Zelaya claims fraud in Honduras election, but some nations recognize Lobo's win

[Louisiana1976]

TEGUCIGALPA -- Honduras woke up Monday with three presidents: one elected, one on vacation, and another hunkered down at the Brazilian Embassy.

Manuel ``Mel'' Zelaya is claiming electoral fraud from his perch at the embassy, while newly elected leader Porfirio ``Pepe'' Lobo faces a daunting a task: He has to convince the world that he is the legitimate president of Honduras, even if his election took place under a de facto regime denounced here and abroad.

``These elections were convened under a military dictatorship,'' Zelaya told The Miami Herald in a telephone interview Monday. ``There has been violence against my supporters. The people in charge of the Supreme Elections Tribunal are not independent; they were put there by the coup leaders...All these conditions do not create a fair election.''

But there was some good news for Lobo Monday. The United States recognized his government without flat-out saying so. And Colombia, Panama and Peru recognized his victory, as did Costa Rica. As more nations than expected recognized Lobo's triumph, the former congressman, cattle rancher and University of Miami graduate was under greater pressure than ever to take steps to show he will end Honduras' five-month political crisis.

Still, part of Lobo's challenge would be getting the nod from a longer list of countries. On Monday, Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina and Venezuela said they would not recognize the election.

snip

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/story/1359189.html

[AngryAmish]

1. Wasn't Zelaya's time up per the constitution?

[EFerrari]

3. See -- that's exactly the reaction this headline is pulling for.

Zelaya? Why's he yakking?

The truth is, there was massive fraud, observers are coming out against it and will continue to do it in the coming days. It has zip to do with Zelaya.

[AngryAmish]

4. WSell, I, for one< think Zelaya has a right to "yak" as you put it

freedom to yak is a basic human right, or at least some of us beleive

[EFerrari]

6. Sure, he does. But if they highlight him and not all the groups

that witnessed the voting and who are objecting, it's easier to make it "go away".

[AngryAmish]

8. Some of us actually beleive in free speech, you know

We are not a bunch of wierdos.

[EFerrari]

9. Are we sure?

:)

[Gold Metal Flake]

5. Not until January.

Not to mention he was ousted in an illegal coup. Dirty pool, that.

[EFerrari]

2. Many people are claiming fraud, including the National Lawyers Guild but

the gusanos at the Miami Herald need to keep repeating "Zelaya" to try to marginalize the issue.

[Gold Metal Flake]

7. Zalaya told his supporters to boycott the election, no?

Who would a Zalaya suppoter vote for?

Honest questions, I have not been watching this closely.

[EFerrari]

10. He did but it was also the position of the Resistance that an illegal

government, especially this one with its massive human rights violations, could not hold a clean election. So, the call came out from various places, not only from Zelaya. The Resistance backs Zelaya but he is not their ultimate goal, participatory democracy is.

[Peace Patriot]

12. Good point, EFerrari! The Miami Hairball has a lot of disinformation tactics,

and this is certainly one of them--completely ignoring and marginalizing the people, the voters, grass roots groups, human rights groups and, in this case, the Lawyers' Guild as well--and focusing on one leader whom they can demonize or ridicule as their plaything bogeyman. Another tactic they use, in this article, is trying to minimize the OVERWHELMING opposition to the coup election among Latin American leaders. See my comment below.

[Peace Patriot]

11. 'NO!' to Honduran farce: Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba, Brazil, Spain, Venezuela, Guatemala,

Ecuador, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Mexico. (--and probably the Dominican Republic and some tiny countries that are members of the ALBA trade group, which condemned the phony election.)

Anti-Honduran farce: 14+.

Pro-Honduran farce: 4. (All bought-and-paid-for US client states.)

The Miami Hairball has made what it can of this OVERWHELMING failure of U.S./Obama policy--a failure in every way, from its backstabbing of President Zelaya to its dismantling of Honduran democracy, to its failed effort to convince any but US client states to support the coup election, and exposure of its bad faith to all of Latin America. Practiced as the Hairball is at psyops/disinformation, they really can't hide it. Their "more nations than expected recognized Lobo's triumph" is a lame lie. Having followed the whole story, I certainly expected those four to bend over. Colombia -a country with one of the worst human rights records on earth--is the recipient of $6 BILLION in US taxpayer-funded military aid (and now, SEVEN new US military bases). Panama is getting two new US military bases. Peru is run by very corrupt "free tradists," also larded with US "war on drugs" military aid (which it has used to shoot indigenous environmental protestors). And Costa Rica was not only at the center of the backstabbing of Zelaya, it is also a US "free trade" state, made so over the objections of every union in the country in a dirty election.

These are the only kind of 'friends' that the US has in Latin America--four corpo-fascist states, including the two worst governments in the region. Obama has just made things even worse by greatly alienating the leftist leadership of Latin America across the board, from Venezuela to Chile, and including even Mexico's rightwing leader. The sheer boorishness of it is almost unbelievable. And the blown opportunity for friendship and cooperation is tragic.

--------------------

(I included Spain because it was among the countries at the Ibero-American Summit in Portugal that just concluded, where this matter was extensively discussed, and because it is influential in Latin American countries. The EU is also opposed to this bloody coup-run election. The EU, the Carter Center, the OAS--all reputable international election monitors refused to participate.)