HONDURAS UPDATE SEPTEMBER 15 2009

By Emile Schepers

1. ARIAS TO MEET WITH (SOME) HONDURAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES. Various sources report that Costa Rican president Arturo Arias, mediator for the Honduras crisis, is meeting tomorrow with at least four of the candidates for the presidency in Honduras' elections of November 29. His aim is reportedly to get them to agree to a postponment of the November 29 elections until after Zelaya is restored to the presidency. The presidential campaign has been going on for two weeks and the resistance in Honduras is saying that even if Zelaya is restored now, the situation is too disrupted to have a fair electoral campaign in that period of time. The sources that are reporting the Arias meeting with the candidates suggest that the two "major" party candidates, Elvin Santos of the Liberal Party and Pepe Lobo (Joe the wolf) of the National Party are among the four. There are six candidates at least, two of whom have repudiated the election under coup conditions (the Democratic Unification Party's Cesar Ham and independent leftist candidate Reyes). I will report any results of this meeting in tomorrow's blog.

2. ULTRA-RIGHT PRESS IN LATIN AMERICA ACCUSES OBAMA, ARIAS OF IMPERIALIST INTERFERENCE. It would be funny if it were not so nauseating. The fascist ultra-right press in various Latin American countries is now saying that Arias of Costa Rica as well as the Obama administration are engaging in an imperialist violation of Honduras' national sovereignty, by working for the return of Zelaya. These are the same people who were always ready to do the bidding of the CIA (in exchange for its money) and of the Reagan, Bush I and Bush II administrations.

More tomorrow.