Free Republic

Our weapon is the vote," a man named Randolfo tells me. We are standing outside a school called La Vida Abundante in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. It is Sunday, November 29, Election Day and this is one of the polling places. Outside each class room is a list of all the people who are to vote there. Inside, representatives of the five political parties check the IDs of voters and give them three ballots, one for the Presidential race, one for the mayoral race and one for the Congressional races ( more complicated because each voter can vote for up to 23...

BRASILIA, Brazil — Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya says he will leave the Brazilian Embassy in Honduras by Jan. 27, when his presidential term ends...Zelaya said in the telephone interview with Globo TV that he wants to leave soon but did not say where he will go. He has been holed up in the embassy in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa for three months under threat of arrest if he sets foot outside the building. Zelaya's comments aired a day after Honduras' coup-installed government said he is free to leave the country, but not as president. The top-ranking Brazilian official...

Americans take many things for granted: our high standard of living, our low infant mortality rate and our democratic government, to name a few. Witnessing firsthand the 2009 Honduran presidential election reminded me of all these things. I am particularly struck by how fragile democracy truly is. Despite fears of violence, unrest and calls to boycott the election, Hondurans came to the polls in droves. They elected Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo as their next president. We may be tempted to dismiss that news. Elections happen all the time, right? But we should all extend our deepest congratulations to the good people...

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduras' coup-installed government says ousted leader Manuel Zelaya is free to leave the country, but there's a catch: Zelaya can't go as president, and he says he won't go as anything else. And so he remained holed up Thursday in the Brazilian Embassy, where he has been staying since he slipped back into the country three months ago. If he sets foot outside the building, the leaders who ousted him have vowed to arrest him on charges of treason and abuse of power. They appeared to be softening their stance on Wednesday when they initially responded positively...

Plans for ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to leave for exile in Mexico have been postponed, the government of Honduras has said. Sources close to Mr Zelaya had said he was about to leave Brazil's embassy in the capital, Tegucigalpa. Mr Zelaya was removed from power in June and forced into exile but later returned and has taken refuge in the embassy for almost three months. Officials said Mr Zelaya had to apply for political asylum before leaving. He insisted he would not do so. Porfirio Lobo won presidential elections late last month and the Honduran Congress voted not to...

Honduras' interim government says it has authorized ousted President Manuel Zelaya to leave the country and go to Mexico. Foreign Ministry spokesman Milton Mateo says the safe-conduct pass was signed and would be delivered to the Brazilian Embassy, where Zelaya has been holed up since sneaking back into the country Sept. 21. Mateo said Wednesday night that the Mexican government has sent an airplane to pick up Zelaya and his family. Another official of the interim government's Foreign Ministry said Mexico requested that Zelaya be given safe conduct to leave. A Mexican government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, says...

Representatives for Honduras tourism announced this morning that the U.S. canceled all pending travel alerts to Honduras yesterday. The Department of State issued a travel alert in July, stating “The Department of State alerts U.S. citizens to the current unstable political and security situation in Honduras, and recommends that American citizens defer all non-essential travel to Honduras until further notice.” The alert was issued shortly after Honduran military ousted President Manuel Zelaya and sent him out of the country. However, on November 29, the Honduran people peacefully elected their new president – Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo, who will take office on...

According to an Associated Press report, “Obama declared that the United States still considers Manuel Zelaya to be the president of Honduras and assailed the coup that forced him into exile as ‘not legal.’ ” So the question arises, why would Obama refer to Zelaya’s ouster as an “illegal coup?” As the AP reminds us, “The term ‘coup’ is defined as ‘a sudden, decisive exercise of power whereby the existing government is subverted without the consent of the people.’ When a country’s legally and democratically elected government ‘removes’ an individual, using the processes outlined in its Constitution, it is not...

Gunmen in Honduras have shot dead the head of the country's anti-drug trafficking operations.Police said retired Gen Julian Aristides Gonzalez was travelling in a car in the capital, Tegucigalpa, when attackers on a motorcycle opened fire. Honduras is a major route for drugs smuggled from South to North America. The nation, mired in political crisis since President Manuel Zelaya was ousted in June, also has one of the highest murder rates in the region. Gen Aristides, director general of the national office for combating drug trafficking, was travelling by car through Tegucigalpa when two attackers on a motorcycle opened fire,...

Andres Oppenheimer of the Miami Herald wrote an intriguing piece recently on the splash effect of the coup, or crisis, or whatever term least offends someone of Honduras’ new leadership and recent election, and how the major powers in Latin America have tried unsuccessfully to remedy the situation. Oppenheimer argues that the US, Brazil and the OAS have all succeeded in failure in their own unique ways. Failure for the three comes as follows. For Brazil, its “hypocrisy” of recognizing Iran’s and Cuba’s undemocratic leadership, while criticizing Honduras’ recent elections. For the US, the “flip-flopping” that comes with a constant...

Honduras' deposed President Manuel Zelaya said on Sunday that he would stay in the Brazilian embassy in the Honduran capital for as long as Brasilia allowed him to and that he would be willing to talk to the new president-elect. Leftist Zelaya, who was ousted by the army in a coup on June 28, slipped back into Honduras in September and took refuge in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, from where he has been demanding his reinstatement. The United States and Brazil have been pushing for Zelaya's return to power but his fate remains uncertain after the Honduran Congress voted...

As members of a gang of kidnappers, assassins and robbers were investigated two of the five victims who on 1 December were found floating in the waters of the Ulua River in the area of Pimienta. In the place were found the bodies of two women and two men, who were naked and bound hand and foot. The bodies decomposed, they would have been dropped from the 28 November. Officials of the National Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DNIC) have not publicly released the identities of two of the victims, but it is presumed there are two individuals who belonged to...

PANAMA CITY, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- The 25th Ordinary Assembly of the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino) decided on Friday to suspend the Honduran Congress from it, for supporting the coup against ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya. Most of the Latin American deputies voted in favor of the suspension, Parlatino Executive Secretary Humberto Pelaez from Columbia said. "The suspension measure was approved by 103 votes in favor, three against and seven abstentions," Pelaez told a press conference after the Ordinary Assembly in Panama City. Pelaez urged the Honduran congressmen to think over and work to reinstate the constitutional order in their...

There is wide agreement that last week’s presidential election in Honduras, won by the conservative leader Porfirio Lobo, was clean and fair. But it doesn’t settle the country’s political crisis, nor the question of how the world should treat Honduras. snip Despite all the missteps, Honduras’s military and militaries across the region need to know that coups will not be tolerated. Hondurans need to be able to move on and rebuild their democracy.

TEGUCIGALPA – The National Resistance Front that arose after the June 28 ouster of President Manuel Zelaya in Honduras has abandoned hope for the restoration of ousted the former president and is focused now on convening an assembly to overhaul the country’s constitution, one of the group’s leaders said Thursday. “We have closed this chapter on the restoration of President Zelaya, which didn’t take place,” Juan Barahona told Efe the day after Honduran lawmakers rejected reinstatement of the deposed head of state. The Honduran Congress decisively rejected the restitution of deposed President Mel Zelaya in a vote of 62 to...

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Where does Manuel Zelaya go now? Congress slammed the door on restoring the ousted Honduran leader to power, ignoring intense international pressure to reverse Central America's first coup in 20 years. He faces arrest if he leaves the Brazilian Embassy, where he stays up into the night talking on the phone, sleeps until noon and fires off letters to world leaders, urging them not to forget him. Seeking asylum would return him to the exile he faced when soldiers ejected him from the country in his pajamas. He vows not to do that — for now. His...

The US has said it is disappointed by the Honduran Congress's decision not to reinstate President Manuel Zelaya for his remaining two months in office. Honduran lawmakers voted overwhelmingly against allowing ousted President Manuel Zelaya, who was removed from office in June, to serve out his term. Conservative politician Porfirio Lobo won presidential elections on Sunday. Several neighbouring countries say they will not restore ties unless Mr Zelaya is allowed to finish his term. Following the vote in Congress, Mr Zelaya told the BBC: "This decision ratifies a coup and condemns Honduras to continue living in illegality." Of the 125...

The final tally in favor of a motion against Zelaya's reinstatement was 111 to 14.

Looks like ousted Honduras President Zelaya will be holed up in the Brazilian embassy for a while longer. The Congress of Honduras voted not to reinstate the deposed dictator-wannabe. Honduras has been the object of Obama's attacks ever since they threw Zeyala out of office. The former President's disposal was ordered by the Honduras Supreme Court and was in line with the Honduras Constitution. Following the direction of his buddy Chavez, Zeyala illegally attempted to stay in power despite the constitutional ban on running for another term. The military removed him from office, and immediately returned power to the civilian...

final score: 111 against Z 15 for Z.

10 in favor of Z 80 against Z.

TEGUCIGALPA — A majority in the Honduran Congress have voted against reinstating deposed President Manuel Zelaya and allowing him to finish out his term of office. A simple majority of 65 lawmakers in the 128-member body voted against Zelaya's return to the presidency shortly before 730 pm (0130 GMT) on Wednesday after more than six hours of debate.

Update: 4:40: Vote is still taking place. Has stalled with a long pro-Zelaya speech by ???. She claims there was 60+ abstentionism on Sunday and is basically repeating the same things we've heard Zelaya say a thousand times. She is quoting several sections of the constitution. Says that Zelaya never submitted a change of the constitution, the court was wrong, .

The Obama administration messed up when it decided to back the aspiring Chavezian thug Zelaya in Honduras. Zelaya had attempted to illegaly change the constitution to remain in power. For this he was legally ousted from office. Everyone who spent more than five minutes looking into this topic understood that the people who ousted Zelaya, while not perfect, were certainly on the side of the angels on this one. Everyone, that is, except Obama and his State Department.

Despite threats of violence, bombs, and bullying by other countries, as well as being told by their former president that they would be stupid to vote and by world leaders that it would be a waste of time, the valiant Honduran people came through and showed the rest of the world that they value their democracy. Just as Honduran President Roberto Micheletti had promised hundreds of times since June 28, voters were safe and secure, and the elections were fair and the most transparent in the history of Honduras. Micheletti often said, “No one, absolutely no one, will stop our...

In a few minutes the honduran congress will vote to decide if Manuel Zelaya, president fired by the honduran constitution for attempting a repeal of the current constitution, will be or not be reinstated. The honduran institutions such as the human rights commissioner, Attorney general, Procurator general, Supreme Electoral Tribunal and Supreme Court, have opposed any reinstatement, saying that is inappropiate. The attorney general has threatened to prosecute any that supports the reinstatetment of Zelaya.

"...Hot, but a very nice breeze. I'm sure you've heard that the Republican party won the vote. Everyone on the island is very happy. On the voting day, many said "they weren't voting for a political party, they were voting for their freedom". Indeed, there is a renewed spirit among the locals. They are hopeful once again. I have to tell you, this country is very fragile. In a matter of four short months, many hotels, shops and restaurants have been forced to close. As a result of this political crisis, tourism all but came to a halt. Times have...

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduran lawmakers begin debating ousted President Manuel Zelaya's future Wednesday under pressure from much of the region to reinstate him or face more isolation despite a presidential election designed to end the crisis. It's not clear the pressure will be enough. The interim administration has already resisted months of diplomatic arm-twisting, and has long predicted Sunday's election would weaken demands for Zelaya's return. Still, many Latin American governments warn they will not restore ties with the incoming administration of Porfirio Lobo unless Zelaya is allowed to finish his own term, which ends Jan. 27. Lobo, a wealthy...

The people of Honduras made it clear on Sunday that they fully supported the electoral process that produced a presidential victory for Porfirio Lobo, the candidate of the opposition National Party. The turnout of more than 60 percent signals that most Hondurans were unwilling to heed the call of ousted president Manuel Zelaya, who had called for a boycott of the process to strengthen his claim that the elections were not legitimate because he was improperly removed from power back in June. In fact, the elections easily passed the most important test of all in any democracy by attracting popular...

Nationalists (conservatives) won 252 mayors and 46 liberals The Liberal Party won only one municipality in La Paz while 16 controlled National Party. Were pending two. PN (conservatives) plans to win more than 70 deputies. National Party leaders argue that 12 or 13 deputies are of this political entity. Six or seven of the Liberal and 3 or 4 other games. According to preliminary projections of political parties, the National Party will bring as many members, perhaps the greatest of all electoral processes. Between 70 and 73 MPs are believed to belong to the National Party, enough to dispense with...

A wealthy rancher was due to be declared Honduras's new president today after a tumultuous election dogged by the overthrow of his predecessor. Preliminary results gave Porfirio Lobo 56% of votes, prompting cavalcades of cheering, honking supporters in the streets of the capital, Tegucigalpa. His nearest rival, Elvin Santos of the ruling Liberal party, conceded defeat. Lobo, from the centre-right National party, promised to unify a country polarised by the military-led coup against Manuel Zelaya in June, a political shock which rattled Latin America and left Honduras isolated and stripped of aid and investment.... The Supreme Electoral Tribunal said 61%...

The U.S. State Department says Sunday's presidential election in Honduras was a significant, but insufficient step, to end to political crisis that began there in June with the ouster of President Manuel Zelaya. U.S. officials are stopping short of recognizing opposition candidate Porfirio Lobo as the country's next president. The State Department says the Honduran election met international standards for fairness and transparency and it has commended Porfirio Lobo for what it termed an "ample victory". But at the same time, it stopped short of formally recognizing Lobo as the country's next president and says Honduras must still take steps...

The State Department recognized Porfirio Lobo's victory in Sunday's election but said the Honduran Congress still needed to vote on the restoration of deposed President Manuel Zelaya and form a government of national unity. "While the election is a significant step in Honduras' return to the democratic and constitutional order ... it's only a step and it's not the last step," said Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Arturo Valenzuela. Before the election, the United States tried and failed to have Zelaya reinstated. Its support of the election upset many Latin American nations, including powerful Brazil, which called...

Honduras votes today. Polls show the Right should win the day. Pray for the people of Honduras. They deserve freedom.

National Party candidate Porfirio Lobo was the favorite to win in pre-election polls. Yet the name of the victor is almost beside the point. The completion of these elections is a national triumph in itself and a win for all people who yearn for liberty. The fact that the U.S. has said it will recognize their legitimacy shows that this reality eventually made its way to the White House. If not Hugo Chávez's Waterloo, Honduras's stand at least marks a major setback for the Venezuelan strongman's expansionist agenda.

What can you say? How often does the United States stake out a clear, unequivocal position on a major foreign policy event and then, over the course of a few months, slowly walkback from their original position to come around and embrace exactly the opposite point of view? This is the Obama administration in all its amateurish glory. When Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was invited to leave back in June, the administration took the same side as the thugs and dictators of the world, calling it a "military coup" even though the Honduran Supreme Court had ruled the action legal...

Google translation... "Pepe" Lobo will not allow Chavez to stick his nose in Honduras November 30, 2009 The winner of the election, Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo said Monday that it will not allow Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, no one "dares to stick their noses" in the crisis. Honduras "is a free, independent and sovereign (...) will not accept impositions from anyone or political compromises that create division," Lobo insisted. "That neither he (Chavez) and no one dares to set foot in Honduras," said Wolf, the conservative National Party, which gained electoral authorities said in yesterday's elections for 55.9 percent of the...

One of the big losers from yesterday’s successful election in Honduras has been Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who demonstrated that under his presidency, Brazil is not ready to play a positive leadership role in the hemisphere. Not only did Lula seem to be complicit in smuggling deposed Honduran president Manuel Zelaya into the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa—an irresponsible move that risked the possibility of major confrontations and bloodshed in that country—but he stubbornly refuses to recognize yesterday’s election as legitimate. Lula’s grandstanding has nothing to do with a supposed commitment to democracy, of course. After all he...

Honduras' disputed presidential election is likely to set Washington against emerging Latin American power Brazil over whether to recognize the winner of a vote promoted by the leaders of a June coup. Conservative opposition leader Porfirio Lobo easily won the election on Sunday, but he will struggle to get recognition in Latin America where many leftist governments see the election as a nail in the coffin of ousted President Manuel Zelaya. The United States has tried and failed to have Zelaya, a leftist, reinstated and now looks resigned to backing the election as the best way for Honduras' to get...

5 min ago, our candidate and elect president Porfirio Lobo has delivered a speech in which he accept the victory in today's elections. with 61.85% of the votes counted at te moment, he has around 897,000 votes and the liberal candidate has around 613,000 votes.

Unless something monumental happens in the Western Hemisphere in the next 31 days, the big regional story for 2009 will be how tiny Honduras managed to beat back the colonial aspirations of its most powerful neighbors and preserve its constitution.

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) – Honduras' conservative opposition National Party said its candidate Porfirio Lobo won the presidential election on Sunday after exit polls and early official results showed him with a wide lead.

The results from today's elections in Honduras are beginning to roll in and it looks as if Porfirio Lobo,from Honduran opposition National Party, is leading in the election at least according to the local media. According to preliminary data, the 61-year-old opposition leader received around 56% of the vote. His main rival, 46-year-old businessman Elvin Santos representing the ruling Liberal Party, came second in the presidential race, with about 38% of the vote. Even if the trend continues the Liberal party will not be the big loser today, Hugo Chavez, whose imperialist goals were thwarted when President Zelaya was ousted...

Honduran opposition candidate Porfirio Lobo is leading in a presidential election that could ease a five-month crisis following the June coup against President Manuel Zelaya, media exit polls said on Sunday. Lobo, a conservative, won more than 55 percent of Sunday's vote and was well ahead of ruling Liberal Party candidate Elvin Santos, the HRN radio station said. A TV channel gave Lobo 51 percent. Lobo was seen as more likely than Santos to persuade foreign governments to recognize Sunday's election.

Election day in Honduras! The day has arrived! Voting centers open in about 1h 30 min local time. The people are ready to say NO to King Hugo I and Z and to show the world that this little dwarf can give and example of the rule of law. Stay tuned for more live info throughout the day

For decades these petulant little communists have moaned every time America has defended itself, and the rest of the world, from evil. If there was ever any doubt in your mind, that the left hates America and wants it destroyed, this should alleviate those doubts.

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) – Honduras' Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that ousted President Manuel Zelaya cannot legally return to office, dimming the possibility of his reinstatement after a June coup, court sources said. The Court did not release the full text of its non-binding ruling, but a court source and a lawyer close to the proceedings said it closely follows earlier decisions upholding Zelaya's ouster after he moved to change the constitution.

Even a broken clock is correct two times a day. Ever since Honduras deposed President Zelaya in June, the United States has been on the wrong side of the issue, supporting Zelaya and his buddy Hugo Chavez, against the people of Honduras, their democracy and the country's constitution. ....The Election is next Sunday Nov.29th, former President Zelaya is still holed up in the Brazilian embassy after sneaking back into the country in September, and surprisingly the United States is indicating that it will support the results of the election.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zk1Fl6Pks0