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TEGUCIGALPA — They can't both be right. Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya says a deal that could have returned him to power is defunct. Roberto Micheletti...says the same deal has been successfully accomplished. The Obama Administration, caught in the middle... was urgently pressing Friday for the survival of an accord it hailed as "a historic victory for democracy." "No, it's not dead, but maybe sleeping," said State Department press spokesman Fred Lash. "Both sides need to return to the table..." On Friday, with the U.S.-brokered pact's future in doubt, Lash said the question of whether the U.S. will recognize upcoming...

Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, ousted in a military-backed coup four months ago, said today that a U.S.-brokered deal to end his nation's political crisis has collapsed. Zelaya pronounced the week-old agreement a "dead letter" after de facto rulers formed a new "reconciliation government" without Zelaya's participation, as the deal had required. "The accord is a dead letter," Zelaya said on a Honduran radio station... Under the accord, Zelaya and the man who replaced him, Roberto Micheletti, agreed to let the Honduran Congress vote on whether to reinstate Zelaya to office, as the international community has been demanding. But congressional leaders,...

TEGUCIGALPA — Efforts to create a unity government aimed at ending Honduras' four-month political standoff appeared to be dragging past Thursday's deadline, with the overthrown president warning that failing to act was a risky endeavor. "Today is a momentous day," ousted President Manuel Zelaya told Radio Globo from the Brazilian Embassy, where he is holed up under threat of arrest. "Congress has a great role in solving this conflict. If it is not in session to reverse the coup and achieve peace and national reconciliation, the agreement will no longer be fulfilled." An accord forged last week with the help...

TEGUCIGALPA — Ousted President Manuel Zelaya is asking the Obama Administration to explain why, after pressing for his reinstatement, U.S. officials say they will recognize upcoming Honduran elections even if he isn't returned to power first. In a letter sent to the U.S. State Department on Wednesday, Zelaya asked Secretary of State Hillary Clinton "to clarify to the Honduran people if the position condemning the coup d'etat has been changed or modified." His request came after Washington's top envoy to Latin America, Thomas Shannon, told CNN en Espanol that the U.S. will recognize the Nov. 29 elections even if the...

....Chavez blames the water problems for El Niño but...it can not be blamed for what is happening. Problems with Venezuela’s water and electricity’s supplies are not new. When Chavez came to power, the Caldera Government was thinking of privatizing some of the regional electric power companies for the simple reason that the investments required with oil at around US$ 12 per barrel were beyond the capability of the country’s government.cChavez clearly disagreed with this even as he was not using the word socialism at the time. And he stopped the nationalizations, while simultaneously freezing rates for water and electric services....

When Islamists made their roots south of the border... Venezuela's dictator: H. Chavez that "sees" only money, oil and Anti-Americanism-Power, does "serve" the Islamic Iranian Republic well, giving out passports to anyone. From that "port" it is quite easy for an Islamic Iranian AGENT to arrive into any other Latin American country as a... "Venezuelan". A "random" different case (of a Muslim trying to "blend" into Latin America), a year ago, a Jordanian Arab that "met" a Costa Rican (Tica) girl in Spain (she vouched for him in CR, asw this man came from the area in Jordan where a...

SNIPPET: "Lula and Chavez have established a "strategic relationship," and recently agreed upon a joint Brazilian-Venezuelan oil venture worth billions of dollars. Lula and Chavez have joined with Daniel Ortega, the returned Nicaraguan Marxist dictator, to form an anti-U.S. Latin American military alliance - all with Russian assistance - funded by the region's abundant oil reserves. Brazil is engaged in its own arms build-up and Lula is determined that Brazil will become at least a first-rate regional power. Unfortunately, Lula is establishing Brazil as an anti-American military power by aligning with nations hostile or potentially hostile to the U.S. Lula...

WARREN KOZAK "All war is based on deception." —Sun Tzu In the summer of 1962, the leader of the great Soviet empire, Nikita Khrushchev, faced a serious problem. His huge intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) didn't work. Their launchers were unreliable, their aim was off and the fuel used to rocket them skyward was so volatile that they had to be stored empty. In case of an attack, they would first have to be tanked up before being fired. The Soviet premier understood that since his ICBMs were a crucial part of his nuclear balance with the U.S., this put him...

Hugo Chavez's support has declined in the polls as many Venezuelans say they are fed up with 27 percent inflation, a stagnant economy, faulty public services — and a government they see as incapable of doing much about it. The president's popularity has slid in monthly tracking polls from a high of 61 percent after winning a vote in February to 52.8 percent last month, pollster Luis Vicente Leon of the Caracas-based firm Datanalisis said Wednesday, adding that the downward trend in the percentage who view his presidency positively has continued since. After more than a decade in power, Chavez...

CARACAS, Venezuela – President Hugo Chavez said he met privately with actor Sean Penn on Wednesday, and that the Oscar-winning celebrity may film a movie in Venezuela. Penn may shoot a film based on a novel by Cuban writer Alejo Carpentier, which is set largely in the jungle along Venezuela's southern Orinoco river, Chavez said. He appeared to be referring to Carpentier's 1953 novel, "The Lost Steps," about an American anthropologist and composer's journey into the jungle region. Penn's publicist could not immediately be reached for comment. Chavez added that he discussed politics with Penn, who said he would soon...

Another celebrity romance falls to pieces: By Guy Adams Wednesday, 28 October 2009He's crossed swords, over the years, with all the usual right-wing suspects, from car-makers to gun owners to Wall Street executives, health companies, and George W Bush. Now Michael Moore has picked a fight with a hero of the international left. The documentary-maker has caused outrage among Hugo Chavez's supporters by using a late-night chat show to tell a humorous anecdote about meeting Venezuela's socialist President in a luxury hotel suite during the recent Venice Film Festival . His two-minute yarn, told to ABC host Jimmy Kimmel...

Tyranny: In his latest absurdity, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez is dictating three-minute showers and no singing. Claiming it's to save water, his act is nothing but a "green" fig leaf to cover his socialist mismanagement. 'Some people sing in the shower, in the shower half an hour," Chavez ranted on his Sunday TV show "Alo Presidente." "No, kids. Three minutes is more than enough. I've counted, three minutes and I don't stink." His words echo those of environmental extremists, blaming shopping malls, El Nino, tourists and sabotage. But the water and electricity shortages are his own doing, and the scope of...

If Honduras manages to preserve its democracy despite U.S. pressure to abandon it, the tiny Central American country may wind up thanking Nicaragua's Danny Ortega, of all people. Last week, President Ortega inadvertently provided the best defense yet of the Honduran decision this summer to remove Manuel Zelaya from the presidency. Nicaragua has a one-term limit for presidents, and Mr. Ortega's term expires in 2011. However, the Nicaraguan doesn't want to leave, and so he asked the Sandinista-controlled Supreme Court to overturn the constitutional ban on his re-election. Last week the court's constitutional panel obliged him. The Nicaraguan press reported...

This is a rather strange story. It has the elements of truth and the elements of deception. It sounds too far fetched to be true, but has the components of veracity. It is the story of Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni, a physicist who worked at Los Alamos for many years and may be accused of treason for passing classified information to the Venezuelan Government or someone claiming to represent it. The story has too many inconsistencies to be the truth, but at the same time, has many consistencies that suggest there is some truth to the whole thing... Pedro Leonardo Mascheroni...

CARACAS, Venezuela — Michael Moore, the filmmaker who is a bête noire of conservatives in the United States, now appears to have made some enemies among the leftist supporters of President Hugo Chávez. During a recent appearance on ABC’s late-night program “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” Mr. Moore gave an account — apparently tongue in cheek — of how he drank a bottle-and-a-half of tequila with Mr. Chávez at the Venice Film Festival in September, and how he mistook Venezuela’s burly foreign minister, Nicolás Maduro, for a bodyguard. Those comments have created an uproar here among some of Mr. Chávez’s loyal supporters,...

Envoys for ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya say talks with the interim government have broken down. Mr Zelaya's team of negotiators had set a deadline of the end of Thursday for the interim government to agree to terms allowing his return to power. However, negotiators for interim leader Roberto Micheletti said that although they had rejected the deadline they were still open to dialogue. They said they would present a new proposal to Mr Zelaya on Friday. Mr Zelaya, who was ousted in late June, is currently taking refuge in the Brazilian embassy in the capital, Tegucigalpa. His term of...

<p>CATANO, Puerto Rico — An explosion at a Gulf gasoline facility Friday rocked a neighborhood outside Puerto Rico's capital, causing minor injuries and forcing evacuations as firefighters raced to prevent additional blasts.</p> <p>Several columns of black smoke and flames were rising from the Caribbean Petroleum Corp., a gasoline warehouse and distribution center on San Juan's bay that owns the Gulf brand in this U.S. Caribbean territory.</p>

Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, has called on his countrymen to stop singing in the shower to help save water and electricity. The left-wing leader said they should attempt to wash in less than three minutes and breaking into song distract them. "Some people sing in the shower, in the shower half an hour. No kids, three minutes is more than enough. I've counted, three minutes, and I don't stink," he said during a televised Cabinet meeting. Getting into his stride, he went on to label baths and jacuzzis anti-communist.

CARACAS, Venezuela – Hugo Chavez's support has declined in the polls as many Venezuelans say they are fed up with 27 percent inflation, a stagnant economy, faulty public services — and a government they see as incapable of doing much about it. .. "Whatever he offers, everything gets half-done," said Maria Martinez, a 32-year-old who once voted for Chavez but now is disenchanted. She says the government's health programs are insufficient, and the $500 or so she earns each month selling books in the street is no longer enough to support her five children. She said water reaches her Caracas...

First Amendment: Diversity czar Mark Lloyd's FCC votes Thursday on the issue of net neutrality. Advertised as providing access to all, it will do to the information superhighway what Lloyd proposed for talk radio. Not much was said when $7.2 billion was included in the stimulus bill "to accelerate broadband deployment in unserved and underserved areas and to strategic institutions that are likely to create jobs or provide significant public benefits." The administration has big plans for the Internet — like controlling it. Susan Crawford, the so-called Internet czar, told the Wall Street Journal in April that the broadband billions...

Venezuela's military advisers would "Mel" Danilo Orellana, commissioner of the honduran police, who also coordinates the operations "Peace and Democracy", said that this version has not yet been confirmed Tegucigalpa, Honduras . Honduras National Police investigating the alleged presence of Venezuelan military in the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa. Danilo Orellana, commissioner of the agency, reported Tuesday to have information "subtle" of stay of two members of the Armed Forces of Venezuela, who would be giving "advice" to the former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya. Orellana, who also coordinates the operations "Peace and Democracy, said that this version" has not yet been...

Local police are investigating a shooting incident, shots fired at the vehicle of Israel’s ambassador to Chile. Ambassador David Dadon and a security agent were heading to the vehicle on Tuesday, in Santiago, the capital of Chile. Damage was reported to a window and splash guard behind one vehicle tire. Police were summoned immediately, and the determination was made that the damage was caused by gunfire. There were no eyewitnesses and people interviewed by police insist they did not see anything out of the ordinary. Police are investigating two possible angles, a terror incident or a stray bullet. Gabriel Zaliasnik,...

CARACAS, Venezuela – President Hugo Chavez's government began taking over management of a Hilton-run hotel on Venezuela's Margarita Island on Wednesday. Tourism Minister Pedro Morejon said a 20-year concession granted to the company has expired and the government "has taken legitimate control of an asset that belongs to all the people of Venezuela." Chavez issued a decree last week ordering the "forced acquisition" of the Margarita Hilton & Suites and its marina, though news of the edict did not surface until Tuesday. Morejon said the government has held majority ownership of the hotel since 1995, when a banking crisis forced...

Media Bias: Not long after pro football welcomed a convicted felon back on the playing field, Rush Limbaugh is dropped for his opinions from a group seeking to buy an NFL franchise. Won't someone throw a flag? When even Keith Olbermann says back off, you know the politically correct critics of the conservative icon and megaradio talk host's proposed part ownership of the St. Louis Rams are guilty of piling on. The prospect of the leading conservative voice in America participating in the purchase of a football team sent the liberal elites into cardiac arrest and into a frenzied campaign...

Restitution slows Guaymuras Dialogue Commission to suspend the dialogue yesterday, but today resumed. Zelaya's term expires today 14.10.09 - Updated: 15.10.09 12:15 am - Writing: Current Rating: Votes: 0 0 comment Print Send Tegucigalpa, Honduras . The Dialogue Guaymuras suffered a setback yesterday after the international media that they had already an agreement on the return of former President Manuel Zelaya. That, in general, prevented the talks between the committees of Roberto Micheletti, interim president, and Zelaya, continue in the afternoon as scheduled. Even so, the negotiators, seeking to end the political crisis afflicting the country since June 28 when...

Hugo Chavez has become a parody of a tin horn Latin American dictator, strutting about trying to prove to his gang of buddies what a bad-ass he is. Last month Chavez hosted a group of 30 leftist leaders from African and Latin states at the Hilton Resort on Isla Margarita, a luxury resort. Among them über baddies Moamer Kadhafi of Libya (who pitched his trademark tent on the beach) and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.  Too bad Kim Jong-il couldn't make it. I am sure Chavez offered the utmost in hospitality, as he spoke with his peers. He was out to...

To: US State Department & United Nations IN SUPPORT OF THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT OF HONDURAS. We the citizens of the world, lovers of liberty and democracy, concerned about the isolation and impoverishment which is being imposed upon the Republic of Honduras by; the United Nations, the OAS, the UNASUR, the EU, and the U.S, hereby set forth our intend, individually and organizationally, to demonstrate our support of the government of the Republic of Honduras, presided by Roberto Micheletti together with all the legitimate and constitutional bodies of said government. We strongly support the current government’s efforts to safeguard the constitution...

President Hugo Chavez has ordered the "acquisition by force" of a landmark Hilton Hotel on Venezuela's Margarita island, the government's Official Gazette announced Tuesday. The facility, on the Caribbean resort island of Margarita in Nueva Esparta state, was targeted for state takeover less than a month after it was used to host the Africa-South America Summit. It is not the first time Chavez's government has checked into a Hilton and stayed for good. Caracas has already seized the Hotel Hilton in Caracas, rechristening it the Hotel Alba, a reference to the Venezuelan-led leftist regional alliance Alianza Bolivariana para las Americas...

Government will give a "slap" on Tuesday says "Mel" Zelaya, charged with 18 crimes, including corruption, abuse of authority and treason by promoting a change of Constitution, said "never" asked for amnesty because he does not need 12.10.09 - Updated: 12.10.09 10:21 am - Agency: redaccion@elheraldo.hn Tegucigalpa, Honduras . Former President Manuel Zelaya warned Monday that the government of Honduras can give a "slap" on the international community on Tuesday, when discussing his return to power in the dialogue that seeks to resolve the political crisis. "It will be essential on the dialogue to see if this will be solved,...

Chavez, Castro, the public and the MSM are missing is the big picture. Winning the Nobel, the UN declaring ‘MAJOR DISCREPANCIES’ in the Afghan election & Obama delaying the additional troops decision is all by design. Obama applied for the Nobel Piece Prize and was told he would win, back on Feb. 1st. Fully aware of the date of the Nobel Piece Prize announcement he would delay any decision on Afghanistan. He will then use the UN declaration, winning the Nobel and his hatred for America to back out of Afghanistan or do little as possible (I hope I am...

As this is being written, Manuel Zelaya, the ousted and exiled ex-president of Honduras, is holed up in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, having been smuggled there on Sept. 21. His followers acted like the anti-capitalist protesters who haunt G-20 meetings, smashing windows, spraying graffiti, attacking police cars, and suchlike. Here is how we got to this point: Zelaya was elected president of Honduras in 2005. His administration has been plagued by charges of corruption, with the impartial group, Transparency International, ranking Honduras under Zelaya as corrupt as Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Libya. In 2008, Zelaya joined the...

CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says President Barack Obama does not deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. Chavez believes Obama didn't make any notable accomplishments to merit winning the prize, saying that rather than promote peace the U.S. president is continuing the warlike policies of predecessor George W. Bush. Chavez and Obama had a cordial first encounter at a summit in April, but the Venezuelan leader has become increasingly critical of Obama.

A group of red shirt-wearing Chavista thugs show up at a farm and seize the farm in the name of the government, under the pretext that the 103 hectare farm is “idle land” and that the law allows them to take it over for “food production.” The farmer protests politely, explaining that he’s been raising cattle on his farm for 23 years. He is rebuffed by another guy, who says, “this is not going to be a debate; this is a public act approved by the Venezuelan people. I’m governor and I’m here to ensure public order. There won’t be...

One question that has repeatedly been asked vis-à-vis the Honduran situation (it doesn't seem quite fraught enough to be termed a "crisis") is why so many members of the Western elite, governmental and otherwise, insist on backing Manuel "Mel" Zelaya, despite any number of reasons not to. A quick recap: Mel Zelaya, evidently acting out of a form of Chavez-worship, attempted to carry out a referendum that would allow him to run for another term as president. Honduras, like many other Latin countries, has endured the malignant phenomenon of the "president-for-life", which the U.S., partially excepting FDR, has been spared,...

Zelaya blames American "extreme right wing" politicians for the "Coup" in Honduras Today Manuel Zelaya made some declarations to the media in which he blamed American "extreme right wing" politicians for his ousting. Zelaya said that these politicians were lobbying to prevent his restitution and were plotting to make damage to the Obama Administration and the Democrat Party.

State Rep. Richard Berry scored an impressive victory Tuesday with an outright win over three-term incumbent Martin Chávez to become Albuquerque's next mayor. "We had a message that resonated with voters in Albuquerque, and we worked hard," said Berry, a general contractor and two-term Republican state representative who campaigned as a "common-sense" business owner with conservative themes. ...Berry maintained a 5 percentage point or better lead over Chávez throughout the night and finished above the 40 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff election next month. Richard Romero, the third candidate in the race, was trailing, with about 21 percent....

Hugo Chávez asks mining minister during televised cabinet meeting: 'How's the uranium for Iran? For the atomic bomb?' Telling somewhat less than tasteful jokes about weapons of mass destruction has been an occasional pastime of a number of senior US Republican politicians. George W Bush, at a 2004 press dinner, showed a series of photos of him searching the Oval Office while telling guests: "No they're not here". Ronald Reagan, during a sound check for a regular radio broadcast, joked he had signed legislation to outlaw Russia and that the "bombing will begin in five minutes". And John McCain, at...

The military ouster of Honduras's president in June has led to deep ideological fissures, paralysis in a legislative committee, and efforts to undermine national foreign policy. And no, that's not a sampling of what's happening in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, but rather in Washington, where a deep and cranky divide has formed between Democrats and Republicans over what most Democrats call a "coup"...Honduras thus becomes another entry on a long list of Latin American countries that have served as Olive Oyls to Washington's left-right tug of wars... Presidential diplomatic appointments are being held hostage; one Democratic senator tried to...

Last week Honduras’ former president Manuel Zelaya slipped back into Honduras in the trunk of a car and ran into the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa. Zelaya’s return was as sneaky as he is, so it was quite fitting. Not a five star hotel The Embassy apparently has no shower and limited kitchen and bathroom facilities, so since moving into “Brazil” his personal hygiene and that of his “in house” supporters has declined severely. This hasn’t stopped him from using the Embassy as a platform for exhorting his dwindling number of local supporters and paid foreign “volunteers” to revolt. Honduran authorities...

The true story of how Zelaya entered Honduras Today at the broadcast of "Abriendo Brecha", a local news its director and anchor Rodrigo Wong Arevalo revealed how Zelaya entered the country. He said that they had made a 2 week long investigation and has revealed this: 1-A plane venezuelan plane conduted Zelaya and his brother Carlos to El Salvador. 2-Out of the plane appeared a figure almost like Zelaya. It was his brother Carlos Zelaya Rosales disguised has Manuel Zelaya. 3-The "other Mel" stayed in El Salvador that night, but the plane that carried Manuel Zelaya returned to Nicaragua. 4-From...

WASHINGTON, D.C - U.S. Senator Jim DeMint (R-South Carolina), member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Chairman of the Senate Steering Committee, and announced that he will lead a delegation of U.S. Congressmen to Honduras today. The group will include U.S. Representatives Aaron Schock (R-Illinois), Peter Roskam (R-Illinois), and Doug Lamborn (R-Colorado). They plan to meet with Honduran President Roberto Micheletti, members of the Honduran Supreme Court, election officials, and Honduran business and civic leaders. Yesterday, Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry (D-Massachusetts) attempted to block the delegations trip at the last minute, denying the necessary committee approval....

Senate foreign relations committee Chairman John Kerry and the State Department have canceled Sen. Jim DeMint's plans to meet interim Honduran President Roberto Micheletti on Friday. The trip, which DeMint was going to make with three members of the House, would have flouted a White House ban against direct contact with the leaders of the June military coup. While the White House seeks to pressure the interim government through isolation, DeMint and other conservatives have defended the coup, which the Honduran miltary claims was necessary to prevent then-President Manuel Zelaya from rewriting the country's constitution. DeMint, R-S.C., and his fellow...

* De facto government under pressure over civil liberties * Ousted president Zelaya and de facto leader deadlocked * OAS hopeful a deal can be brokered to end standoff (Updates with protests, OAS comments, details) By Esteban Israel and Miguel Angel Gutierrez TEGUCIGALPA, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Honduran police cracked down on supporters of ousted President Manuel Zelaya on Wednesday as the country's de facto leader came under pressure to lift curbs on civil liberties and end a post-coup crisis.

Translated from the Portuguese. Author asked that his article be forwarded, so I do not believe there are any copyright violations in translating it in full. My comments and clarifications in brackets [] If you click here: http://vimeo.com/6825710, you will have access to a video which you could hear the voice of David Romero, director of Globo radio, who supports Manuel Zelaya. It is that radio which sufferd intervention from the interim government, accused of inciting violence, and which impassioned Bolibarian Brazilians. Listening to what is there, you have a notion of who these people are. Zelaya has accused that...

For the past three months most of the world has marched in lock-step behind Manuel Zelaya's demand to be reinstated as the president of Honduras. Last week Zelaya returned surreptitiously to Tegucigalpa, where he is now using the Brazilian embassy as a base for rallying his supporters at home and abroad. The Honduran government has ruled that this must stop, and now, for the first time, serious domestic unrest is a real possibility.

Honduran police have begun removing supporters of deposed President Manuel Zelaya from government office buildings where they have been camped out to protest his June 28 ouster. Police surrounded the National Agrarian Institute in the capital of Tegucigalpa Wednesday and removed about 55 Zelaya supporters. Farm workers had been using the building as temporary housing so they could take part in protests... Pressure has been mounting on the de facto authorities to restore civil liberties and negotiate an end to the three-month-long political crisis. Adolfo Facusse, the leader of an influential business group, has proposed allowing Mr. Zelaya to be...

US ambassador to Honduras Hugo Llorens meets with businessmen Llorens said the settlement of San Jose is the way to solve the crisis with the polarization of Honduran society 29.09.09 - Updated: 29.09.09 01:12 pm - Writing: diario@elheraldo.hn Tegucigalpa, Honduras . The U.S. ambassador, Hugo Llorens, is meeting right now with the country's business leaders to discuss avenues to resolve the political crisis Honduras after June 28 in the country. The president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Cortes (CCIC), Luis Larach, and the president of the Honduran Council of Private Enterprise (COHEP), Amilcar Bulnes, are two of...

BRASILIA - Brazil's government is facing growing criticism at home over its handling of the Honduran crisis as senior lawmakers accuse it of allowing the ousted president to use its embassy as a political platform...Government and opposition legislators in Brazil's Congress have urged President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to stop Zelaya from using the embassy as a political theater. "Zelaya's political activities are unacceptable. They weaken Brazil's position and international image," Eduardo Azeredo, head of the Senate foreign relations committee, told Reuters.... Amorim said Brazil had not acted irresponsibly. The Lula government received Zelaya's request for refuge only 30...

Today, Honduran President -- if you can still call him that -- Manuel Zelaya, continues to hide out inside the Brazilian embassy to Honduras, where he and his wife have sheltered since Sept. 21. Since being overthrown and ejected from the country by his own troops, Zelaya has been trying to win international support for his return to power. Makes sense...but he should probably scratch Israel off the list of governments to get on the blower with... Carlos Alberto Montaner, in Firmas Press, points out that Honduras actually gains by having Zelaya trapped in the Brazilian Embassy: "True, Zelaya is...

PORLAMAR, Venezuela – Moammar Gadhafi and Hugo Chavez are strengthening their relationship and finding common ground as two radical former military men who both want to challenge the "imperialism" of wealthy nations and aspire to speak for many poor nations. The Libyan and Venezuelan leaders were expected to meet one-on-one on Monday, although no public events were announced. Chavez and Gadhafi led a weekend summit where South American and African leaders pledged to deepen links between the continents. Chavez made diplomatic inroads while offering African countries Venezuela's help in oil projects, mining and financial assistance.