State Department Daily Press Briefing - July 28, 2009 (Honduran visas revoked!)

U S State Department ^ | July 28, 2009 | Ian Kellu

[don-o]

First, I want to make a quick statement that we will also issue. The Department of State is currently reviewing the diplomatic visas or A visas of individuals who are members of the de facto regime in Honduras, as well as the derivative visas for family members of these individuals. We have already revoked diplomatic visas issued to four such individuals. These individuals received their diplomatic visas in connection with positions held prior to June 28th under the Zelaya Administration, but who now serve the de facto regime.

And with that – well, I’ll just also there is a press conference, as you know, a joint press – well, there’s a couple press events this afternoon connected with the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue. There will be a joint event with the four co-chairs, and then Secretary Clinton and Secretary Geithner will have a press conference followed by a press conference by the Chinese principals, so --

QUESTION: Back on the visas?

MR. KELLY: Back on the visas.

QUESTION: Yeah. How many visas are under review?

MR. KELLY: Well, we’re currently reviewing the – we’ve revoked four visas.

QUESTION: And when did that happen?

MR. KELLY: I believe it happened today or maybe late yesterday. And we’re also reviewing all of the A visas of individuals who are a member of the de facto regime in Honduras as well as the derivative visas of family members of these individuals.

QUESTION: Do you know how many that is?

MR. KELLY: Well, we’re review – I don’t have an exact number of all of the A visas that we’ve issued. I just know that we’ve revoked four. And these visas were revoked down in Tegucigalpa by the U.S. Embassy.

QUESTION: So those four visas, were those people actually here and they’re having to go back?

MR. KELLY: No. These are – as I understand it, these are people who are serving in the de facto regime down there.

QUESTION: There? Okay.

MR. KELLY: Yeah.

QUESTION: And the visas here, these are for people who are already here?

MR. KELLY: We haven’t – yeah. You know that visa information is confidential, so we’re not --

QUESTION: But Ian, you can’t come out and open this briefing by saying that you’ve revoked visas and you’re revoking others --

MR. KELLY: Yes, I can.

QUESTION: -- and then say “I can’t talk about visas.”

MR. KELLY: I can’t – no, of course I can talk – I can’t talk about who exactly (inaudible).

QUESTION: He’s not asking who they are. He’s just asking for the number.

QUESTION: And I’m trying to get --

MR. KELLY: I said four. We revoked four.

QUESTION: I’m trying to get a feel for whether any of the visas that have been – that you are – I mean, you said that the four that have been revoked are all people who were in --

MR. KELLY: As I understand it, yeah.

QUESTION: -- Tegucigalpa, as you understand it.

MR. KELLY: Yeah, who are serving the de facto regime now.

QUESTION: In Tegucigalpa?

MR. KELLY: Yeah.

QUESTION: My question is --

MR. KELLY: Who are (inaudible) --

QUESTION: My question is: Of the visas that you are now reviewing, are any of those people here – i.e., if you revoke them, they’re going to have to go back --

MR. KELLY: Yeah.

QUESTION: -- or are they – or not?

MR. KELLY: Right.

QUESTION: That’s my question.

MR. KELLY: I don’t have that specific information. But if I can get it, we’ll give it to you.

QUESTION: That would be helpful.

MR. KELLY: Yeah.

QUESTION: I mean, the number and where they are --

MR. KELLY: No, I understand that. That’s a perfectly fair question.

QUESTION: And then last question, just a simple why?

MR. KELLY: Why?

QUESTION: Yes.

QUESTION: Yes.

QUESTION: Just so we have a --

QUESTION: Can you explain?

QUESTION: To us, explain why are you doing this?

MR. KELLY: Well, as you know, we don’t recognize Roberto Micheletti as the President of Honduras. We recognize Manuel Zelaya. And so in keeping with that policy of non-recognition, we have decided to revoke official diplomatic visas or A visas of four individuals who are members of that regime, the regime of Micheletti.

QUESTION: This is a way of – is this a way of – I mean, you could have done this, obviously, at any point subsequent to Zelaya’s removal. Are you doing this to ratchet up the pressure on the Micheletti government?

MR. KELLY: Well, I don’t think I would characterize it that way. But what we are doing is we’re trying to do everything that we can to support this process that was begun by Costa Rican President Arias and their negotiation efforts. These actions that we’re taking are consistent with our policy of the non-recognition of the de facto – of the regime of Roberto Micheletti.

QUESTION: And why didn’t you do it earlier, I guess is the question? I mean, it’s been over a month.

MR. KELLY: Well, I mean, we – I mean, it is what it is. We did it today. I – like I say, I don’t think I would see it necessarily as a turning of the screw necessarily. It’s something that we’ve done. We’re reviewing all of our bilateral programs with Honduras. Now, you know that we’re reviewing and we have suspended certain assistance programs that go – that are directly in support of a – of the regime down there.

QUESTION: And could you give us an update on who you’re speaking with, if anybody, down in Tegucigalpa?

MR. KELLY: We are – right now, we’re – as I said, we’re very focused on supporting President Arias. I know that the Embassy down there is in communication with the authorities in Honduras and in encouraging them to support the process. I don’t have a – sort of a detailed chronology of who exactly we’ve contacted, but I know that our Embassy is in contact with the authorities down there.

QUESTION: Ian, why shouldn’t we see it as, to use your phrase, a “turning of the screw”?

MR. KELLY: Well –

QUESTION: How else can one see it?

MR. KELLY: Well, it’s – fair enough. It is part of our overall policy towards the de facto regime down there. We know that – or you know that we have a policy of not recognizing the administration of Roberto Micheletti. And it’s just – it’s a step that we’ve taken to be consistent with our policy.

QUESTION: And one – one other on Honduras. I’m well aware that the Legal Adviser’s Office was examining whether the events in Honduras technically met their definition of a coup and therefore would trigger the cutoff in aid that I realize you have already suspended.

MR. KELLY: Yes.

QUESTION: Have you yet reached a determination on that question?

MR. KELLY: I’ll have to get you an update on that.

QUESTION: Ian?

QUESTION: This doesn’t mean that you’ve decided or that that review is coming to an end?

MR. KELLY: I – just like I say, I just need to – I’ll need to get you an update on that. I think in general, in terms of just to follow on to what I said before about our contacts with the regime down there, I know that our Embassy is urging the Honduran congress to send a strong signal of support for the Arias accords and for President Arias’s efforts to provide a democratic solution to the Honduran crisis. So I just wanted to add that we are trying to – we are urging the Honduran congress to support the Arias plan or the San Jose accords.

Yeah, Dave.

QUESTION: For review, what is this – what is the status of the Honduran Embassy here in D.C.? Are you having any dealings with them? Are you considering revoking their visas and sending them back?

MR. KELLY: Yeah, I’m just – I’ll have to take that question. I’m not sure of the exact details of that.

[kabar]

Micheletti helped draft the 1982 Constitution and has held a seat in Congress since 1982. He has twice run for President and presided over the National Congress of Honduras from January 2006 to June 28 2009. Micheletti was sworn in as president by the National Congress of Honduras after the Honduran Supreme Court ordered the military to kidnap president Manuel Zelaya where he was taken to Costa Rica by the Honduran Army. concerning the Honduran constitutional referendum poll, 2009.

Why would we revoke this guy's visa is beyond me. No matter what happens in November, we will be dealing with this guy one way or another. And the holds true for the Supreme Court Magistrate.

[GeronL]

The Obama regime is doing everything they can to suppress Constitutional rule in Honduras.

[NonValueAdded]

HEY OBAMA, YOU ARE BACKING THE COMMIES FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!! WHAT'S THE MATTER, DON'T YOU HAVE ALL THE FACTS ON THIS ONE EITHER???

_{yes, I'm shouting}

[aculeus]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203609204574312363465346516.html

Worth reading!

[SunkenCiv]

Obama administration eases restrictions on lobbyists for stimulus money
Political Lore | July 27th, 2009 | Shaun Booth
Posted on 07/28/2009 12:20:22 PM PDT by DecoyJames
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2302942/posts

Geithner: US, China response halted global crisis
AP | 7/28/2009
Posted on 07/28/2009 2:49:06 PM PDT by james500
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2303051/posts

[csvset]

Ian seems to have only a slight clue of what he's talking about.

C'mon, these guys are the best and brightest ! Why, they know what Twitter and You Tube are !

Geithner, Gibbsy the press dolt, Lying Joe Biden, etc.

Don't you feel safe knowing that the Wunder-kids are in charge ?

[don-o]

EXcellent! Thanks for posting it.

[1010RD]

Lobbyists good; Constitutionalists bad - Is this the Obama Administration meme?

[1010RD]

Petty??? In Cook County this is par. Obama is going easy on them by IL standards.

[takenoprisoner]

Hussein doesn’t support the US Constitution. Though he often refers to it pretending he does. It’s makes for a good sound bite. So why on earth should he be expected to support the Honduran Constitution and it’s Supreme Court decisions?

Hussein’s recall of these visas is prima facie evidence he doesn’t support the rule of law. Since it’s no secret Zelaya sought to write another Constitution more suitable to his fantasies of power and control. And yes, extend his term beyond the current Constitutional limits.

It’s also no secret the Honduran Constitution can be amended. But Zelaya sought to side step the legal process for amending the Honduran Constitution. The Honduran Supreme Court said oh no you don’t and ordered his ouster.

The rule of law prevailed in Honduras. But now our TOTUS seeks to trample the rule of law for Hondurans. Should we not expect him to do the same with ours?

[livius]

State has been riddled with Marxists since FDR. Many of them were the subject of the McCarthy hearings and subsequently turned up in the Venona documents.

The State Dept. Marxists are feeling really empowered right now. Having a megalomaniac Marxist in the White House will do that to you.

[1010RD]

Andersson, who still believes his approach would work during better economic times. "I decided that if I could make a couple billion dollars, I could do truly revolutionary things in Central America."

Is Andersson Dutch for caudillo?

Andersson had served for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Tegucigalpa

Ah, the Peace Corps - like a nonprofit STD for individual countries: a gift that keeps on giving.

he was "a very, very serious draft dodger," devoting "years to the study and practice of draft dodging" to avoid the Vietnam War, which he calls "a horrible, pointless and wicked exercise."

You think he could get a job in the Obama State Department.

[1010RD]

I hadn't even gotten to this part:

"The guy who won," Andersson says of Zelaya, "has been such a lazy, ineffective and clownish jerk that I almost regret it sometimes."

Almost regret it? Typical leftist meddler: the patient almost died, but maybe I would give him poison again. It just might work.

...lazy, ineffective and clownish jerk... BTW doesn't America have one of these now?

[ErnstStavroBlofeld]

I guess my relatives will not be coming. As long they do not revoke my passport I’m OK.

[GodGunsGuts]

Put me on the list. Thank you!

Hopefully Obummer isn’t thinking of invading Honduras like the Clintonistas did to reinstall the Commie-Terror-dictator Aristide on poor Haiti.

[don-o]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2303210/posts

[takenoprisoner]

“State has been riddled with Marxists since FDR. Many of them were the subject of the McCarthy hearings and subsequently turned up in the Venona documents.”

I just recently finished my study of Zelaya. Now you come with the Venona documents which were heretofore alien to me.

The learning opportunities presented here by folks like yourself are endless. For now, the one thing we can agree upon, Obama is a prime suspect as a Marxist. As to the Venona documents, my interest has been peaked. So I’ll be forced to find time to research and study.

[OLDCU]

I thought I was reading a skit from Abbott & Costello.

[Stultis]

The Honduran officials should return their visas directly to Commandante Zero, preferably rolled up in suppositories.

[HonCitizen]

BREAKING NEWS:

The newspaper Clarin from Argentina reports that the statement that allegedly supported the San Jose agreement by the honduran army, posted on their website was written by 2 honduran colonels at the office of a DEMOCRAT SENATOR. the name of the senator was not given, but the journalist said that the source confirmed her that a former advisor for Ted Kennedy participated during the writting of this statement.