Geography Archives: Americas

The military coup that overthrew President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras took a new turn when Zelaya attempted to return home on Sunday.  The military closed the airport and blocked runways to prevent his plane from landing.  They also shot several protesters, killing at least one and injuring others. The violence and the enormous crowd — […]

The “Iranian people” have not spoken. What’s happening in Iran today is a developing conflict between two forces that each represent millions of people.  There are good people on both sides and the issues are complicated.  So before U.S. progressives decide to weigh in, supporting one side and condemning the other, let’s take a little […]

  Monday, July 13, 2009 7:30 pm The Brecht Forum, 451 West Street (between Bank & Bethune Streets), New York Please join us for a roundtable discussion with three leading Iranian analysts: Ervand Abrahamian, Hamid Dabashi, and Arang Keshavarzian.  The discussion will be moderated by Leili Kashani and be opened up to the public.  Come […]

  Saturday, July 11, 2009; 2 to 5 pm Bowery Poetry Club in New York – 308 Bowery (between Houston and Bleecker) F train to 2nd Ave, 6 to Bleecker. Join us as these and other artists of conscience bear witness, in poetry and music, to the struggle for democracy in Iran. Readings and performances […]

Adagio in My Country In my country, how sad, poverty and animosity. My father says that another time will come from the depth of time, and he tells me that the sun will shine on a people who he dreams will be working their green land. In my country, how sad, poverty and animosity. You […]

  The US war machine continues to inflict untold miseries on the people of the world and particularly those of the Muslim faith.  Barack Obama, the first black president in the history of the United States, has repeatedly promised to repair some of the damage wreaked by his predecessor on the international stage.  But the […]

  The military coup currently underway in Honduras is a hard coup accompanied by various vain attempts to make it appear soft and “constitutionalist.”  Behind the coup are diverse social, economic, and political forces, of which the most important is the administration of President Barack Obama.  No important change can happen in Honduras without Washington’s […]

Perhaps the most significant feature of the recent Indian election is the loss suffered by the Left.  The BJP’s defeat was more or less anticipated, except by the psephologists, as was some loss by the Left; but the actual extent of the Left’s loss has been quite staggering.  True, its vote share has fallen only […]

Caracas, 5 July 2009, ABN — The legitimate president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, said this Sunday from El Salvador that the repression that the de facto government of Honduras carried out against demonstrators, who were peacefully calling for the return of the constitutional president, is a criminal act. “The acts of violence committed on Sunday […]

  Tegucigalpa, Honduras, 3 July 2009 Tegucigalpa, Honduras, 4 July 2009 Sandra Cuffe an independent journalist from Canada, currently reporting from the streets of Tegucigalpa.  Visit her blog Solidarity with the People(s) of Honduras! at <hondurassolidarity.wordpress.com>.

The putschist foreign minister of Honduras, Enrique Ortez Colindres, in the midst of negotiations to restore the legitimate president, Manuel Zelaya, to the government, fulminated on television against virtually the entire world. Ortez Colindres referred to US President Barack Obama as “that Black boy who doesn’t know anything about anything.”  Asked about the international condemnation […]

Questionnaire/Methodology (PDF) When President Obama arrives in Russia for the Moscow summit he may face a cool reception.  A new poll of Russians, conducted by the Levada Center as part of a larger WorldPublicOpinion.org poll, finds that just 23 percent of Russians have confidence in Obama to do the right thing in international affairs, while […]

Manuel “Mel” Zelaya is a rancher and business owner who wears large cowboy hats and, in November 2005, was elected president of Honduras, an impoverished Central American country with a population of 7.5 million.  On June 28 of this year the Honduran military, backed by the country’s elite, removed Zelaya from power.  He instantly became […]

Tegucigalpa, 3 July 2009, ABN — Thousands of Hondurans who marched this Friday from the Francisco Morazán National Pedagogical University, at the heart of the city of Tegucigalpa, to the headquarters of the Organization of American States (OAS) in the Central American nation of Honduras are waiting for the meeting of José Miguel Insulza and […]

Thursday, July 2, 2009 DAY 5: MASS PROTESTS IN HONDURAS AGAINST COUP; TENS OF THOUSANDS MARCHING ON THE CAPITAL TO AWAIT PRESIDENT ZELAYA’S RETURN Despite the suspension of constitutional rights in place as of yesterday, per a decree by the Honduran congress in support of the coup government, tens of thousands of Hondurans are mobilizing […]

Honduran women and men were called upon by President Manuel Zelaya Rosales to participate in a popular referendum on 28 June 2009 in order to convene a National Constituent Assembly. In the morning of the day of the referendum, the president was abducted and removed from the country by a coup d’état. Diverse Hondurans headed […]

The director of “Llaguno Bridge, Keys to a Massacre,” Angel Palacios, is in Tegucigalpa, from where he sent this video. Angel Palacios, the director of “Llaguno Bridge, Keys to a Massacre,” is in Honduras, recording repression during the coup d’état.  Uploaded to YouTube on 30 June 2009.  Published by Radio Nacional de Venezuela and YVKE […]

  The curfew is not the only means of population control — now the de facto government is bent on suppressing the visibly identifiable sectors, in this case the indigenous population of the Central American country. Antonio Martínez, an indigenous leader, via TeleSur, reported on Wednesday that the international agencies that talk so much about […]

June 29, 2009 The military coup d’état in Honduras is a dangerous step backward for Honduras and threatens democracy across Central America. Democracies thrive only when democratic institutions operate peacefully and under the rule of law.  The military coup against Honduran President Manuel Zelaya brings back terrible memories of the 1980s when the Honduran military […]

In my reflection written last Thursday night, June 25, I said: “We do not know what will happen tonight or tomorrow in Honduras, but the brave conduct of Zelaya will go down in history.” Two paragraphs before I noted: “What is happening there will be a test for the OAS and for the current United […]