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Following a very peculiar coup in Honduras
Thu Oct 29 01:38PM
Journalists who slept on concrete floors inside the Brazilian embassy, joining deposed president Manuel Zelaya, put up with attacks by music, high-pitched sounds or cell phone threats. They did not know how long their detention would last. Outside, we moved between the Honduran capital's Clarion Hotel, to interview visiting diplomats, the presidential palace, where the de facto regime insisted it was business as usual, and Burger King.
Fast food joints were the main landmarks I had seen in Tegucigalpa.
We sat in a Burger King next to one of the embassy exits, monitoring who was entering or leaving and how the heavily-armed security forces were treating protesters.
The burger joint was booming after initially suffering damages from clashes following the surprise return of the ousted leader on September 21.
The day I arrived, employees wiped graffiti off the walls and fixed broken windows and doors. A regular crowd of reporters filed stories from their laptops, nursed post-protest injuries, and exchanged information.
Customers appeared baffled or amused.
"Who are you? Where do you work?" an elderly Honduran lady asked when I first walked in, before introducing me to some Brazilian TV journalists, a Honduran general and a local journalist who worked for Venezuelan television.
"That's the owner," she said, pointing to a smiling man who later offered to turn the sound down on the TV as I worked below it.
Two young female journalists sat with the general, and one of them bought him an ice cream before noting down his mobile number.
Back at the hotel, I bumped into a foreign negotiator who failed to hide his frustration at the latest obstacle in floundering crisis talks.
"It's a very peculiar coup," he told me wryly. "It's the first one I know that has been performed by nobody."
In this blog, reporters and editors for global news wire AFP blog about the news they report and the challenges they face covering events from Baghdad to Beijing, the White House to Darfur. Sophie Nicholson reports for AFP from Mexico.
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BURGER KING EMPLOYEES STOLE MY HORSE AND REMOVED MY UNDERWEAR FROM THE WASHING LINE!
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You're bordering on insanity man,time to call it a day.
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FEAR AND LOATHING IN FAST FOOD JOINTS?
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"...put up with attacks by music, high-pitched sounds or cell phone threats. They did not know how long their detention would last." Sounds pleasant! Glad you could leave for burgers... "We sat in a Burger King next to one of the embassy exits, monitoring who was entering or leaving and how the heavily-armed security forces were treating protesters." Keep up the good work - witness any heavyhandedness!
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""It's a very peculiar coup," he told me wryly. "It's the first one I know that has been performed by nobody."" It all sounds like a political farce. But that's better than otherwise in that neck of the woods.
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col_kurtz_2004: no.4: Very good/very funny.
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Just imagine - for a moment at least - that this was happenning in ,say, Burma, Iran or Zimbabwe. You can't help feeling that it would be attracting more attention. But it's in Honduras; it's a coup carried out by right-wingers friendly-to-the West generals and corporations against a leftish government so it is not a problem. Double standards is an understatement - it's a disgrace.
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The USA needs to intervene with regards the situation in Honduras as it won't continue to be peaceful, that's for sure! Manuel Zayela was the democratically elected President, voted for by the people, he is a man of the people. The tin-pot Generals etc who want him ousted play no part in 21st Century Latin American politics. Let Zayela return to the top job and be done with the coup - work on building trust and communication and grow some relationships for the betterment of the people of Honduras. And on a separate note, I think the appeasement of the ultra-leftist Cuban regime by Obama is sickening to say the least. Castro DID regain some sort of normality when the revolution happened as he brought an end to the sleazy side of the then capitalist Cuba - strip joints, drug trafficking and gambling. But what about since then - nearly starting WW3 with the help of the Soviets and deliberately 'starving' and 'neglecting' his people as many independent reports have proven. Cuba is experiencing THE worst recession of ALL the Latin/Central American countries - yet the crazy Obama administration IS supporting the ghastly Castro regime. Let's make it clear, the Bush administration WAS the worst eight years of politics in/from America since its independence from Britain many moons ago yet they would have been more sensible than to support a neighbouring puppet regime.
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7 - make your mind up! Zayela is a left-wing President who was not elected by a majority of Honduran voters and does not have the popular support claimed. There is a bit of a fashion in Latin America for Chavez-type t*ssers who enjoy a bit of confrontation. Why should the USA get involved there or in Cuba when every left-wing loony in the west would cry foul.
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So kevinthomasrooney thinks Zayela, oneof the richest men in Honduras, a notoriously corrupt and kleptocratic state, is a man of the people... How are so manypeople so gullible... And Hugo (I wannabe presidente for life!)Chavez of Venezuela is no doubt also a "man of the people". Stalin was a man of the people too. Fat lot of good that did the people though. And the same can be said for the "neolibs" who would like to run Latin-America as their own personal fiefdoms... You sad @#$%s, that you canbe taken in by such a bunch of thieving bar-stewards. And no, I am no fan of any of their right-wing oppositions. It's just that I don't see much difference apart from a bit of slick PR...
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10th comment - YEAH!!
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Do I detect the sly hand of the CIA in operation?
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