Related: Whatever Happened in Honduras?
"Delegation visits Honduras, seeks president’s return" by Associated Press | August 25, 2009
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras - Foreign ministers from seven nations launched a direct, high-profile attempt yesterday to persuade Honduras’s interim government to restore ousted President Manuel Zelaya.
The delegation from the Organization of American States was the most prominent group of officials to visit Honduras since Zelaya was arrested and hustled out of the country on June 28, prompting outrage from governments worldwide.
They sure are taking their sweet, quiet time over it.
It's been a week since I've even seen a report from Honduras in the Globe -- which tells you a lot right there.
The foreign ministers - from Argentina, Canada, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, and the Dominican Republic - made no public comments on arrival....
Now compare that with the U.S. reaction to Colombia's president and his attempt to amend the constitution for a third term (Zeleya only seeking a second):
"Colombia senate bolsters Uribe’s possible bid for third term; Lopsided vote backs a bill for a referendum" by Juan Forero, Washington Post | August 21, 2009
BOGOTÁ - President Álvaro Uribe, whose government has forged a close alliance with the United States to fight Marxist guerrillas and drug traffickers, stepped closer to extending his presidency when Colombia’s Senate voted late Wednesday in favor of an effort to allow him to run for reelection.
Related:
"undercover US agents posed as rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by its Spanish acronym, FARC"
And because of all the DOUBLE-DEALING, DOUBLE-CROSSING, DOUBLE-BLUFFING, DOUBLE-GAME of DRUG WAR GARBAGE!!!!
Just a month ago, Colombia’s influential newsmagazine Semana declared Uribe’s chances of going for a third term “dead.’’ Even some of the president’s supporters had said there was not enough time before the May election for the country’s highest court to approve a constitutional amendment permitting him to run for reelection and for authorities to convene a referendum that would ask Colombians whether they approved of a third term.
But yesterday, Uribe’s supporters in Congress were buoyant after the Senate voted, 56 to 2, to hold a referendum. The president’s opponents, who say the reelection effort violates the constitution, boycotted the vote, though they acknowledged not having the votes to stop the bill.
Now if this were Honduras the guy would be awoken in the middle of the night and bundled off on an airplane in his pajamas.
Interior and Justice Minister Fabio Valencia Cossio, who is spearheading the reelection drive, told the senators that their approval reflected popular support for Uribe’s US-backed security policy.
Oh, is that why we aren't complaining?
Uribe, elected in a landslide in 2002, was reelected after a constitutional amendment permitted it in 2006. During his tenure, Colombia has driven rebel groups into isolated, rural regions. Uribe’s government has received more than $5 billion in US aid to reorganize a once-hapless military and establish an ambitious drug-fumigation program.
More spare change, 'eh, American?
Btw, in a TRULY FREE PRESS the "fumigation program" would be called what it is: CHEMICAL WARFARE!
But his administration has been mired in scandals that increasingly worry Democratic leaders in the US Congress. Some of Uribe’s top aides are under investigation by the attorney general’s office in a vast wiretapping case, and the army has been implicated in the slayings of up to 1,600 civilians.
Related: Colombia's Body Counts
Uribe, who has been coy about whether he wants a third term, still faces obstacles another run. The House is expected to vote next week on the referendum bill, and it will be tougher there to get the necessary 84 votes.
--more--"
So one guy gets hustled out before his first term is even up, while a gang of criminals seeks a third term.
I notice the U.S. use and occupation of seven Colombian military bases went unmentioned. That's a signal to the region: no more leftist governments -- or else.
