"Hezbollah, more than any other terror group, manages to utilize its
Mexican-based cells, which it has turned into instruments of capital and
terrorism, ready to be called upon once the moment serves its
interests"
This is why border control and immigration enforcement is critical.
Faced with
dwindling Iranian funding, Shiite terror group partners with Mexican
drug cartels; uses millions of dollars in drug money to support weapon
acquisition habit
Eldad Beck
Israel News
MEXICO –
Chiapas is one of Mexico's most exotic federal districts. But the
magical forests, appealing Indian communities, colorful towns and
intriguing archeological sites – that serve as main tourist attractions –
hide a political hell.
In the mid-1990s, a leftist resistance group which calls itself The
Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) made Chiapas its home. Its
attempts to fight the Mexican Army repeatedly failed, but the Zapatistas
are still very active in the district's rural areas. Chiapas is
considered a dangerous place, where every home has an arms arsenal of
its own; and like many other places in Mexico,
Chiapas' streets have become the battlefield where the government and local drug lords wrestle for dominance.
Chiapas, however, harbors an even more sinister secret: It is also a hub of radical Islamist activity.
Catholic Mexico is in the midst of a crisis of faith. According to a
local businessman, who asked to remain anonymous, it is widely believed
that within a decade, Chiapas will be the first federal state in Mexico
to turn its back on the Church.
"The Muslim
missionaries are very active there," he said. "It's hard to know
exactly how many people have converted to Islam over the past few
years."
The narco-terror axis is crucial to the funding of jihad. The March 2009 U.S. Department of State's International Narcotics Control Strategy Report documents "a direct connection between traditional Colombian drug trafficking and money laundering organizations and Middle Eastern money launderers tied to Hezbollah." (More here.)
US bars business with four in Hezbollah laundering link Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury Department on Wednesday banned Americans from doing business with three Lebanese-Venezuelans and a Lebanese man it accused of helping to launder drug money to the benefit of the Lebanon-based Hezbollah militant group.
It also designated one Colombian-Lebanese man, Ali Mohamad Saleh, as a global terrorist for his involvement with Hezbollah fund-raising. The action freezes any assets Saleh may have in the United States and also bars Americans from doing business with him.
The Treasury Department identified the three men with dual Lebanese-Venezuelan citizenship as Abbas Hussein Harb, Ali Houssein Harb and Kassem Mohamad Saleh. The Lebanese citizen is Ibrahim Chibli.
The Treasury Department said the group of men involved with money laundering were linked to Lebanese drug kingpin Ayman Joumaa, who was indicted in December by a U.S. federal grand jury in Virginia on charges of aiding Mexican drug cartels.
In a statement, Treasury Under Secretary David Cohen described Joumaa's network as "a sophisticated multi-national money laundering ring, which launders the proceeds of drug trafficking for the benefit of criminals and the terrorist group Hezbollah."
Hezbollah is a Shi'ite Muslim political party and guerrilla group that remains powerful in Lebanon and receives funding from Iran. Hezbollah has supported long-time ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and is listed as a terrorist group by the United States.
The Treasury Department said Harb and Chibli conspired with others to help ship millions of dollars in narcotics and, using a Colombia- and Venezuela-based organization, laundered money through the Lebanese financial sector.
This is where Ron Paul's sympathies lie. This is Ron Paul's axis of powers. Ron Paul fiercely supports Iran's pursuit of a nuclear weapon. The Paulbots just don't get it.
'That hill will open up and a big atomic bomb will come out'
Meeting in Caracas comes on day Iran sentenced a man to death for allegedly spying on the country for the U.S.
ahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez mocked the U.S. and joked about directing 'a big atomic bomb' at Washington as they met in Caracas today.
The president of Iran was visiting his Venezuelan counterpart in an attempt to rally support for his government in the face of tightening sanctions from the West.
His meeting with Mr Chavez came on the day that Iran sentenced a man to death for allegedly spying on the country for the U.S., and claimed to have arrested several more American spies.
And the country has also sparked anger by beginning to enrich uranium at a secret underground site - a move which could be a step further towards developing a nuclear bomb.
Laughing: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, left, shares a joke with Hugo Chavez as he arrives in Caracas
Mr Ahmadinejad is in Venezuela at the start of his tour of Latin American countries ruled by left-wing governments sympathetic to Iran's virulently anti-western regime.
As international sanctions begin to bite on Iran's oil-dominated economy, the president is looking for allies who can continue to provide an economic lifeline for his government.
'Despite those arrogant people who do not wish us to be together, we will unite forever,' he told Mr Chavez today.
Both men hugged, beamed, held hands and showered each other with praise, making macabre jokes which appeared to threaten the U.S., the principal enemy of both leaders.
Allies: The president of Iran is visiting Latin America to drum up support against sanctions from the West
Outspoken: The men joked about targeting Washington with 'a big atomic bomb'
Mr Chavez said that he was hiding a bomb under a grassy knoll before the steps of the presidential palace, saying: 'That hill will open up and a big atomic bomb will come out.'
As the two men laughed, he added: 'The imperialist spokesmen say Ahmadinejad and I are going into the basement now to set our sights on Washington and launch cannons and missiles... It's laughable.'
During a welcome ceremony for Mr Ahmadinejad, the speeches were mostly limited to mutual adulation and anti-U.S. snipes.
Mr Chavez said: 'The imperialist madness has been unleashed in a way that has not been seen for a long time.'
Mr Ahmadinejad called his host, who is recovering from cancer, 'the champion in the war on imperialism'.
And discussing the two countries' co-operation, Mr Chavez said that Iranian constructors had recently built 14,000 new homes in Venezuela, adding: 'The only bombs we're preparing are bombs against poverty, hunger and misery.'
Show of power: Mr Ahmadinejad is seeking support for his government from left-leaning rulers sympathetic to his anti-western foreign policy
Friendship: The two men are united in their hatred of the U.S., which Mr Chavez has accused of being responsible for a number of South American leaders falling ill with cancer
I am sure that Hezb'Allah's narco transit routes in Mexico come in very handy as well. The recent spate of beheadings on the Tex/Mex border is no acccident. The increase in Islamic religious ritual slaughter is tied directly to the rising influence of Hezb'Allah and other jihadist groups in Mexico and Latin America.
The Hizbullah terrorist organization is in trouble for laundering hundreds of millions of dollars in drug trafficking revenues in US banks. By Chana Ya'ar
According to a report published by the World News Tribune, the Lebanon-based terrorist organization is using American banks and other financial institutions to process money earned from trafficking in South America.
The complaint filed by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Department of Justice, charges Hizbullah with using the money to buy used cars in the U.S. for transport to West Africa, where they are then sold, mostly in Benin.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bhara noted, "It puts into start relief the nexus between narcotics trafficking and terrorism."
According to a British security source, Hizbullah also sets up straw companies in African and Arab countries which then sell vehicles and/or other goods. Hizbullah operatives also steal passports, which are then used to cover terrorists as they travel the world to raise money.
Obama is neither inept nor stupid; he is, in fact, dangerous. Obama's sanction of Iran and aiding and abetting in the putdown of the freedom revolution in Iran in 2009 ranks, IMAO, as his most monstrous failure, among countless others.
I think it's important to note that all of the headlines in the news reports in Portuguese call the murderer an Islamic suicide bomber and report that his letter refers to Islam, while none of the English outlets are reporting this critical clue.
"In recent months, she said, he appeared to have got closer to Islam."
At least 11 people, mostly children, died Thursday and more that 15 were wounded when an armed man attacked a school in Realengo in the poor suburbs of Rio de Janeiro.
According to a preliminary police report, the attacker - a 24- year-old former student at the school - was among the dead after shooting himself in the head. He attacked Tasso da Silveira school, where some 400 students ages 9-14 were in classes. [...]
Beltrami described the letter as 'the words of a person who no longer believes in anything, full of sentences that made no sense and references to Islamic fundamentalism.'
Huh? He no longer believes in anything but made references to Islam?
Beltrami said the attacker was friendly as he went into the school, chatting with administrators and teachers and asking for permission to address the children. When he reached the third floor of the building, the suspect entered one of the classrooms and started to shoot at students, killing nine girls and one boy.
The attacker apparently committed suicide upon being chased by a police officer who had been called in by a student who managed to escape the building
Roselane de Oliveira, a sister of the attacker, told Rio de Janeiro radio station Band News that the young man 'was very strange.'
'He had no friends, and he spent all his time on the Internet,' she said.
In recent months, she said, he appeared to have got closer to Islam.
Police stressed, however, that there was no concrete evidence that the attack had either a religious or a political motive.
Witnesses tell how gunman opened fire on pupils at Tasso da Silveira primary school in Rio de Janeiro
As many as 20 pupils are feared dead after a gunman opened fire in a primary school in western Rio de Janeiro.
The vice-mayor of western Rio said 13 people had died in the shooting at Tasso da Silveira primary school, although it was not clear if that figure was accurate or included the attacker. Edmar Teixeira said the gunman was a 24-year-old former student who pretended to be giving a speech to students before opening fire with two handguns. When police appeared at the scene the gunman shot himself dead, Teixeira said. He left behind a letter outlining his motives.
One witness told the Guardian he had seen between 15 and 20 children dead or seriously wounded.
"It is a massacre, a true massacre," said Roni de Macedo, a fireman who arrived on the scene shortly after the shooting began and dragged eight seriously injured children from the school.
"There is blood on the walls, blood on the chairs. There are 15 to 20 dead I think," said De Macedo, who was covered in blood. "I've never seen anything like this. It's like something in the United States."
You didn't really think all of those beheadings south of the border were inspired by the Mayans?
In 2007 I reported on the growing threat of Muslim groups that were penetrating the US/Mexican border. If you missed my piece on OTMs (other than Mexicans) arrested on the border, go here to The Washington Times.
Last year I posted on Iranian-backed Hezbollah militias taking root in South America.
An investigation by Telemundo and NBC News has uncovered details of an extensive smuggling network run by Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim group founded in Lebanon in 1982 that the United States has labeled an international terrorist organization. The operation funnels large sums of money to militia leaders in the Middle East and finances training camps, propaganda operations and bomb attacks in South America, according to U.S. and South American officials.
U.S. officials fear that poorly patrolled borders and rampant corruption in the Tri-border region could make it easy for Hezbollah terrorists to infiltrate the southern U.S. border. From the largely lawless region, it is easy for potential terrorists, without detection, to book passage to the United States through Brazil and then Mexico simply by posing as tourists.
As if the threat of deadly drug cartels in Mexico wasn't enough, some of them are joining forces with Middle East terror groups.
"Hezbollah are absolute masters at identifying existing smuggling infrastructures," says former DEA Chief of Operations Mike Braun, adding that the group "is developing relations with those responsible for operating those smuggling operations and then forming close relations with them, so that they can move anything they have an interest into virtually anywhere in the world." That comment comes from former DEA Chief of Operations Mike Braun. He goes on to tell me that the Middle East terror group is "rubbing shoulders" with drug cartels around the globe.
My military and Department of Homeland Security contacts are insistent...it's not if Hezbollah operatives have been smuggled into the U.S....but how many? They note that drug tunnels are becoming much more sophisticated and striking similar as tunnels being used by terror organizations to smuggle weapons into the Gaza Strip. My contacts also say they have real concern that bombing techniques used in the Middle East to promote terror are now also being used inside Mexico, as the cartels war with each other and anyone in their way.
This comes as Mexican authorities busted a senior Hezbollah operative who employed Mexicans nationals with family ties to Lebanon to set up the network, designed to target Israel and the West, according to multiple reports. The man's name is Jameel Nasr and he was arrested after a Mexican surveillance operation revealed that he traveled frequently to Lebanon to receive information and instructions from Hezbollah commanders and he also spent several months in Venezuela working with the terror group and Hugo Chavez's people. American security contacts say the Mexican operation was impressive and they are seeing some increased pressure on the cartels from Mexican authorities and thus...their friends.
Meantime, over this past weekend President Calderon of Mexico sent a significant number of troops to the border regions and while they are there to help battle the cartels, they have also been sent to deal with the growing connection to Hezbollah. As one contact told me, "Mexico knows the seriousness of a cartel connection with Hezbollah and the threat to their national security."
We also know from DHS documents that over 180,000 illegal aliens from countries Other than Mexico were apprehended from 2007 through mid-March 2010 and the State Department Country Reports on Terrorism said that "smuggling rings have been detected moving people from East Africa, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia". I am told these people and drugs are then moved up through Central America and into the Unites States through Mexico.
Congressman Connie Mack chairs the Western Hemisphere Subcommittee and says, "I think the question that we all have to ask is, when the terrorist come into Latin America, when they move into Mexico, how many have come into the United States? Our government doesn't know the answer to that question. That should make all of us very fearful."
The Congressman is critical of the Administrations response to this increased threat, "What are we going to do to secure our border step one and step two what are we going to do to confront the drug cartels in Hezbollah from continuing to create a force inside Mexico that will destabilize the United States?"
In response to this story, I contacted DHS and various departments within the administration. To be fair, they are obviously not going to give up information on operations or threats that they are working to eliminate, however, we didn't get much in feedback about our story, or in a way of a statement. I did have testimony forwarded to me from Assistant Secretary of State Arturo Valenzuela from February 15th where he acknowledges the threat to American security and says the U.S. will continue to assist in the region's need to combat drug trafficking and transnational crime.
Thiago in Brazil sent me this piece of delicious news:
While our president, Luis Inácio 'Lula' da Silva, is in Iran celebrating his 'diplomatic victory' (?) in reaching that agreement with Iran's supremo, thousands of demonstrators in Rio de Janeiro gathered up to send him a message: "Mr. President: don't forget to talk about human rights in Iran": They placed 6,000 plastic hands on Ipanema beach -- each hand representing 1,000 Jews killed in the Holocaust which is denied by Mr. Ahmadinejad.
[Title:] Activists demonstrate against religious intolerance in Iran
The Commission Against Religious Intolerance promoted on Sunday morning a silent protest to remember the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust, besides demonstrating against religious persecution imposed on the Baha'i and the policy of segregation of homosexuals in the government of Iranian President Mahoumud (sic) Ahmadinejad.
[Caption:] Images of hands on Ipanema's sands honour the victims of the Holocaust.
Activists marked the sands of Ipanema Beach, by Farme de Amoedo Street, [with] six thousand hands stamped with the number thousand. They have urged President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to intercede with Ahmadinejad during his visit to Iran, to stop religious persecution, and that human rights take place on the political agenda of that country's government. Brazil has 30,000 followers of the Baha'i faith.
“The nuclear issue is not isolated in Iranian political life. It is in a context of authoritarianism and violence. Lula cannot forget who is Ahmadinejad when he visits Iran. The Iranian President fights religious diversity and its policy is exactly the opposite of what happens in Brazil regarding tolerance,” said Michel Gherman, of Juventude Judaica [Jewish Youth] of Rio de Janeiro and a member of the Commission Against Religious Intolerance.
The rise of jihad in our hemisphere. There is an extensive jihadi network involving what was described in this weekend's post: Hezb'Allah black market in Miami
Here is a report in Spanish showing that Hezbollah is all over South America, numbering in the thousands. (hat tip Tito the builder)
They're ready to come here. Muslims are declaring they will come speaking in Spanish, with
bombs strapped to themselves. They will defy the typical
profile and they will use the Mexican border.
Shia Iran spreads Islam via foreign terror proxies across the world. Now we see the the proliferation of jihad here -- south of the border.
The Sunni Saudis spread their jihad with billions, building mosques that incite to violence and jihad. The Saudi arm, North American Islamic Trust, has built over 80% of the mosques in America.
Sunni or shia ..........it's all Islam.
Here's an article from 2007 that elaborates.
Hezbollah builds a Western base (hat tip Debbie)
From inside South America’s Tri-border area, Iran-linked militia targets U.S.
CIUDAD DEL ESTE, Paraguay - The Iranian-backed Hezbollah
militia has taken root in South America, fostering a well-financed force of
Islamist radicals boiling with hatred for the United States and ready to die to
prove it, according to militia members, U.S. officials and police agencies
across the continent.
From its Western base in a remote region divided by the
borders of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina known as the Tri-border, or the Triple
Frontier, Hezbollah has mined the frustrations of many Muslims among about
25,000 Arab residents whose families immigrated mainly from Lebanon in two
waves, after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war and after the 1985 Lebanese civil war.
An
investigation by Telemundo and NBC News has uncovered details of an extensive
smuggling network run by Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim group founded in Lebanon in
1982 that the United States has labeled an international terrorist organization.
The operation funnels large sums of money to militia leaders in the Middle East
and finances training camps, propaganda operations and bomb attacks in South
America, according to U.S. and South American officials.
U.S. officials fear that poorly patrolled borders and
rampant corruption in the Tri-border region could make it easy for Hezbollah
terrorists to infiltrate the southern U.S. border. From the largely lawless
region, it is easy for potential terrorists, without detection, to book passage
to the United States through Brazil and then Mexico simply by posing as
tourists.
They are men like Mustafa Khalil Meri, a young Arab
Muslim whom Telemundo interviewed in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay’s second-largest
city and the center of the Tri-border region. There is nothing particularly
distinctive about him, but beneath the everyday T-shirt he wears beats the heart
of a devoted Hezbollah militiaman.
“If he attacks Iran, in two minutes Bush is dead,” Meri
said. “We are Muslims. I am Hezbollah. We are Muslims, and we will defend our
countries at any time they are attacked.”
Terror group helps FARC rebels smuggle cocaine into Europe, DEA says
BOGOTA, Colombia - Colombian guerrillas have entered into "an unholy alliance" with Islamic extremists who are helping the Marxist rebels smuggle cocaine through Africa on its way to European consumers, a U.S. official told Reuters.
Interdiction efforts have made it more difficult to send cocaine straight from Colombia and other Andean producer nations to the United States and Europe.
So criminal organizations including the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, are going through Africa to access the European market. And they are doing it with the help of al-Qaida and other groups branded terrorists by Washington, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
"In the mid to late 1990s when the Europeans became better at maritime interdiction, off the coasts of Portugal and Spain for example, traffickers started moving their routes southward. So the next progression was to Western Africa," said Jay Bergman, DEA director for the Andean region of South America.
Three West African men accused of ties to al-Qaida were extradited to New York in December on drug trafficking and terrorism charges.
It was the first time U.S. authorities established a link suggesting al-Qaida is funding itself in part by providing security for drug smugglers in West Africa.
"As suggested by the recent arrest of three alleged al-Qaida operatives, the expansion of cocaine trafficking through West Africa has provided the venue for an unholy alliance between South American narco-terrorists and Islamic extremists," Bergman said in an interview over the weekend.
To reach the U.S. market, Colombian smugglers are meanwhile being driven to use disposable, fiberglass submarines. The homemade craft are constructed in the mangroves of Colombia's Pacific coast, used to carry drugs to Mexico for transshipment to the United States, then sunk.
All big Colombian trafficking groups, including the 45-year-old FARC, are using Africa to reach European cocaine consumers while Mexican cartels import chemicals used to make methamphetamine via the same route, Bergman said.
"For trafficking organizations to survive, they first and foremost have to be flexible and make adjustments quickly to law enforcement efforts," he added.
Finally, there is the issue of Brazil's apparent lack of concern regarding Iran's increasing penetration into Latin America through Venezuela. There are now weekly flights between Caracas and Tehran that bring passengers and cargo into Venezuela without any customs or immigration controls. Venezuela has also signed agreements with Iran for transferring nuclear technology, and there is speculation it is giving Iran access to Venezuelan uranium deposits.
Instead of expressing concern over Iran's activities in Latin America, Brazil is drawing closer to Tehran and hopes to expand its $2 billion bilateral trade to $10 billion in the near future. President Lula recently hosted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Brazil. He reiterated his support for Iran's right to develop nuclear technology for peaceful uses, while insisting that there is no evidence that Iran is developing nuclear weapons.
Police in the north Brazilian state of Amapa have
unearthed a cache with 450 kg of enriched uranium ore, a dangerous mineral used
for nuclear arms production.
The operation to seize radioactive material was a
result of four-month work by investigators, who found a bag of pitchblende on
Friday in a remote area of tropical rainforest.
Pitchblende, or uraninite, is an extremely
radioactive mineral used as a major component for the production of fuel for
nuclear power plants and nuclear arms.
An investigation is underway.
Brazil's nuclear capabilities are considered the
most advanced in Latin America. The country runs its sole nuclear power plant,
Angra, with two reactors, and a third is under construction.
If Reagan were alive .................. is Obama going to sanction another dictator's coup against free people?
In a Sandinista power play that's being likened to a coup
against Nicaragua's institutional democracy, high court magistrates loyal to
President Daniel Ortega ruled Monday evening against a constitutional ban that
prohibits consecutive reelection. The decision by the Constitutional Chamber of
the Supreme Court, according to Sandinista magistrates, clears the way for
Ortega to seek reelection in 2011.
The high court's ruling, made in the absence of opposition
judges who reportedly were not convoked for the court session, is being called a
brazen assault on Nicaragua's rule of law, and a dangerous step closer to an
Ortega dictatorship.
“They are manipulating the constitution and the state of law in
an unthinkable way,” former Supreme Court President Alejandro Serrano told The
Nica Times, adding that the Supreme Court does not have the authority to declare
the constitution unconstitutional.
Here's the link to Tim Rogers, a local reporter who sometime writes for
Time.* All the local embassies have for the moment declined to comment
in order to study the decision of the Nicaraguan Supreme Court. In fairness,
that might be wise for a moment...but this silence can't last long
without it becoming complicity in dictatorship. What is needed is for the State
Department and the EU to join with Nicaragua's opposition parties and declare
that it will not recognize the right of Ortega to run for
re-election.
Key points:
The decision was made by a rump session of Sandinista justices who excluded
the non-Sandinista justices from taking part in the decision (!!). (Imagine the
GOP justices on the US Supreme Court holding a private session in which they
overturn Roe v Wade, and you get the picture).
The legality of the decision was rejected by the Chief Justice of the
Nicaraguan Supreme Court(!).
The legality of the decision was also rejected by a united statement of
every Nicaraguan political party, who do not recognize the legal right of Ortega
to run for re-election. The opposition parties are now engaged in a joint
effort to shut down the government.
Nicaragua's long-divided opposition movements are starting to
show signs of union in defense of the country's institutional democracy,
following a highly suspect ruling by Sandinista Supreme Court magistrates Monday
to allow their leader, President Daniel Ortega, to seek re-election in 2011.
The ruling by the six Sandinista magistrates of the
Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Court was conducted behind the backs of
the opposition Liberal party magistrates. Supreme Court President Manuel
Martínez, of the Liberal party, described the move an “ambush” by the Sandinista
magistrates and a growing number of Ortega's detractors are blasting it as an
illegal assault on Nicaragua's constitutional democracy.
After a full day of meetings yesterday, representatives of all
the opposition political parties in the National Assembly – who together make up
a majority – issued a joint statement stressing they do not recognize the
judges' ruling, nor Ortega's right to seek consecutive re-election, which is
banned by the constitution.
[...]
“We do not recognize the decision adopted in an illegal and
illegitimate manner,” the business chamber said in its statement.
Constitutional experts are also expressing shock about Monday's
ruling.
Legal analyst and former judge Sergio Garcia Quintero told The
Nica Times that one would be “hard pressed to find a more corrupt judicial
system in the world,” and compared the Supreme Court justices to the “seven
plagues of Egypt.”
Ortega, meanwhile, went on live television for a nationally
televised address Monday night and said that the Sandinista ruling is
“non-appealable” and “written in stone.” He called his political opponents
“residual garbage” who should be thrown in jail.
The Sandinista base, too, has reacted to the news with the same
defensive triumphalism they displayed after last November's highly contentious
municipal elections, in which the Sandinista Front was accused of stealing more
than 30 mayor's seats.
The Sandinistas have taken to the streets of Managua to “permanently defend”
Ortega's re-election efforts and prevent the “right wing” from protesting.
"Right wing" is now synonymous with "freedom lover". It's a dirty word in the lefty lexicon and they are using the media minions to sully it. But the more they use it, the more gorgeous it becomes.
Articles like these last two place his life in
danger here in Nicaragua. Note that his by-line is Nica Times (down
here Nica is short for Nicaragua--it's an affectionate word, and the
Nicaraguans regularly call themselves Nicas).
The Nicaraguan Supreme Court has just nullified the law, and allowed Daniel Ortega to run for re-election...the next step to making Daniel the Chavez of Central America...thank your President for backing the wrong horse(s) in Central America and across the world.
This is a direct result of the Chavez backed coup in Honduras endorsed and supported.
Much thanks to Bruce, Department of Philosophy and Theology Ave Maria
University--Latin American Campus San Marcos, Nicaragua, for sending this in.
The Nicaraguan Supreme Court has lifted a constitutional ban on re-election, clearing the way for President Daniel Ortega to run again in 2011 elections.
The court's decision followed an appeal by Mr Ortega and a group of mayors.
In July, Mr Ortega said publically he favoured allowing people the right to seek consecutive terms.
The issue of presidential term limits is controversial across Latin America, where several nations have moved to allow consecutive terms in office.
"This is a dictatorship," says Ernesto Cardenal. He was the priest
whom Pope John Paul II publicly rebuked for being a minister in the
1980s Sandinista government.
Father Cardenal will not say any
more, as he says he faces the threat of imprisonment. But the
vice-president during the first Sandinista government from 1979-1989,
Sergio Ramirez, is ready to voice further criticism.
"Ortega
and his followers don't believe in democracy. They see it as something
that is not necessary. What they want is to stay in power at all costs,
even that of destroying democracy," he said.
Bruce in Nicaragua warns us:
1) This clears the way for Ortega to become president-for-life...it is a decisive move in the direction of dictatorship.
2) It has definitely been encouraged by Obama's pro-Zelaya policy in Honduras.
3) This is a decisive challenge to the Administration's foreign policy...and a full-court denunciation of the move by the State Department is an absolute imperative. And it puts the question to the Administration: do they support democracy or don't they? So far, they've sided with dictators on every major issue of their young administration: Iran, Honduras, you name it. Well, now there are no excuses: this is a clear and plain bid for dictatorship. What are they going to do? Will they support freedom or will they support a dictator in the making?
I won't drag out this letter, but those of us in Nicaragua who support democracy desperately need the support of every voice we can get.
America dropped the ball. It is breathtaking how quickly the world is spinning out. All of these drastic moves have dire consequences.
The rise of the leftist/Islamic era. And remember,Obama stood with these dictators and backed Chavez's man Zelaya against the constitution and the working democracy of Honduras. Breathtaking.
Who will stand with free men?
Victor Davis Hanson was right in remarks he made late last year:
"Obama has a very different view of the world. This view is anti-platonic. And I say that, not to be
condescending, but Plato said that the natural order of the world was
chaos, it was war—peace was a parenthesis, it had to be
achieved and worked at. I think in the Obama view that men like him
that are charismatic, articulate, they can change the world because
it's naturally a peaceful thing until people like George Bush rush in
and through their stubbornness—"smoke 'em out dead or alive" vernacular—destroys it, but the fact of the
matter is the only reason there is any semblance of peace and
tranquility in the world today is because in places as diverse as the
Aegean, planes over-flying in Greek airspace daily, where there's
near fighting on Cypress, or whether we are talking about the Korean
Sea and the Philippines and Taiwan and South Korean democracies not
going nuclear because the United States is there, or whether Russian
ships keep out of Norway every hour—all of that is
predicated on the presence of the United States.
To be frank, or to put it a different
way, Vladimir Putin doesn't give a damn that Barack Obama is African American. And the Chinese autocrats do not hear very well "hope"
and "change"—it doesn't translate to Chinese very
well—and the Europeans don't care if he has a nifty jump
shot. All they want to know is half the world are vying to try to
take advantage of regional opportunities if the United States is not
there to stop mold, and to stop rust, which is the natural organic
order of the world. They take advantage of it and our friends are
there waiting to see which side to join. All of our friends in Europe
know that, and Australia and South America. They don't have deities.
Nations don't have deities like Barack Obama, they have interests.
And their interests are predicated on who is going to win and who is
going to lose. Into that void comes Barack Obama.
COCHABAMBA, Bolivia — Leftist Latin American leaders have agreed on the
creation of a regional currency to scale back on the use of the US dollar as
well as economic sanctions against Honduran coup leaders.
Nine countries of ALBA, a leftist bloc conceived by Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez, met Friday in Bolivia where they vowed to press ahead with a new
currency for intra-regional trade to replace the US dollar.
"The document is approved," said Bolivia's President Evo Morales, who is
hosting the summit.
The new currency, named the Sucre after Jose Antonio de Sucre, who fought for
independence from Spain alongside Venezuelan hero Simon Bolivar in the early
19th century, will be rolled out beginning in 2010 in a non-paper form.
ALBA's member states are Venezuela, Bolivia, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua,
Honduras, Dominica, Saint Vincent and Antigua and Barbuda.
In a resolution on Honduras, members of the group agreed "to apply economic
and commercial sanctions against the regime that came to power as a result of a
coup."
They also urged the United Nations to send a representative to Honduras to
ensure "the inviolability of the Brazilian diplomatic mission as well as
security and adequate humanitarian conditions for the stay there of president
Manuel Zelaya."
[...]
The bloc also called for the replacement of the World Bank's International
Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes which has probed a slew of rows
between ALBA members and western energy firms.
Most ALBA members have already withdrawn from the organization, with Ecuador
announcing last July that it would pull out of the group.
On Friday, Bolivian media reported the country intents to nationalize a
electricity distribution firm owned by Spain's Red de Electrica de Espana.
It is just the latest in a series of nationalizations in Venezuela, Ecuador
and Bolivia.
In May, Venezuela nationalized 74 energy services firms operating in the
oil-rich Maracaibo Lake region.
Bolivia's Evo Morales has indicated that parts for his country's energy and
rail sectors will be nationalized.
According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), some political leaders, pundits and others in Honduras and Venezuela are saying that Israel and Jews played a role in the ouster and intimidation of President Manuel Zelaya and are in cahoots with the de facto president, Robert Micheletti.
The League has released translations of excerpts from interviews and comments made by some Honduran political figures and Venezuelan media commentators showing a pattern of blaming Jews and Israel for the political crisis. On September 25, a commentator on Radio Globo in Honduras pointed to Jews and Israelis as "people that do damage in this country" and added, "After what I have learned, I ask myself why, why didn't we let Hitler carry out his historic mission?"
"From President Zelaya himself down to media pundits and political activists, there has been a troubling undercurrent of anti-Semitism in the situation in Honduras," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "We know from history that at times of turmoil and unrest, Jews are a convenient scapegoat, and that is happening now in Honduras, a country that has only a small Jewish minority."
The League's has compiled various statements from Honduran public officials, commentators and others dating back to July 7, 2009, as well as statements by Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez and pundits on Venezuelan government television and radio. The statements include:
False allegations by President Zelaya that "Israeli mercenaries" are trying to assassinate him;
False claims by President Chavez of Venezuela and other Zelaya supporters that Israel was the only country in the world to recognize Micheletti's de facto government;
Remarks by David Romero, Executive Director of Radio Globo, claiming that "officers of the Jewish army" are working in conspiracy with the Armed Forces in Honduras. His remarks were reportedly challenged by Adolfo Facusse, president of the National Industrial Association in Tegucigalpa, who stated," Jews are our cousins and we will not tolerate such language."
UPDATE: CNN is reporting the deal is not done, only "90% done," which tells me it ain't done, and Zelaya is manipulating the press with their happy complicity.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (CNN) -- A negotiator for de facto
Honduran President Roberto Micheletti said that no deal was reached between the
two opposed sides Wednesday, as other government officials had reported.
Let's pray the hater-in-chief stays out of it. _______________________________________________
Due to the relentless pressure from Obama. Zelaya's coup on the Honduran constitution was illegal. Perhaps Obama hopes to replicate the same thing here. US media is not yet reporting this....................
Honduran negotiators reached agreement on Wednesday on a plan to restore President Manuel Zelaya to office and end a political crisis triggered by his ouster in a June coup.
"We have agreed in a document on point number six, which relates to the restitution of the powers of state to where they were before June 28, 2009," Victor Meza, Zelaya's representative, told a news conference.
Restoring the state to the situation before the coup would imply Zelaya's return to office, something that had been opposed by Robert Micheletti, the head of the coup-backed interim government.
Micheletti and Zelaya must now ratify the agreement reached by their representatives in talks Tegucigalpa.
==========================
In effect, The Constitution of Honduras was just negated.
What happened inHonduras was nothing short of the preservation of their democracy. Their president, Zelaya, tried to usurp the will of the people (sound familiar?).
Take this hypothetical: Imagine Obama announced that he was going to
hold a referendum on legalizing a third term for himself. Imagine that
even his attorney general Eric Holder advised him that it was illegal.
Imagine that the Supreme Court ruled that holding the referendum was
unconstitutional. In spite of that, let's imagine that Obama coerced
the FEC to hold the referendum anyway. Then we found out that the
referendum was being financed by Hugo Chavez. What should the Joint
Chiefs do? That is exactly what occurred in Honduras to a tee. The
Honduras Attorney General and their Supreme Court did exactly that.
Their Generals did what they had to.
The Chavez backed Zelaya has snuck back into Honduras and is hiding in the Brazilian embassy (no surprise, another Chavez backed leader there too). Very bad news. Another Obamanation. Putting a thriving nation into a vise and demanding the return of a dictator ...........
Zelaya is a Chavez puppet. Backed, bought and paid for. Fausta reporting:
Breaking news: ZELAYA BACK IN HONDURAS
According to Noticias 24 reports that deposed president Mel Zelaya is back
in Honduras, staying at the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly confirmed Zelaya was in
Honduras, but could provide no further information.
“We have confirmed that he is in Honduras,” Kelly told journalists, adding
the State Department was trying to find out more details of Zelaya’s
whereabouts.
Enrique Reina, the Honduran ambassador to the United States, told CNN en
Español that he could not divulge exactly where Zelaya was for security
reasons.
Rodolfo Pastor, the charge d’affairs of the Honduran Embassy in Washington,
said Zelaya was at the United Nations offices in the Honduran capital,
Tegucigalpa.
But Rebeca Arias, coordinator for the United Nations in Tegucigalpa, denied
the leader was in the building.
“He’s not here,” she said, adding that Zelaya had called her late Monday
morning and told her that he was in the country and would inform her within a
few hours where he was.
As you can read in the Noticias 24 report, however, the Brazilian Embassy has
confirmed that he is there.
Zelaya asked for his
supporters to gather there to allow him to reclaim his post, and people
have begun arriving. The US confirmed that Zelaya was back in
Tegucigalpa, but then the UN categorically denied Zelaya was inside
their compound.
Is the US hiding Zelaya?
Well, if the US knows he’s in
Honduras and the UN says he’s not in their compound, then the US must
either be hiding Zelaya or coordinating with another nation to do so.
The State Department needs to explain itself — soon.
For 80 years america has kept the America's pretty much free of
intrigue, and managed to contain the attempted Soviet penetration into South American largely in Cuba and Nicaragua
In 6 short months, the Obama
administration has managed to promote Hugo Chavez into a world "diplomat," and
given him influence in South America that is pretty astounding in retrospect.
and, it is obvious that Chavez has influence that extends to the inner
structures of the Brazilian government: that he is staying in the Brazilian
embassy is a pretty clear "signal" to all that brazil back venezuela in this bid
to turn Honduras into a Venezuelan vassal state. So, for 80 years American South America free of war, and free from the intrusions of Marxist politics, though, admittedly, the South Americans are probably more
marxist/socialists than anyone else in the world. The influence of the Catholic
church and its marxist clerics, and marxist academicians, don't you
know. Now, Obama reverses that almost instantly. South America
will become a hotbed of Cuban, Venezuelan and Nicaraguan intrigue and
insinuation, and war may rage in South Smerica for several generations as it did
in Europe, as all of this gets settled out. (I can guarantee you, that folks in Argentina, Paraguay and Uraguay are just not nuts about all of this: lots of English & German influence there, and lots of it ranging from "pretty
conservative" to downright nasty "reactionary," and a little beyond.) and,
following all of this, we may expect to see the first real expansion of Russian
power, and the ability to project power, since their hey days after wwii.
The US had contained and confined Russia, and was diminishing the Russian sphere of influence almost daily. Obama has rubbed the bottle, and the Russian genie is out, and running free and easy and clear in our neighborhoods
in South America. How long will it be before this spreads to Mexico? And, since Obama wants to make Mexico part of the U.S., how long
will it be before this nonsense, this influence of the Castro's and Chavez,
extend into the United States. It is happening so quickly as to be
almost incomprehensible.
Every day I become more
and more fearful for our country.
These A$$clowns continue to exhibit
"tells" as to what kind of government is acceptable and to be
"nurtured."
We are screwed....
HT Drudge
What happened in Honduras was nothing short of the preservation of their democracy. Their president, Zelaya, tried to usurp the will of the people (sound familiar?).
Take this hypothetical: Imagine Obama announced that he was going to
hold a referendum on legalizing a third term for himself. Imagine that
even his attorney general Eric Holder advised him that it was illegal.
Imagine that the Supreme Court ruled that holding the referendum was
unconstitutional. In spite of that, let's imagine that Obama coerced
the FEC to hold the referendum any way. Then we found out that the
referendum was being financed by Hugo Chavez. What should the Joint
Chiefs do? That is exactly what has occurred in Honduras to a tee. The
Honduras Attorney General and their Supreme Court did exactly that.
Their Generals did what they had to.
Department staff have recommended that the ouster of Honduran President Manuel
Zelaya be declared a "military coup," a U.S. official said on Thursday, a step
that could cut off as much as $150 million in U.S. funding to the impoverished
Central American nation.
So, it is nothing less than astonishing that President Obama today welcomes Zelaya to the White House.
The White House schedule doesn’t show any appointment for Zelaya’s visit, and I couldn’t find any other articles confirming it. For now at least, I’ll assume it’s a rumor; time will tell.
White House or not, Zelaya has plans: Zelaya dice que “incursionará” en las montañas entre Honduras y Nicaragua (Zelaya will “make an incursion” in the mountains between Honduras and Nicaragua). He didn’t specify the purpose of his “incursions”, nor the location or the timing, but apparently he’s set up camp by the border… when he’s not flying in private jets all over the place, that is.
Many of those who did make it to Nicaragua wondered how long they could hold out away from their work and families, waiting for Zelaya to come up with a plan. Zelaya has vowed to remain on the border for at least a week, but hasn’t announced any concrete strategy since he walked a few meters into Honduras and then retreated Friday.
The crowd, housed in two shelters in Ocotal, spent Monday in disarray. They boarded buses for a drive to the frontier line, only to turn back when they realized Zelaya didn’t plan to join them. The ousted president showed up at one of the camps to address his supporters, only to find they had left for the border.
But hot meals arrived in the afternoon as Zelaya gave supporters an hours-long pep-talk, and a tractor trailer delivered hundreds of floor mattresses Monday evening for Hondurans sleeping at a municipal gymnasium.
“We’re waiting for Mel Zelaya to give the order, and we’ll go with him,” said Tomas Lopez, 57, an athletics teacher who traveled 375 miles (600 kilometers) to Nicaragua, leaving his family in Honduras. “I’m the head of the family, and they depend on me. We have food here and a place to sleep, but the problem is our children. Who is going to support them?”
The interim government that ousted Zelaya said Monday it had seized a series of what appear to be receipts from a key Zelaya organizer, indicating payments of between $3,000 and $20,000 to several protest leaders. None of the Zelaya supporters were immediately available to comment on the alleged payments or what they were for.
The Honduran government claims that the “key Zelaya organizer” was getting FARC money.
The State Department says it has revoked the diplomatic visas for four Honduran officials working in its interim government.
The announcement comes as the United States has been pressing for Honduras to allow the return of exiled President Manuel Zelaya.
State Department spokesman Ian Kelly did not specify Tuesday the names of the four officials, who he said are not in the United States. Kelly said that the department is reviewing the visas of all members of the interim government.
He said the revocations was in keeping with the U.S. policy of not recognizing the interim government.
I’m trying to get more (verified) information on who the visas belong to.
Zelaya wrote to Obama urging him to impose sanctions directly against the coup leaders and members of Micheletti’s government, including the cancellation of their U.S. visas and a ban on their bank transactions.
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Zelaya’s been 
