States Zelaya Returns to Honduras: Micheletti Government to Block Zelaya Plane Micheletti Still Denies Zelaya Entry: Zelaya Visits Hillary Instead Honduras: Last Bastion of Democracy