For those of you who subscribe to Netflix and use their "Watch Instantly" function, here's a real treat.  Stacy Peralta's new documentry Crips and Bloods: Made in America is now available (of course you can rent it, too).  This documentary fits so well into our current discussions concerning Dr. Gates recent ordeal.

I thought Peralta did a bang-up job with his earlier film Dogtown and Z-Boys.  I mean how can you turn something as parochial as skate boarding into compelling social commentary.  But he exceeds himself with this new film.  Crips & Bloods opens with a shot of downtown LA upside down, and the city slowly rolls over - very compelling.  It hurts to watch the documentary, and you really do get a sense of an unique and seperate reality that only South Central people are intimately familiar with.

Peralta also wrote a column at HufPo explaining the background of making the film, The Movie They Didn't Want You to See. There are links to previews and vido clips at the bottom.

It looks like President Zelaya briefly entered Honduras at the Las Manos border crossing, amidst a crowd of supporters.  Here's an AP story with some pictures.  CNN has a video clip here (be sure to let the Spanish language segment of the clip roll over to an Enlish language version), and a story here. 

Not far from the scene in the videos there have been clashes between supporters and the military.  Tear gas, and unconfirmed reports of several injuries.  The CNN reporter said that gunshots have been heard, but they haven't been investigated. 

If you want live coverage, you'll have to sell your soul to the evil genius Hugo Chavez and tune into the great TeleSUR station.

News about the police strike is sketchy and confusing, but more info is coming out since my last post.  Raj's Honduran Coup 2009 site just added an update.  Well worth reading.  Two quotes published in today's La Vanguardia (Spain) are encouraging:

But the most interesting report in this vein comes from La Vanguardia of Spain, and provides the title for this post. Here, for the non-Spanish speakers, is a translation of the direct quotes from police interviewed by reporter Joaquim Ibarz in the border town of Los Manos:

Alejandro Diaz, chief inspector of police: "Ha, ha, ha"..."Me detain him? Ha, ha, ha. What are you saying!"


Lieutenant Colonel Juan Ramón Gavilán Soto, in charge of the military outpost: "We don't have orders to detain him, nor are we here for that. We should only guard security and avoid disturbances".

Also:

How widespread police participation in the national strike might have been is an open question. The pro-coup Honduran paper La Tribuna said the strike was limited to a single station, accounting for 200 officers. AFP reported mixed findings:

In the streets of Tegucigalpa, police were not observed, while many public buildings remained guarded by military officers. Nonetheless, in the traffic stops installed on the route toward the Nicaraguan border there were police working together with soldiers, as confirmed by journalists of the AFP.

Let's hope it works out like the old bumper sticker: What if they gave a war and nobody came.

The Los Angeles Times and other English language are reporting that the Zelaya team in San Jose have rejected the latest Arias plan.  Looks like Lanny Davis disinformation blitz is working.  But La Nacion in Costa Rica published what really happened. Rixi Moncada, Zelaya's spokes person said on TV yesterday:

reiteró su apoyo al plan, igual que la crítica contra la posición de sus adversarios. "El diálogo de San José ha fracasado por la intransigencia del régimen del golpe", dijo.

What that means in English:
she reiterated support for the plan, as well as the critique against the position of her adversaries. "The dialogue of San Jose has failed because of the intransigence of the coup regime", she said.

Actualliy, the Michelleti team said they did not have the authority to approve the plan, and would take it to Tegucigalpa for a reading.  Arias is waiting for the response, but there is little reason to expect that the restoration of the Zelaya presidency will be accepted, As I understand (and there are some chronology questions I haven't sorted out) the Supreme Court has expressly forbade Zelaya's return to power.

President Zelaya, then, announced that he would return to Honduras on Friday (tommorow), which happens to be Simon Bolivar's 215th birthday.  The return is to set up a staging camp in Estile, Nicaruaga, on the Panamerican Highway, and plan tomorrow's strategy from there.  Mel is traveling with his family, supporters and a gaggle of journalists. 

All eyes are on the small Honduran town of El Paraiso for the spot where Mel will cross into Honduras.  Subsequently supporter and Army units are converging on the area.  A general strike is on nationwide, and other supporters are still blocking highways and now, even ports.  The Honduran Police have just called a strike - ostensiblly over wages (they haven't been paid since the coup), but there have been a series of incidents in the past few weeks that suggest the police are not "on board" with the coup. 

So it's pins and needles time in Honduras.  Who knows what's going to happen.  Any theories?

Alright already, I can take a hint.  My last three blogs on Honduras fell down the TPM memory pit with zero recs and zero comments.  They were a lot of work, which seems sort of pointless now - an exercise of throwing perls before swine, as they say.

I just can't grasp why the Yankee is so apathetic about their southern neighbors.  I wish someone would have the cajones to explain it to me.  Oh, well.

Anyway, I promise to cease and desist occupying electrons here on a subject that no one cares about.

The End

Costa Rica's Oskar Arias, mediator between Manuel Zelaya and the Coup government of Honduras, expressed his fear that failure of the negotiations would lead to civil war.  Subsequently he has asked both parties for an additional 72 hours to work out an agreeement.  Meanwhile on the ground in Honduas, pro-Zelaya protestors have blocked highways, and protestors have also stationed themselves at President Zelaya's home in Catacamas, which is now surrounded by the military.

Zelaya agreed to Arias' mediation pllan, but the Coup government rejected it, in part over the return of Zelaya to Honduras.  The Micheletti faction offered a counter proposal, which reflects propaganda more than reality.  You can read an English translation here, and Honduran blogger Raj's comments below are wel worth reading.

There is evidence that the Golpistas (coupsters) are no longer have a unity of purpose and solidarity.  We're talking about the 48 main golpistas identified in the Honduran paper El Libertador on the 18th of this month. Globo Radio in Honduras reported July 6:

Businessmen Ricardo Maduro, Rafael Ferrari and Carlos Flores Facussé had a meeting this Sunday at dawn with the de facto government and withdrew their support. Ex-president Carlos Flores left Honduras with his family, headed toward Washington.

Maduro, of the far right National Party,  was president of Honduras before Zelaya, and he is president of the Bank of Honduras.  Ferrari owns 3 TV stations, and has interests in banking, energy and real estate.  But Carlos Flores Facussé, former Honduran president (1998-2002) when Hurricane Mitch devastated Honduras, is the most interesting of the three.  Margarita Facussé de Flores, Carlos Flores' mother, is sister to Honduran political king-pin Miguel Facussé.   The link chronicle's Miguel's efforts to disenfranchise the residents of Zacate Grande Island in order to turn it into the playground of the wealthy elites in Honduras.  Another, this time on the Carribean side of Honduras, is Miguel intrusion into land belonging  to the Afro-Honduran Garifuna ethnic minority, is chronicled here.  But I have to resist getting derailed on my point with Miguel. 

The point is that Miguel Facussé's influence on Honduran politics is overwhelming - he is essentially apolitical, buying loyalty from any party in support his business enterprises.  In this context I think it is revealing that Miguel's nephew, Carlos Flores, would defect from the golpistas.  This suggest to me that the coup leaders (an Carlos Flores has been cited as the principle) seriously underestimated the international response to the coup, significantly  in the area of suspended financial packages and aid that came to Honduras before the coup.  U.S. Military and non-humanitarian aid is frozen; European Union aid has been suspended; The International Transportation Union has called for a blockade of Hounduran ships; IMF loans have been suspended;  Petrocarribe has stopped petrochemical shipmenys to Honduras, and a host of other economic sactions have been imposed. 

In the course of the global recession, the wealty elites of Honduras have been shoring up their losses by dipping into the national budget fore perqs, many or them tied directly to international aid programs.  Zelaya tried to stop this, and now the golpista's actions have sealed off this source of revenue completely.  Did Miguel Facussé call his nephew and say "Carlos, this isn't working out the way it was supposed to.  I'm losing a lot of money.  You must stop it at once!"

Back to Oskar Arias mediation effort and his call for a 72 hour extension.  Yesterday, Arias received a FAX from Carlos Flores Facussé:

SUGGESTIONS

Both parties commit to guaranteeing the physical safety of the other in any scenario.

Both parties commit, for a term of six months, to a moratorium in taking any legal action against the other for actions carried out before the 1st of July, 2009.

Both parties commit to retake their oaths to the Constitution and Laws of Honduras, as well as to submit to the authority granted to governmental institutions by the Constitution.

Both parties express their remorse for the loss of confidence of the people of Honduras in the Constitution and the Government occasioned by the recent events and swear that they will exert themselves in reconstructing this confidence through transparency.

Both parties commit to the trustworthy fulfillment of the present calendar for the general elections of this November and swear to permit the preparations to proceed free of any interference or manipulation.

Both parties commit to not incur any attempt to suspend, alter, or carry out any consultation at a national level in reference to the Constitution of the Republic for a term of one year.

Both parties welcome the OAS for the formation of a temporary commission that will provide technical consulting about the implementation of this accord and the preparations for the general elections.

Both parties agree to establish a Truth Commission with well-defined goals, whose members will be chosen and accepted by all the interested parties.

Under these solemn conditions, both parties commit to the restoration in a peaceful manner of President Manuel "Mel" Zelaya Rosales for the period of the remainder of his term.

Both parties, together, will formally meet, as soon as possible, with the National Congress and the Supreme Court of the Republic of Honduras to review, explain, and gain consensus of the Legislative Power and the Judicial Power to the agreed upon conditions.

Both parties agree to jointly order the Armed Forces and the National Police (the security forces) to desist and avoid arbitrary arrests, and any violation of the liberty of the person, the liberty of expression, the liberty of movement, and any other democratic liberty guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic.

The Armed Forces and Police obligated to fulfill their constitutional functions and pass to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Electoral Tribunal. The present authorities guarantee stability in their commands.

Both parties will abstain from promoting or encouraging demonstrations against the electoral process or that promote insurrection, civil disobedience, illegal conduct or anything that would lead to violence or violation of the Law.

Respect the budget approved in Congress.

Verification of the accords with wide representation.

This is a counter-proposal to the proposal submitted by Michelleti.  So who's in charge in Honduras? 

A final note with regards to a civil war.  It could very well be the case that the Golpistas cannot afford a civil war, especially with the old cold-war style military support from the U.S.  There are signs that the police are distancing themselves from the Army, indicating that they too are defecting from the Golpistas.  Hopefullly Arias is  wrong.