Today a mail arrived to my inbox against Mel Zelaya and his alleged intentions to continue in power with the installation of a fourth ballot box and a new Constitution.

It is titled: We won the Game, but LET US NOT ALLOW MEL ZELAYA TO CONTINUE IN POWER. The game it refers to is yesterday’s soccer game of Honduras versus Mexico. It talks about the SIX SUPERB of Mel Zelaya, which is probably a reference to the A-Team TV show, which was very popular in Honduras at the late eighties. The A-Team of Six of Mel Zelaya are probably the ministers: Patricia Rodas, Enrique Flores Lanza, Milton Jimenez Puerto, Arístides Mejía, Rixie Moncada and Victor Meza.

From the beginning I recognized this is a comment from a reader from El Heraldo newspaper. And since I’m subscribed to this newspaper’s newsletter, I suspect an employee of this company wrote it. In addition, the length of the comments in El Heraldo is limited, and the person who wrote the comment seemed to have an unlimited length available.

All in all there’s the need to be alert, suspecting of both interests: of supporters of Mel as well as those who oppose him, because in these circumstances many fish in troubled waters.

This is the content of libel:

Ganamos el Partido, pero NO DEJEMOS QUE MEL ZELAYA SIGA EN EL PODER
[We won the Game, but LET US NOT ALLOW MEL ZELAYA TO CONTINUE IN POWER]
jueves, 2 de abril de 2009, 08:48 am
De: Remitente verificado por DomainKeys “Patricia Rodas NoJodas”
A: remitentes ocultos

I am a liberal partisan at heart but I am against Mel Zelaya ….

WHAT MEL ZELAYA WANTS IS TO STAY ON THE PRESIDENCY PER SECULA SECULORUM = FOREVER.

It is a fact that Mr. Manuel Zelaya has no fear of being imprisoned by attacking what is already established in the Constitution about the form of government, journalism, and no re-election.

He said emphatically that the Fourth Ballot Box goes. And the question will be: Do you agree to amend the Constitution?

If the majority votes for YES this gives us the following scenario:

1 .- In order to rewrite the Constitution, the Congress must be turned into a National Constituent Assembly.

2 .- To turn current Congress into a National Constituent Assembly only requires 85 votes of the current deputies, the vast majority of them won’t continue in office after November’s elections, so they have nothing to lose and much to gain (A JOB for life).

3 .- Once elected, a National Constituent Assembly is able to suspend all guarantees in the current constitution, in which time MEL ZELAYA AND HIS A-TEAM OF SIX WILL HAVE THE COUNTRY TO THEIR COMPLETE DISPOSAL, suspending all existing legislation for further readjustment.

4 .- When the National Constituent Assembly is called, the recent elections are canceled and the current election calendar disappears.

5 .- After the call to a new National Constituent Assembly, actual Supreme Court is destroyed, and followers of Micheletti lost even their stronghold: PRINCIPAL PROSECUTOR, who will be laid off as if by magic.

6 .- After the drafting of the new constitution is completed, a call for new elections will be given (whenever MEL wants, 2, 5, 10 years ahead) and therefore candidates elected in recent past elections are removed from the electoral map and must compete in a new contest.

7 .- The need to reform the Constitution is to fulfill the whim of Mel Zelaya of perpetual re-election in order to destroy the country for his own benefit, and for the benefit of his A-Team of Six, so that the planes and ships that leave Venezuela can freely cross the air, sea and land of Morazan.

8 .- If allowed to happen, the future of Honduras is social disintegration, destruction of the national fabric that took a lot of hard work to build, and what is worse: Our children will not inherit a country but a vast prison in the hands of unscrupulous individuals, splitting the money from Honduras shamelessly. (See FUND REPAIRS FOR DESAPARECIDOS).

9 .- The creation of a new constitution will prepare the conditions for the nationalization of many companies that have been built by generations in Honduras, which generate employment, development, education and progress for Honduras, thus there will be no private investment, engine of global development.

10 .- As MEL ZELAYA does not have a limitless checkbook as the PITICHAVEZ (Free translation for MICRO CHAVEZ), the model will work in Honduras producing more misery than we already have, much of which is generated by the 10000000.000.00 (read: the ten billion lempiras stolen by CORRUPT BUREAUCRATS OF THE GOVERNMENT EACH YEAR IN HONDURAS) which places us with 2.56 POINTS AS ONE OF WORLD’S MOST CORRUPT COUNTRIES.

We are at time to launch a campaign in order to prevent this from happening. Pass this scenario to as many people as possible, so that everybody may know what Mel Zelaya wants, AND WE MAY DELIVER A CAMPAIGN AGAINST THE CALL.

“For we are a people in great need and often politicians take advantage of this need in order to pursue vested interests ….”

Check the original comment at El Heraldo.

Last night I was shocked by the “chain” of radio and television broadcasting of the government.

What are these “chains”? The government can give an order to the bulk of radio and television stations to transmit messages it discretionally deems important to the population.

There are presidents who use these “chains” more than others. The current president uses them a lot, because he manages a confrontational rhetoric against the media, accusing them of not properly reporting on the achievements of the government.

Well, with all this fuss about the fourth ballot box, I’ve been a little bit paranoid. And I can picture the president in national television ordaining a de facto state and suspending all freedoms until further notice.

And so, as I hear minister Flores Lanza saying constitutional guarantees of privacy in telephone communications are suspended, I immediately started to get nervous.

And even more when he said that all telephone conversations will be recorded.

At this time I felt the dictatorship was coming to haunt me.

And to further worsen, he said that people who frequently attend Internet cafes must report their names with the owners of these businesses. I imagined the government lurking behind my back, making an investigation and sending me to jail for being an enemy of the dictatorship.

And it was also said that entrances to the cities will be guarded by the army and police, so that everyone who wants to enter or exit has to report.

Dictatorship, sheer dictatorship! The situation is now indeed serious.

But the worst thing was that no media addressed the seriousness of the matter. Everyone was more interested in today’s game between Mexico and Honduras that in protecting democracy. I realize how far can get the imbecility of sports fanaticism.

This morning I watched the “Frente a Frente” show on channel 5, and I calmed down a bit. Journalist Edgardo Melgar was interviewing the Minister of Security, retired colonel Jorge Alberto Rodas Gamero. He was explaining government’s announcement point by point, in a manner that cleared the confusion I had in my mind.

It turns out that cell phone companies have long been recording all conversations, but few have access to these recordings, so the police ask them often for permission to access this calls in order to do their research, and they provide them with the necessary information. All that is required is a more streamlined process in order to capture the criminals, the government does not intend to put his ear to the conversations of all citizens.

The purpose is to capture those involved in the kidnapping and organized crime. A humble blogger as yours truly has nothing to fear, for the moment …

See this brief note from El Heraldo:

Government wakes up and announces measures to combat crime

Taking note of recent news, I have to revisit my opinion about the issue of the fourth ballot box and the pretensions of drafting a new Constitution.

It may happen. It is a possible scenario. Mel Zelaya prolonging his period in office through an order of a Constituent Assembly.

His defying attitude against the Public Ministry rings an alarm bell in my head. It seems to me that he thinks he is above the law. I thought he had a minimum of respect for the law. Now I doubt it.

I think he will try to continue in power if he thinks he can get away with it.

That’s the magic of a Constituent Assembly: it can suspend all existing laws and make new ones out of the blue. This can create a period of legal and political uncertainty, which is not good for the country because it may lead us to financial disaster. Not to mention the violence and abuses that may come.

I suspect this country can be brought down, and Mel wouldn’t care. He can always blame some one else of his failures. He always does.

But I’m still optimistic. I think he does not have the necessary balance of power to complete his adventure successfully. People are not so dumb as he thinks they are. They don’t want his perpetuation in power. He may try electoral fraud, only to receive the people’s repudiation.

I think Mel is so dumb, he will shoot himself in the foot. Like when he insisted in the fuel public tender, only to abandon the project for lack of storage. Mel and his associates can be that dumb, and I hope their stupidity may serve us well in the end.

His decisions are so sovereign that can turn the country into a monarchy or a parliamentary system.

Tegucigalpa, Honduras

President Zelaya’s initiative to repeal the Constitution through the National Constituent Assembly has faced its first obstacle.

Professional of law, Roberto Carlos Guzman, brought in the final hours before the Supreme Court of Justice (CSJ) an appeal against the decree PCM-05-2009 which was issued by the Executive to consult the people, through the National Statistics Institute (INE), if it agrees to implement the fourth ballot box in the presidential elections in November. In it would be consulted to the people the possibility of a Constituent Assembly.

The appeal to the CSJ proposed to suspend the validity of the decree because the INE is not entitled to conduct such surveys in the population.

“There is a law and a regulation setting out the INE and due to its specific functions we can’t turn it into an electoral body” said Guzman. In a period of three days, the Supreme Court must answer whether to admit or not that appeal brought by Guzman.

Rejection

The president’s initiative has led to rejection in different sectors, which are asking the government to tackle the problems faced by the nation.

One of such sectors in which the ruler’s proposal has not found echo is in his own party.

For political analysts as liberal Enrique Ortez Colindres, “The president is insulting the intelligence of those of us who have burned their eyelashes studying law.”

“I’ve been saying that Zelaya wants to continue in power and together with his close associates are looking for all kinds of subterfuges to make a Constituent Assembly with the stated purpose of drafting a new constitution,” said Ortez Colindres.

The liberal politician argues that a Constituent Assembly is a sovereign power which can do everything, politically speaking, and then, this power could suspend the elections, change the form of the State, and instead of a presidential regime, monarchy can be created.

According to Ortez Colindres, in the government “there are people who believe that humans are like children who sleepwalk and can easily be led by sweet or discordant voices.”

For his part, the ex-president of Congress, Rafael Pineda Ponce, said that to his understanding the actions of the government and of President Zelaya, of promoting a Constituent Assembly, “are still unnecessary and harmful to the peace and harmony of our country an their call for a National Constituent Assembly remains illegal.”

Pineda Ponce brought up the 323 constitutional article saying it does not grant the president or other public officer to decide actions related to the electoral political issue.

The law says that public officers are custodians of authority, and never put above it, that they can not perform more acts other than those expressly granted by law and that any act outside the law is null and also carries responsibility.

Pineda Ponce said that the Constitution is clear and says that it can be reformed by a regular Congress, with the exception of stony articles.

Perpetuation of power

Secretary of the National Party of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez, thinks the first thing a Constituent Assembly would do is to lengthen the period of government of President Zelaya.

He regretted the attitude of the ruler because, he said “while our people are murdered in the streets and many families have no job, the people in government want to continue in power.

How is it possible that instead of providing solutions to these two major problems of our people, lack of public safety and damaged household economy, those who were elected to govern are generating new crises and are only interested in staying in a position the people has said is only for four years.”

Taken from El Heraldo.

TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS

The government, via decree, intended to buy machinery that will eventually become junk.

It would be an unprofitable investment and a new adventure to acquire, at an estimated cost of $ 500 million, the depreciated thermal park of the country through an expropriation process that would also send a negative message to international investors.

Through a bill submitted by the Executive to Congress on Tuesday March 24 this year, a petition was made to legislate in favor of buying at a fair price the thermal plants, and to authorize appropriations to carry out the transaction and to annul the Contract with the Electric Measurement Service of Honduras (SEMEH, for its Spanish acronym).

Critics of the National Electricity Company (ENEE, for its Spanish acronym) suggest that this body, which is weakened by the politicization and patronage of every Government in turn, would be inefficient in the management of the thermal park of the country.

The ENEE, for instance, owns Alstom and Sulzer plants, installed in Puerto Cortés and capable of generating 55 megawatts.

These plants failed to operate since 2004 and despite an impending crisis visualized for the short term, were not able to be run by ENEE.

For that reason it launched a process of direct hiring which was won by Vetasa consortium, a private company.

The thermal companies

Elcosa’s manager, Salomon Ordoñez told El Heraldo that it seems strange the government is interested in buying the thermal park of the country composed of the thermal plants owned by Lufussa, EMCE, ENERSA and Elcosa.

Taken together these companies generate almost 70 percent of the electricity demand of the country.

“The government’s intentions of buying used plants are illogical, because they eventually will scrap due to years of use they have. The government should allocate these resources to develop new investment in hydroelectric generation,” he said.

To install a megawatt of energy in the country, according to Ordoñez, costs between 1.0 and 1.5 million dollars.

Elcosa’s manager estimated that the government would need about $ 500, which are about 10,000 million lempiras, for the appropriation of the thermal plants. However, it would be like “to throw away the money to spend this amount of resources to acquire this machinery, which depends on fossil fuels, in order to generate electricity, and not to invest it in the construction of hydroelectric projects.

“If successful, this initiative would not be the best use of the people’s money, because they would have to hire international credits to purchase these depreciated plants”, said the executive.

The contract for 80 megawatts of generation of Elcosa expires in July 2010 and the Lufussa Uno’s, which produces 40 megawatts, will expire by the end of December of the same year.

Both contracts are considered the most expensive for ENEE’s finances because the plants are fueled with diesel.

“We do not know if the government will decide to extend the term of those contracts, but at the end of its term the government’s obligations will be completed. This money can be invested by the government on the development of renewable projects, “said Ordoñez.

El Heraldo learned that Lufusa UNO no longer generates energy because it is a plant of diesel fuel, whose price is almost similar to that of gasoline.

Even this company located in the south has fired in the course of this year more than 30 of the nearly 350 employees, as part of a restructuring process not yet finished.

Capital Flight

The director of the Honduran Council of Private Enterprise (COHEP, for its Spanish acronym), Benjamin Bográn, said to be firmly opposed to the nationalization of the thermal plants and other industries.

According to Bográn, initiatives like these affect the investment climate in the country and the generation of new jobs.

“Our rulers are far from being aware we are facing a fundamental problem, one that affects the whole country’s economy; they are willing to throw overboard even some achievements such as the reduction in the rate of poverty. He criticized the government is engaged in a political discussion that is creating uncertainty instead of a climate of peace, which is needed to attract investment into the country. “How is it possible to generate more employment in the country if the government is interested in nationalizing companies. For the love of God, how are Hondurans to invest in the country if there are signals against the benefit of the country”, said the director of COHEP.

For the private sector, the news that there are intentions in Honduras of nationalizing companies cause considerable damage to the national investment climate and hinder the arrival of new investment into the country.

Bográn complains the authorities act in this way when there are thousands of workers parading in the offices of the Department of Labor, asking for the calculation of their employment benefits.

“We hear dissonant messages from the government that keep foreign investment away of the country, so it is almost impossible to protect jobs,” said the official.

The director of the Honduran Maquila Association (AHM, for its Spanish acronym), Guillermo Matamoros, said that between January 2008 and March 2009 have been lost in this sector of the economy about 19,000 jobs, as an effect of the international financial crisis.

Without resources

The director of COHEP said the crystallization of the purchase of the thermal plants is unlikely, because the government does not even have the necessary resources to fit the budget of the Republic.

“The State is not a bottomless bag where you put your hand into and take out millions and millions of lempiras. Honduras is a country with a very limited income,” he said.

According to Bográn, the executive and legislative branches are engaged in a political fight, harming the development of all Hondurans.

Taken from El Heraldo.

I took what’s coming next from El Heraldo.

The Public Ministry declares alert. Mel is not entitled to call for a consultation. They warn of the creation of an illegitimate situation.

Tegucigalpa. The president of the Republic, Manuel Zelaya, or any of his subordinates, are not entitled to promote or approve a consultation in order to reform the Constitution; if he dares to do that, he will fall in penal responsibility.

At least that is the position held by the Public Ministry (PM) after the last events in the country in relation to the fourth ballot box proposed by president Zelaya in Counsel of Ministers.

The consultation has the purpose of reforming the Republic’s Constitution through a National Constituent Assembly, situation that has been described by political sectors and society as a way for the president to stay in power, and to propose the alternate re-election, among other actions.

The Counsel of Ministers emitted the decree PCM-05-2009, where it instructs the National Institute of Statistics (INE, by its Spanish acronym) to consult the Honduran people with the next question: Do you agree with the installation of a fourth ballot box in order to decide for the call of a National Constituent Assembly in order to approve a new political Constitution?

In said agreement it is enunciated that the consultation should be done the last Sunday of June, at the latest. This is interpreted by many as an effort of Zelaya to stay indefinitely in office, and as an action forbidden by law, as it seeks to abolish the stone articles.

In defense of the Constitution

In this regard, the staff officers of the Public Ministry defined their position, for which purpose a working team was created to lead the investigations and to proceed with the pertinent legal actions.

In press conference, Principal Prosecutor, Luis Alberto Rubí, read a pronouncement, accompanied by Deputy Prosecutor, Roy Urtecho, the Director of Public Prosecutors’ Offices, Daniela Ferrera, the Assistant Director of Public Prosecutors’ Offices, Juan Rafael Soto, the Special Prosecutor of the Defense of Constitution, Mauricio Aceituno, the Special Prosecutor against Corruption, Henry Salgado, and the Prosecutors Germer Cruz and Gina Sierra.

These integrate the team that worked in defining the position of the PM, and will be commissioned with the investigative procedures and pertinent judicial actions.

Illegitimate Situation

The PM acts in basis of his legal mandate of defending the general interests of society. Given the current circumstances, the PM emitted its pronouncement, which was read by Rubí in a conference in which journalists were not allowed to make questions.

According to the MP, they establish their position “in stated of alert, because in March 23th, 2009, at night hours, the President of the Republic, in Counsel of Ministers, emitted an executive decree in order to perform a popular consultation the last Sunday of June of the current year, in order to determine if there is interest or popular will for installing a fourth ballot box in the general elections of November of 2009, in order to decide the call for a National Constituent Assembly, which will approve a new Political Constitution, creating this way an illegitimate situation which is contemplated in the article 3 of the Constitution of the Republic since the first moment means or procedures are used which infringe or disregard what this Constitution and the laws establish.”

Said article 3 says no one owns obedience to an usurper government nor to those who assume functions or public employments by the rule of the gun.

They affirm to be fully convinced that neither the Republic’s Constitution , nor the Electoral Law of the Political Organizations give to the president of the Republic the attribution of performing any action of electoral consultation…”

“Warning of the danger that the Administrative acts performed by the Executive Power can lead a nation to a social confrontation that conduces to not only political, social and economic instability, but to produce a popular reaction in defense of the constitutional order, in which purpose some citizens invoke their duty to obey and enforce the Constitution and the laws…”, quotes.

“A warning is given to all the public officers and public employees, that the participation in acts or actions oriented to execute the consultation which implies to reform or abolish the Constitution in open revolt against the exposed in the articles 5 to 374 contained in the text of the Fundamental Law of the Republic, put each and every one of them to the risk of being of object of the respective penal investigation, and in its case, to the presentation of the prosecutor’s summon with the purpose that the competent judicial authority may impose the punishment previously established in the Penal Law”, concludes the pronouncement.

Consultation has the intention of perpetuation of power

“The ex-president Ricardo Maduro declared yesterday that the purpose of reforming the Constitution and the call to a National Constituent Assembly has the intention of perpetuation of power. “I think that no one should be afraid of the consultation, but in this moment we are called to general elections, and I think that to do something before those elections has the intention of perpetuation of power, and I don’t agree with that”, he pointed.

“We can’t be in favor of perpetuation of power when we fought so long against de facto governments”, he added. Maduro said that promoting the reform of the Constitution is a crime, therefore he made a call to the PM for his intervention in defense of the Constitution.

There won’t be quorum for a fourth ballot box

“President Zelaya is very funny, he always tells this kind of jokes. I thank him for prescribing me with what he mentioned (valium), but it’s not necessary to take any pill, any drink that would make me addict, in order to perform projects in the benefit of our country, said the president of the National Congress against the most recent attack of president Zelaya against Micheletti’s position of reducing the ENEE’s tariffs. I would have liked him to prescribe me some valerian, some linden, which are natural. That commentary, as his ideas, are in need of modernization; the president is trapped in the 70’s.

In the issue of the fourth ballot box Micheletti is of the opinion that “when one has the power to call for a national chain of radio and tv broadcasting it’s easy to perform illegal things. What I can tell you is that there won’t be quorum enough for this to happen.

Let PM proceed in the tribunals: Zelaya

President Manuel Zelaya challenged the Public Ministry to proceed against him and everyone that supports him in the installation of a fourth ballot box. “If that’s their official opinion, then they should proceed in the courts of justice”.

“Popular Consultation is coming, and nobody will stop it” emphasized Zelaya. According to Zelaya, the PM is not a political entity for it to give political opinions.” Said Zelaya in an interview in Nicaragua. And in a display of disrespect against those who don’t share his line of thought, Zelaya said that anyone who opposes the popular consultation “is a caveman who does not respect the people”.

I am optimistic. Sure, there is an economic crisis around the corner, but soon things will change for the better, because soon the Zelaya administration will end.

In Honduras, worse than an economic crisis we have a permanent political crisis, due to our stubborn president, Mel Zelaya, and his underlings. The Mel administration is a disaster. I think it’s urgent for him to go, as soon as possible. What a nightmare would it be if he would stay.

But now, El Heraldo and La Prensa say he has admitted he wants to stay in power.

But it’s not true. It’s a shameless lie. They lie because they want to sell more newspapers. The headlines may suggest that, but if you read the whole story you see he hasn’t said that, explicitly. Mel hasn’t said such a thing.

But I’m sure he thought about it.

What he has said is that he wants a 4th ballot box in the next November elections. And in that box people will vote YES or NO for a new Constitution.

But what is the need for a new Constitution? Mel hasn’t said. But we can guess.

We get so suspicious.

In his recent meeting with Fidel Castro, Fidel said to Mel that four years are not enough to develop a leadership. We can guess Mel wants to stay in power to “develop his leadership”. Maybe he needs 20 years at least to develop it.

But it won’t happen, for a number of reasons.

As Daniel says it:

As I see it, if the sh*t hits the fan and there is a 4th ballot box, Mel will not be the president on the next term…because the other ballot boxes will elect our next president, So Mel would have to wait 4 years if he still is seeking power and then Callejas will surely rise to the occasion and proclaim he wants to be president again and I assure you that Callejas would win over Mel. So, unless something terribly corrupt arises, next year the pres will be Elvin or Pepe.

There won’t be re-election any time soon. We can rest assured.

The making of a new constitution takes time. There won’t be enough time for Mel to make his move. There are also political forces in his own party against him.

That said, a new Constitution is not a bad idea in principle. Better laws can be made, more democracy can be achieved. But we have to be extremely careful about the special interest groups, because they will lobby for their agenda, and not for the Honduran people agenda. That is always a risk.

Taken from El Heraldo. (3/3/09)

The presidential candidate for the Liberal Party, Elvin Santos, repeated this Tuesday his intentions to build a Honduran “Alcatraz”, and promised the biggest public investment “this country has ever seen”.

The contender for the presidency of the party in power, in declarations to the radio station HRN, accused the contender for the opposition, Porfirio Lobo Sosa, of repeating “like a tape recorder” the proposals he makes in his campaign.

The ex- vice president of Honduras referred this morning to the problem of lack of public safety in Honduras. “We live as prisoners” in our houses, because the criminals are free in the streets, he criticized.

He manifested that during his government, if he wins the coming elections of November; there won’t be any imprisonment centers, but rehabilitation centers.

He also said he has identified the land where he will build the Honduran Alcatraz, without conjugal visits or the privileges that many prisoners enjoy in the Honduran prisons.

Mel Zelaya finally meets his idol: Fidel Castro.

Castro says Zelaya has “a deep aversion to the United States economic system”.

So it looks that Zelaya and Castro are comrades in their anti-Americanism.

Read here Castro’s article:

Fidel Castro: My Meeting with Zelaya

We live in an underdeveloped country.

Why are we underdeveloped?

I was talking with my parents the other day, and they believe that the British who went to America had a superior culture than the Spaniards who came to our countries. Most of those Spaniards were thieves and adventurers. They came here for the gold.

In contrast, the Europeans that went to America were fleeing from religious persecution. They brought to America their great culture. They went to work, not to have easy reaches.

And that’s the reason we are the way we are.

We need to learn from Americans. We need to be more disciplined and work harder.

I am so skeptic of that rhetoric.

I asked my father “Do you really believe in the superiority of Yankee culture? I don’t. I know Americans can be very superficial, with no real appreciation of culture”.

And he said “It’s not their culture, but their industriousness, that’s the reason for their economic power”.

“Are you aware”, I said, “that Hugo Chavez would call you a “pitiyanqui”?”

“Pitiyanqui” is a word that Chavez uses to denigrate his enemies. He implies that those who adverse him are pro-Yankees, or anti-Venezuelan. “Pitiyanqui” also suggests someone who admires Yankees and wants to be like them. It has servile connotations.

We don’t need to imitate Yankees, we have our own perspective.