Ibero-American News Digest

LaRouche on Honduras: Is Obama Planning Zelaya-Style Coup in U.S.?

June 30 (EIRNS)—American statesman Lyndon LaRouche today asked if President Barack Obama's support for last week's attempted coup d'état by former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, is a reflection of Obama's own plans to try something similar in the United States.

"All indications are that that is the case," LaRouche asserted. "Obama is betraying the mentality of a fascist dictator. Is he headed for a dictatorship? The pattern points in that direction. He is driving feverishly to impose Nazi health reforms on the U.S. He is hell-bent on the worst kind of environmentalist cap-and-trade legislation. And his London-dictated economic policies have driven the United States, and all its 50 states, into bankruptcy. Just look at the horror-show that is taking place in California."

"Is Obama sympathetic to what Zelaya tried to do because the foreign forces behind Obama are headed for an attempted coup against the United States Constitution?" LaRouche asked.

LaRouche pointed to the essential facts in the Honduran case. Then-President Zelaya attempted to organize a June 28 referendum to call a constituent assembly, which in turn was to modify the Honduran Constitution to allow him to run for reelection. But such referenda are unconstitutional in Honduras, and the Supreme Court and Congress both rejected the Zelaya initiative on those grounds. Zelaya attempted to proceed by force regardless, and ordered the army to distribute ballots, and then cashiered the head of the armed forces when he refused to carry out the unconstitutional order.

The Supreme Court then reinstated the fired general; the armed forced arrested Zelaya hours before the illegal referendum was scheduled to begin, and put him on an airplane to neighboring Costa Rica; and the Congress named its president Roberto Micheletti as acting President, until new elections could be held.

"They did the right thing," LaRouche commented. "The guy's trying to make himself a dictator through the referendum, and he had somebody behind him, some other outside force. And the people in his government caught onto him, and what he was up to."

LaRouche continued: "The guy was making a coup against his own Constitution. His own government and his own Supreme Court condemned him for crimes against the Constitution. And now many of the governments in the region, and Obama, are lined up to defend him. These guys are upset because they are afraid of their own people—including the President of Venezuela. Are these governments going to be stooges for Obama when he does the same thing in the United States?"

Honduras Crisis Escalates, Under London's Guiding Hand

July 5 (EIRNS)—The Honduran crisis escalated dramatically over the weekend of July 4-5, as London-steered "Bolivarian" forces—emboldened by President Obama's irresponsible, unqualified support for ousted President Manuel Zelaya earlier this week—deployed to reinstate Zelaya in office by force. On the evening of July 5, Zelaya took off from the U.S. with the intention of landing in Honduras, in a jet provided by the Chávez government of Venezuela and piloted by a "Bolivarian captain," accompanied by the current president of the UN General Assembly, former Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Miguel D'Escotto. The London-run "leftist" governments of Venezuela and Nicaragua have both threatened military action to reinstate their ally, Zelaya.

The new Honduran government of Roberto Micheletti warned that the plane carrying Zelaya would not be allowed to land, and it placed military vehicles on the runway. Zelaya's plane overflew the airport and the capital city, realized it would be unable to land, and then proceeded to neighboring Nicaragua. Honduran Foreign Minister Ernesto Ortez had earlier announced that there were Nicaraguan troop movements along its border with Honduras.

On July 4, the Organization of American States (OAS) voted 33-0 to suspend Honduras from membership—the first time the OAS has taken such a move since the 1962 suspension of Cuba, which all of the nations of Ibero-America are now opposed to. Lyndon LaRouche commented today that this is quite an embarrassment for the region's governments, but that "some nations in Ibero-America seem to like drug money."

LaRouche also noted that the deposed Zelaya regime "had George Soros written all over it," a reference to Zelaya's Oct. 13, 2008 public endorsement of the Soros-led drive to legalize drugs. It is well documented that Soros is an asset of imperial British financial interests.

The U.S. State Department, OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza, Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga, and others had all urged Zelaya not to try to return to Honduras at this time, as bloodshed could result. But the ousted President seems intent on playing his part in London's script for regional violence, and possibly war.

Honduran Cardinal Says New Government Is Constitutional

July 5 (EIRNS)—Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodríguez Maradiaga, on behalf of the Honduran Bishops Conference, issued a statement on July 4, which took sharp issue with the way the OAS was handling the crisis, reporting that "all Honduran Democratic Institutions are operating and in place ... [including] all three branches of the State: Executive, Legislative, and Judicial are within democratic legal boundaries, according to the Constitution of the Republic of Honduras."

Cardinal Rodríguez—a powerful figure in Catholic Church circles internationally, who was widely considered as "papabile" during the recent papal succession—further explained that Zelaya had violated Article 239 of the Constitution, which says that anyone calling for a referendum, as Zelaya repeatedly did, "shall immediately cease performing the functions of his post," and that "therefore the mentioned person, at the moment of his arrest, was no longer performing the duties of the Republic's Presidency."

Rodríguez demanded that the OAS "pay attention to all previous events occurring outside legality in Honduras," a reference to Zelaya's unconstitutional activities, adding that "the Honduran people are also asking why you have not condemned the belligerent threats against our country," meaning the Venezuelan and Nicaraguan calls for military action.

He concluded by urging "my friend José Manuel Zelaya ... to reflect before taking an impetuous action. Your return at this point could result in a bloodbath.... Please think carefully before you take any steps, before it is too late."

Dope, Inc. To Push Drug Legalization at Argentine Conference

July 3 (EIRNS)—The Argentine Congress will host an international conference Aug. 6-7, to push Dope, Inc.'s agenda of drug legalization. The conference is formally sponsored by central elements of what Lyndon LaRouche has denounced as "Anglo-Dutch Liberal Imperialism": the British Embassy, the Dutch Embassy, the Open Society Institute of George Soros, and the Soros-sponsored Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy.

One panel is titled "International Panorama of Reform of Drug Policy: Openings and Challenges for the Future"; another will discuss legislative reforms already underway in Ibero-America—including drug decriminalization legislation passed by the congresses of Argentina and Mexico, but not yet signed into law by Argentina's President Kirchner and Mexican President Calderón. Both heads of state have so far avoided making a final decision on the legislation, but both are expected to do so after their respective mid-term elections (June 27 in Argentina, July 5 in Mexico).

Speakers at the conference include Martin Jelsma (Dutch head of the Transnational Institute's Drugs and Democracy project, a Soros front); Hugo Cabieses of Peru (another Soros flunky and legalization promoter); Eugenio Zaffaroni (Argentine Supreme Court justice and legalization advocate); Anibal Fernández (Argentine Justice Minister and drug legalization champion); and many others.