Wednesday, July 01, 2009

Cuba News on Honduran Crisis: Zelaya Expresses Thanks in General Assembly; Curfew Extended

Zelaya expresses thanks in General Assembly for international support

CARACAS, June 30.— The constitutional president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, said that the UN resolution passed unanimously today, condemning the coup d’état perpetrated against the constitutional government of Honduras, was greatly uplifting for the dignity of the people of Honduras and the rest of the world.

He noted that the resolution also highlighted agreements on human rights throughout the world, as well as basic values of humanity, Notimex reported.

Zelaya also thanked the international community for its vigorous condemnation of the June 28 coup, and reaffirmed that he is to return to Honduras as the legitimate president of that country, which he is.

At a subsequent press conference in New York, Zelaya confirmed that he is to return to his country to complete his current mandate, which ends in January 2010, and that he will not run for office again, given that he cannot be reelected.

Argentine President Cristina Fernández and Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa and the presidents of the Organization of American States, José Miguel Insulza, and of the UN General Assembly, Miguel D’Escoto, have affirmed that they will accompany Zelaya on his return to Honduras, planned for this Thursday.

Meanwhile the de facto president of Honduras, Roberto Micheletti, said that if Zelaya, the constitutional president, returns to his country, he will be met with a warrant for his arrest. "The courts have orders of arrest against him (Zelaya) because he has violated laws," Micheletti stated.

Attorney General Luis Alberto Rubí announced in a press conference that Zelaya is to be charged with treason, attacking the democratic form of government, abuse of authority, usurping public functions and disobeying the Constitution and the law. Micheletti also dismissed the country’s ambassadors to the UN and the OAS, Jorge Arturo Reina and Carlos Sosa, respectively.

On the other hand, independent judges and prosecutors in Honduras today filed a lawsuit against Micheletti, the coup leadership high command and Congress, for violating the Constitution and the law, Prensa Latina reports.

ZELAYA MEETS WITH SHANNON

WASHINGTON, June 30.— Tom Shannon, U.S. assistant secretary of state for Latin America, stated today that Zelaya is the "legal and constitutional" president of that country.

"It is important to understand that he is not the ex-president, he is the legal and constitutional president" of Honduras, Shannon told reporters while taking a break from a private meeting with Zelaya at the OAS offices, EFE reported. Zelaya arrived at the OAS headquarters from New York.

The OAS is discussing suspending Honduras’ membership.

Likewise, Miguel Angel Moratinos, Spanish minister of foreign affairs and cooperation, has called on the European Union to withdraw its ambassadors from Honduras.

Meanwhile, the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank announced they have frozen operations in the country. World Bank President Luis Alberto Moreno said that the institution has a portfolio of $200 million with Honduras, which has been frozen for the time being until the situation in that country is clarified.

Robert Zoellick, president of the World Bank, said that the delivery of $270 million to Honduras has been suspended until the political situation there is clarified. (SE)

Translated by Granma International


Curfew extended in Honduras

TEGUCIGALPA-— The de facto authorities in Honduras have extended the curfew until next Friday, according to a communiqué from the secretary for information and the press, according to AFP.

The curfew will last from 9.00pm until 5.ooam, says the communiqué.

For their part, popular leaders denounced that the soldiers controlling the country have detained numerous supporters and former officials of the defeated President Zelaya without due legal process.

While the international community is unanimously called for Manuel Zelaya’s return to his post, this Tuesday the coup faction put out an international warrant for his arrest, accusing him on 18 charges, including betrayal of his country, corruption and abuse of authority.

Translated by Granma International


We identify with his dignified position

States message of support to Zelaya from René González on behalf of the Five

DEAR compañero Manuel Zelaya, the sole and dignified constitutional president of Honduras:

Profound indignation has shaken our cells in the face of the brutal coup d’état in your homeland, reminiscent of a past that is still fresh in the historic memory of Central America.

It would appear that the sinister failed plot in Caracas and then successfully applied in Haiti is now seeking, with its dress rehearsal in Middle America, to reverse the inevitable historic tendency of our peoples toward overcoming their neocolonial conspiracies. Today it is the turn of the Honduran people, under your dignified leadership and in an America that is no longer the same, to take up the honorable challenge of permanently interring fascism, as an instrument of the outdated reactionary oligarchies for whom homeland is synonymous with miserable privileges.

Like you, we know from first-hand experience the brutality of being awoken by armed guards, being taken half-dressed from our homes, the ignoble utilization of judicial power to justify the crime, the employment of threats to demand renunciation, and of the starkest use of lies for perverse aims.

We also know of the joy inspired by the opportune combative expression of a daughter, the unconditional commitment of the family, or the clamor of universal solidarity, or the incomparable love of an entire people.

Identifying with your dignified position, a reflection of your moral superiority over the usurpers, we extend to you, from the empire’s prisons which, in the last 10 years, have never been able to incarcerate our dignity as revolutionary Cubans, the expressions of our unconditional support and the certainty that your people, armed with their own decency and their love of justice, will also overcome.

A strong embrace from the Five.

Gerardo, Ramón, Antonio, Fernando y René
June 28, 2009.


Cuba urges condemnation of coup d’état in Honduras

HAVANA, June 28 (PL). — Cuba today urged international organizations and Honduran public opinion to condemn the coup d’état taking place in that Central American country.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla called on the United Nations, the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), the Rio Group and the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) to demand respect for constitutional guarantees in Honduras.

Cuba considers the coup d’état taking place in that country to be brutal and criminal, and demands the restoration to office of President Manuel Zelaya, and demands guaranteed protection of the life of Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas.

"I denounce the criminal and brutal character of this coup d’état," Rodríguez Parrilla said in a press conference.

The Cuban minister of foreign affairs also urged the Honduran armed forces to protect the life of their Foreign Minister, Patricia Rodas, whose whereabouts were unknown shortly after midday.

Rodas had been with the ambassadors of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua at about 10 a.m. local time in Honduras when Major Oceguera of the armed forces tried to convince her to leave Honduras, the Cuban foreign minister said.

However, a group of about 15 soldiers wearing ski masks broke into the place where they were and took the diplomats and the foreign minister to the Tegucigalpa air base, according to Juan Carlos Hernández, Cuban ambassador in Honduras, who spoke via telephone.

Hernández emphasized that they were pushed and beaten by the soldiers, who took away their cell phones.

Rodríguez, for his part, called on international public opinion, and the Honduran armed forces — especially its honorable and honest officers — to respect the life of Rodas.

The soldiers who kidnapped Rodas violated international law and the Vienna Convention, the Cuban foreign minister noted, and they acted in the manner of the most cruel and violent Latin American dictatorships of the past.

Likewise, he called for dignity and adhesion to freedom and the Constitution on the part of Honduran political parties and the Congress.

Translated by Granma International

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