.Chavez threatens military action over Honduras coup
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday put troops on alert after a coup in Honduras and said he would respond militarily if his envoy to the Central American country was kidnapped or killed.
Chavez said Honduran soldiers took away the Cuban ambassador and left the Venezuelan ambassador on the side of a road after beating him during the army's coup against his leftist ally, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya.
The Honduran army ousted Zelaya and exiled him in Central America's first military coup since the Cold War, after he upset the army by trying to win re-election.
Chavez said on state television if his ambassador to Venezuela was killed, or if troops entered the Venezuelan Embassy, "that military junta would be entering a de facto state of war. We would have to act militarily ... I have put the armed forces of Venezuela on alert."
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, part of a coalition of leftist governments headed by Chavez that includes Honduras, said he would support military action if Ecuador's diplomats or those of its allies were threatened.
The socialist Chavez has in the past threatened to use his armed forces in the region but never followed through. He said that if a new government is sworn in after the coup it would be defeated.
"We will bring them down, we will bring them down, I tell you," he said, while hundreds of red-shirted supporters gathered outside Venezuela's presidential palace in solidarity with Zelaya.
HISTORY OF COUPS
The United States has long accused the Venezuelan former soldier of being a destabilizing force in Latin America. Chavez himself tried to take power in a coup in 1992 and was briefly ousted in a 2002 putsch but was reinstated after protests.
Chavez, who accused the administration of former U.S. President George W. Bush of backing his removal, said there should be an investigation into whether Washington had a hand in Zelaya's ouster.
"They will have to get to the bottom of how much of a hand the CIA and other imperial bodies had in this," he said.
The White House denied any U.S. participation in the coup. "There was no U.S. involvement in this action against President Zelaya," a White House official told Reuters.
President Barack Obama said he was deeply concerned by the events in Honduras and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton condemned the action taken against Zelaya. A senior U.S. official said Washington recognizes only Zelaya as president.
The United States supported a number of military coups in Central America during the Cold War and used Honduras as a base for its counter-insurgency operations in the region in the 1980s.
Washington still has several hundred troops stationed at Soto Cano Air Base, a Honduran military installation that is also the headquarters for a regional U.S. joint task force that conducts humanitarian, drug and disaster relief operations.
Chavez and other Latin American leaders from his ALBA coalition, including Ecuador's President Rafael Correa and Bolivia's President Evo Morales, were headed to Nicaragua on Sunday to discuss what action to take over Honduras.
ALBA's nine members also include Cuba, Honduras and Nicaragua. Ecuador said Sunday it will not recognize any new government in Honduras.
Reuters
Chavez said Honduran soldiers took away the Cuban ambassador and left the Venezuelan ambassador on the side of a road after beating him during the army's coup against his leftist ally, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya.
The Honduran army ousted Zelaya and exiled him in Central America's first military coup since the Cold War, after he upset the army by trying to win re-election.
Chavez said on state television if his ambassador to Venezuela was killed, or if troops entered the Venezuelan Embassy, "that military junta would be entering a de facto state of war. We would have to act militarily ... I have put the armed forces of Venezuela on alert."
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, part of a coalition of leftist governments headed by Chavez that includes Honduras, said he would support military action if Ecuador's diplomats or those of its allies were threatened.
The socialist Chavez has in the past threatened to use his armed forces in the region but never followed through. He said that if a new government is sworn in after the coup it would be defeated.
"We will bring them down, we will bring them down, I tell you," he said, while hundreds of red-shirted supporters gathered outside Venezuela's presidential palace in solidarity with Zelaya.
HISTORY OF COUPS
The United States has long accused the Venezuelan former soldier of being a destabilizing force in Latin America. Chavez himself tried to take power in a coup in 1992 and was briefly ousted in a 2002 putsch but was reinstated after protests.
Chavez, who accused the administration of former U.S. President George W. Bush of backing his removal, said there should be an investigation into whether Washington had a hand in Zelaya's ouster.
"They will have to get to the bottom of how much of a hand the CIA and other imperial bodies had in this," he said.
The White House denied any U.S. participation in the coup. "There was no U.S. involvement in this action against President Zelaya," a White House official told Reuters.
President Barack Obama said he was deeply concerned by the events in Honduras and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton condemned the action taken against Zelaya. A senior U.S. official said Washington recognizes only Zelaya as president.
The United States supported a number of military coups in Central America during the Cold War and used Honduras as a base for its counter-insurgency operations in the region in the 1980s.
Washington still has several hundred troops stationed at Soto Cano Air Base, a Honduran military installation that is also the headquarters for a regional U.S. joint task force that conducts humanitarian, drug and disaster relief operations.
Chavez and other Latin American leaders from his ALBA coalition, including Ecuador's President Rafael Correa and Bolivia's President Evo Morales, were headed to Nicaragua on Sunday to discuss what action to take over Honduras.
ALBA's nine members also include Cuba, Honduras and Nicaragua. Ecuador said Sunday it will not recognize any new government in Honduras.
Reuters
posted by madtom at 10:27 PM
13 Comments:
And O legitimized Chavez by siding with him. I know, he has a secret plan and I am playing into it by condemning his stupidity.
From what I have read on the subject today, the new guy is on the right side and good riddance to the Chavez wanna be.
I have to tell you the truth I have no idea what is going on down there. I think your right, the guy was a chump and they got rid of him.
Why Obama would side with Chavez, I don't know, more likely though, someone is probably exaggerating a little, and Obama is not actually siding with the guy, just asking for a return to democratic norms.
The guy was pulling a Chavez in violation of their constitution. Their Supreme Court shot him down and told the head of the military he did not have to support the pres in what he was doing. The pres fired the head of the military. The SC reinstated him. The pres fired him again-- the military hauled him out of the country, the second in line took over and promised internationally observed elections next year. Sounds like the most democratic option available. Even Hillary declined to say the 'coup' was illegal. O man just shot from the hip. Took him twelve hours to condemn an effort to preserve a democratic nation in Central Amer, and took him a week to condemn killing of protesters demanding freedom in Iran. I am truly bewildered. He's probably just too smart for me.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124623220955866301.html
not picking side till I know more, but don't I recall the court issuing some ruling, and the President defiantly declaring, "let him enforce it" words to that effect.
Remember these are Hondurans, of the few I know a majority thinks that blacks have big buts because the Virgin Mary whipped them for misbehaving...
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=Njg4MTU5NzU0OTNkYWZlZjk2ZWZkYzcwNDc0Y2ViMjY=
If you need more info to 'choose sides'. I think it's important because it reveals a little more about the O man (and it's a push back against dictatorship which is on the rise). He has no respect for our Constitution, why should he have respect for the Honduran constitution?
I've actually started to believe the conspiracy theory that O isn't even eligible for the office. Where was he born? If you know, how do you know?
"The Supreme Court says that it ordered the armed forces to detain Zelaya,"
So now you guys support activist Judges?
This is new
Maybe it's a misprint, usually when you have a Justice that wields executive power, it's called an emperor
I know, how about, if, our SC were to interpret some law to mean that everyone in the country had to write the Chief Justice a check in the amount of $10.00, and ordered the IRS to collect the moneys...
Can we count on your support?
''By contrast, the Honduran Supreme Court, Congress, and military have all worked to safeguard the constitution. The Congress issued a decree charging Zelaya with endangering both the rule of law and the broader “governability” of Honduras, and it voted (per the constitution) to replace with him congressional leader Roberto Micheletti. The new Honduran president says that presidential and parliamentary elections will go ahead as planned in November''
I guess you didn't have time to get the facts, or, if O decides he wants a third term, or two 6 year terms, or Presidente' for Life, you'd oppose effective impeachment and forcible removal if he refused to relinquish the office and preceded with an election of his choosing? That's what this jackass did. Besides, O is meddling and I thought that was bad?
But he was not impeached, per anyone's constitution, as far as I know, the congress accepted his resignation, I saw it on C_SPAN yesterday, they read out what appears to be a fake resignation, and voted to accept. So I guess your backing the congress, that filed a fraudulent resignation, and no one asked a question, they all raised their hands and voted yes...kind of reminds me of our congress...
They always promise elections in November, sure.
I just heard some news, the mayor of Managua, Nicaragua was assassinated last night, and it ocured to me that what we are really seeing here is the drug wars moving south, like I said they would..
Zelaya accused of drug ties
Did not even give me time to get home
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