A chain of events.  An independent filmmaker's group in Honduras uploads a video to YouTube. It's a short clip of protesters and cops in an unnamed poor barrio in Tegucigalpa, but towards the end someone picked up a spent tear gas canister and pulled out its ID label: Policia National de Perú.  Last Wednesday, the ever vigilant Al Giordano posted the video in a story on his NarcoNews web site, with this comment:

We can also see in that video the revelation that the tear gas canisters shot by the National Police yesterday were stamped as property of the government of Perú, suggesting strongly that Peruvian President Alan García is a participant in smuggling arms to the Honduran coup regime. Something he will now have to answer for to the Organization of American States in general, and his neighbor Brazil in particular.

Then three major news services in Brazil and Perú lift the story from NarcoNews and publish it.   La Republica in Perú asks:  "How could these gases arrive in Honduras if they belong to the Peruvian police?"  This leads Octavio Salazar, Peruvian Interior Minister,  to issue a threat of legal action against the perps of the story, and La Republica edits the story this way:  "How could these gases arrive in Honduras if they belong to the Peruvian police?"

It gets much better, and I encourage you to read Giradano's complete story.  For example:

That's fútbol, Narco News style, in which the information ball bounces from Honduras through somewhere in América, ricochets through Sao Paulo then Lima then, GOOOOOOLLLL¡

Reporting for the Peruvian daily La Primera, Raúl Weiner wrote:

"The story is very serious, to have clandestine relations between a government that daily proclaims itself democratic and the coup plotters condemned by the world, behind the backs of all Peru. The situation rarifies even more because a country as important as Brazil has taken a decisive role in the current phase of the Honduran crisis, decisively pushing the return of President Zelaya, and Peru appears to be in the opposing camp, providing the weapons to save Micheletti."

The moral of this story?  Be careful what you blog. Ha.

Honduras Coup 2009 just posted an alert on a gas attack by the Honduran Military on the Brazilian Embassy this morning.  The source was a teleSUR article.  My translation:

Military gases released into Brazilian Embassy in Honduras

Despite the talks that the legitimate representative of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, has been held with representatives of the church and with the candidates for the elections on Nov. 29, still not reached any agreement with the de facto regime of Roberto Micheletti.

The Honduran military began a new onslaught on Friday to pressure the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa by throwing gas bombs and blocking entrys to the embassy, which continues protecting the legitimate president Manuel Zelaya since Monday.

According to a report by correspondent teleSUR, Adriana Sivori, several people who are inside the embassy began to bleed from the nose and urinate. One of the doctors at headquarters is responsible for their care.

If you enter "Honduras gas" into Google News several hits from the Latin American will show.  I picked one from Mexico, Nuestro Pais:

Military of Honduras attack Brazilian embassy with chemicals

Writing (elpais.cr) - Military Armed Forces of Honduras, with the logistical support of Israel advisers, gases released from neighboring homes into the interior of the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa, causing vomiting of blood to the refugees in the embassy.

The Catholic priest Andrés Tamayo, who is in the Brazilian embassy, denouncing on radio Progresso, which is owned by the Order of Jesus (Jesuits), those who attacked with chemical the site, which houses asylum from the President of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya Rosales.

He said that "people are vomiting blood, have closed airways, and other serious problems of intoxication" and therefore called on all nations "to stop this barbarism."

"This is happening now in the morning. The situation is very serious. Embassy's neighbors are helping to spread the gas to provide space for the military to disperse the chemicals, " he lamented.

However, the priest observed that neighbors may have been forced by the military coup, which on 28 June overthrew and expelled to Costa Rica the Constitutional President Zelaya Rosales.

The transmission of Radio Progreso, chained up and also anti-coup Radio Progreso, argues that these chemicals have been used by the Israeli army in the territories of Gaza, during the offensive end of the year to expel the Palestinian residents.

"We need to denounce this urgently" asked Father Tamayo, who said that President Zelaya was protected with an anti-gas mask, while the little milk stored in the Brazilian delegation is being supplied to the most affected. http://radioprogresohn.com

I'll update this as I learn more.  It's noteworthy that the UN Security Council is scheduled to hold an emergency meeting on Honduras today.  What are the coup people thinking?  Is this a wild-card military commander making unilateral decisions?

Illinois Republican Congressman Aaron Schock recently commissioned a research project by the Library of Congress on the constitutionality of the removal of President Manuel Zelaya.  The Report for Congress, Honduras: Constitutional Law Issues, August 2009, concludes that the Honduran Congress acted legally in President Zelaya's removal from office, but concedes his exile was not legal.  As we would expect, the report is being circulated in congress, obviously informing senators and representatives on the constitutional issues involved, but it is also well circulated in Honduras, as it tends to bolster the claim on the de facto government that it was not a Coup d'Etat, but rather a perfectly legal transfer of power.

US msm, always a few days behind, is slowly picking up the story, and the right-wing blogosphere is having some fun - one more bullet to use against President Obama and Secretary Clinton.  For example, this scree from Gary Schmitt @ the American Enterprise Institute's "Enterprise Blog:"

In an earlier post I noted that the Obama administration's description of the Honduran congress and court's decision to remove Honduran President Zelaya from office as a coup d'etat reflected the shallowest understanding of democracy, constitutionalism, and the rule of law.  Since then, the administration has done nothing but turn the screws on Honduras by cutting aid and denying visas to its officials, going so far as to reject Honduras' upcoming, November national elections as illegitimate. Not surprisingly, all of this has fed Honduran instability--especially now that Zelaya has snuck back into the country--and given U.S. adversaries in the region (such as Chavez's Venezuela) even more reason to believe that "populist dictatorships" are once again the wave of the future in Latin America.

The administration's high-handedness in this matter was fueled by its view that the removal of the sitting, elected President Zelaya was unconstitutional.  But apparently the administration didn't actually bother to read the Honduran constitution.  Now, a careful analysis of that document and the actions taken by the Honduran national assembly and high court by the Law Library of Congress (a division of the Library of Congress) indicates that a reasonable case can be made that both the Honduran congress and high court were within their constitutional rights to remove and arrest the president and that the current president, Roberto Micheletti, is not just de facto president, but the proper, constitutional successor.

But the report is fatally flawed

I'm going to cut this blog short because I've just learned that the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa is under gas attack (not tear gas) by the Honduran military.  The argument against the report can be found on RAJ's blog here and here.  Both have good links for citations.  Below is a letter to the Library of Congress from the Chair of the Department of Social Sciences and Anthropology at UC Berkeley, Dr. Rosmary Joyce.  Quotha has another letter from Armando Sariento, former Honduran "IRS" director, which also criticizes the report.

Subject: Serious errors of fact in CRS LL File No. 2009-002965 on Honduras
From: "Rosemary A. Joyce"
Date: Fri, September 25, 2009 12:49 am
To: jbil@loc.gov
crsdirector@crs.loc.gov
Cc: mray@loc.gov
kott@loc.gov
rehlke@crs.loc.gov
kronhovde@crs.loc.gov
lkelley@crs.loc.gov
ccohen@crs.loc.gov
rwhite@crs.loc.gov
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Librarian Billingsley and Director Mulhollan,

I write to bring to your attention serious errors of fact in a
Congressional Research Service report written by Ms. Norma C. Gutierrez.
Given the damage this erroneous report has already done as it circulates
in Honduras and the US, I urge you to immediately issue a public
correction and withdraw the report, notifying members of Congress that it
is unreliable and based on faulty courses and inaccurate information.

Entitled "HONDURAS: CONSTITUTIONAL LAW ISSUES" and dated August 2009, the
report was released by Congressman Schock of Illinois today.

It has now been established unequivocally that Ms. Gutierrez' produced a
fatally flawed report.

There are four problems with Ms. Gutierrez' analysis:

(1) She cites a single Honduran legal analyst as a source of personal
communications "confirming" conclusions she draws. Her source is a known
supporter of the de facto regime in Honduras, Guillermo Pérez-Cadalso, who
testified on behalf of the de facto regime in July's hearings in the US
Congress

This is not a disinterested source. There are numerous Honduran law
professors, as well as constitutional law authorities in the US and Spain,
on record in writing finding the Honduran Congress exceeded its legal
authority in claiming to remove President Zelaya from office on June 28.
None of these authorities is cited.

(2) Ms. Gutierrez, rather than analyze the arguments made by the Honduran
Congress, as the questions she was asked would require, creates her own
novel theory: that the Honduran Congress used a constitutional
power given it to interpret the Honduran Constitution so as to justify its
removal of President Zelaya.

Specifically, she suggests that the Congress must have interpreted its
Constitutional authority to "disapprove" of the actions of a president,
extending the definition of "disapproval" to include "removal from
office".

Such a claim was not, however, actually made by the Honduran Congress in
its June 28 actions. This is a post-hoc rationalization for their actions
proposed by Ms. Gutierrez, apparently with guidance from Mr.
Pérez-Cadalso, who is cited as confirming this rationalization in a
footnote citing a
phone conversation.

(3) In fact, on May 7, 2003, the Honduran Supreme Court had nullified the
claimed power of the Congress to interpret the Constitution. Thus, it
is not surprising that the Honduran Congress made no such claim on June
28, since they no longer could assert such authority, which the Supreme
Court had rejected.

(4) Even during the period when the Honduran Congress acted under the
belief it had the power to interpret the Constitution, it was bound
by procedures that required it to explicitly note that it was
interpreting the constitution, and to define the circumstances of the
definitions they proposed.

This did not happen on June 28, almost certainly because no such claim was
then being made, because the Congress was aware of the May Supreme Court
ruling invalidating this claimed power.

In addition, the Honduran congressional session on June 28 was not the
kind of ordinary session that had been defined as allowing constitutional
interpretation; it was an "extraordinary session". Honduran Congressional
procedure requires that extraordinary sessions be convened based on a call
that defines the issues to be discussed, and no other issues can legally
be introduced.

Interpreting the constitution was not on the agenda (again, one can
suppose that this was because the Honduran Congress knew on June 28 that
the Supreme Court had nullified their claim to have such power over a
month earlier).

In reading the CRS, I was struck by the reliance on a single source, via
personal communications, to draw such consequential conclusions. There is
no shortage of legal scholarship published and available which would have
helped Ms. Gutierrez avoid these fundamental errors of scholarship; I
mention here only one such source, the widely distributed paper published
online by ASIL (the American Society of Internation Law), written by
invitation by Notre Dame Law Professor Doug Cassell.

There are more points that are disturbing in this CRS report. For example,
footnote 43 offers a characterization of a forged resignation letter
attributed to President Zelaya, backdated to June 24, as being explained
as a true letter written for nefarious purposes; the source for this
claim, again, is the same supporter of the coup, Mr. Pérez-Cadalso. Yet
his claim is widely discredited; the back-dated letter is widely viewed as
a forgery produced when the coup was originally scheduled to happen, an
event delayed in part by US diplomatic action.

In short, in my view, Ms. Gutierrez produced her unreliable report in
large part because she failed to exercise sufficient scholarly caution
about one influential, yet unaccountable, source. She did not seek out
other opinions. Her search of legal opinion was consequently flawed, as
she missed the key Supreme Court decision of May 7, 2003. She went beyond
her mandate, which was to explain whether the claims of constitutionality
made by the Honduran Congress were accurate, and instead provided a
speculative rationalization of their actions.

This report raises serious questions in my mind about the overall
reliability of similar reports from the Congressional Research Service. As
a scholar, I hope that you will take swift action to restore the
credibility of CRS and, by extension, the Library of Congress.

Rosemary A. Joyce
Richard and Rhoda Goldman Distinguished Professor of Social Sciences

Professor and Chair of Anthropology
University of California, Berkeley

Thank you Tim Burton for handing me this appropriate vocabulary.  President Mel's enemies are having a hay day with this story from the Miami Herald:

TEGUCIGALPA -- It's been 89 days since Manuel Zelaya was booted from power. He's sleeping on chairs, and he claims his throat is sore from toxic gases and "Israeli mercenaries'' are torturing him with high-frequency radiation.

"We are being threatened with death,'' he said in an interview with The Miami Herald, adding that mercenaries were likely to storm the embassy where he has been holed up since Monday and assassinate him.

For example, Ed Morrisby @ Hot Air thinks Zelaya is a nut and uses this great insight to attack Obama:

The man that Barack Obama insists the Hondurans should restore to power now claims that Israelis are torturing him with mind rays and toxic gasses while holding out in the Brazilian embassy in Tegulcigalpa.  Manuel Zelaya, removed from office by order of the Honduran parliament and Supreme Court but still recognized as president by the Obama administration, says the current interim government has hired Israeli mercenaries, who beam radiation at his head from outside the embassy: [block quote here from the Herald story above]

So this is the calm, rational leadership that Barack Obama envisions for Honduras!  Obama much prefers a president given to tinfoil-hat conspiracy theories and knee-jerk anti-Semitism.  At least this makes sense of the Van Jones appointment.

But the Herald story contains an interesting sentence on down the story:

Witnesses said that for a short time Tuesday morning, soldiers used a device that looked like a large satellite dish to emit a loud shrill noise.

"What?" thought I. I already knew the soldiers were blasting the embassy with loud speakers playing the Honduran National Anthem  (read the comments below if you are interested in how this music affects the human nervous system). But mind rays?  I think I would go midly batty at about the fourth repeat in loud volume of this tune, or at least I would start believing that I am inside the reels of Battle of Algiers. I thought Mel might be losing it myself, but that sentence about the satellite dish intrigued me.  Poking around Google I found this:

A variety of nonlethal acoustical weapons have been proposed and evaluated. Some of these are little more than fancy loud-speakers, while others involve more subtle or sophisticated processes and truely deserve the designation of acoustic weapon.

Simple high-intensity sound causes the inner ear to generate nerve impulses that register as sound. Since the inner ear also regulates spatial orientation, saturation of the inner ear by high-intensity sound may cause spatial disorientation. For example, loud music was used by American forces to drive Manual Norriega from the Vatican Embassy in Panama in 1990.

High-intensity low-frequency sound may cause other organs to resonate, causing a number of physiological results, possibly including death. Acoustic weapons pose the hazard of being indiscriminate weapons, potentially imposing the same damage on friendly forces and noncombatants as on enemy combatants or other targets.

Hmmm, but Global Security does say such weapons have been deployed.  Some more Googling and information that they are deployed. Here's a video of them being used against protesters in Tbilisi, Georgia. LRAD - Long range acoustic device.  Here's how it works.

American Technology Corporation developed the LRAD after the attack on the USS Cole in 2000. Its original purpose was to help enforce the safe zones around United States military vessels. Using the LRAD's default settings, a ship's crew can warn a craft that it is approaching a military ship and must change course. This message can be up to 120 dB, so it's loud and clear but not usually painful. But if the craft doesn't change course, the ship's crew can override the LRAD's default settings. It can then produce a loud, irritating, potentially painful noise of up to 151 dB. Ideally, the craft would then leave the area without the ship having to use lethal force.

Police and land-based military units have found uses for the LRAD. Using the same principles, authorities can give warnings and instructions that are audible to a large group of people up to 300 meters away. Some police and other non-military personnel also use a smaller version of the LRAD, called the MRAD or the LRAD500.

However, human rights groups and hearing specialists alike have raised concerns about the LRAD. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, any sound over 90 dB can damage a person's hearing [ref]. So the LRAD can threaten the hearing of anyone in its path, regardless of whether there is any wrongdoing, even when used only for communication.

Like stun guns, tear gas and less-lethal ammunition, LRAD can be used in crowd control and other situations as a non-lethal weapon. Non-lethal weapons are somewhat controversial. Human rights groups stress that even though they are less lethal, they are still weapons and have caused deaths in some circumstances. The LRAD in particular has drawn criticism since its effects can be permanent, and non-lethal weapons' effects are supposed to be temporary.

Mel Zelaya seems less of a crackpot, then.  But is use of LRAD torture?  I would say there's a good argument there, especially how it was allegedly used at the Brazilian embassy.  It is worthwhile noting, also, that at the time of its alleged use, there were several children inside the embassy, 6 yrs. old and up. (They have now been evacuated).

The toxic gasses Mel complains about is a no-brainer, IMO.  Tear gas is toxic, and even low level exposure to it over time will make your throat raw.

But what about Israeli commandos?  This story has been floating around since August, at least.  It comes from an audio interview on La Journada, Mx, with Andrés Pavón, president of the Honduran Human Rights Commission (CODEH):

Dick Emanuelsson (DE):  Yesterday CODEH put out a news release denouncing a variety of things, among them that Micheletti's de facto government has contracted with Israeli commandos or people to train the Honduran military/police forces.  What we know from the civil war in Colombia is that these commandos have also been advising the Colombian military forces.  What are the Israelis doing here?

Andrés Pavón (AP): Until now what we know is that their mission is to prepare the Armed Forces and the police to aggressively and violently dissuade the demonstrations, by committing crimes of a selective nature in order to build fear, staged terror, and achieve a dismantling of the resistance.  Other actions they are undertaking involve certain employees of private security firms putting on police uniforms and acting aggressively against the demonstrators.  The police have already sort of been trained to dissuade demonstrations and are a bit fearful about attacking the demonstrators so that it's as if a bit of their human rights training lingers.  On the other hand, the security guards are being paid double and their immunity is guaranteed.  These are the practices that they are developing, using the experience of the conflict in Palestine and after having put into practice some of these actions in Colombia.

The story should be taken cautiously, I think, as there's no real proof at this point.  However, it does tell us that Zelaya's claim is not the ravings of a mad man.  Many people in Honduras believe it is true.

Radio Globo reported this morning that all the houses around the Brazilian embassy have been cleared of their residents by the military during the night, and some are occupied by the military.  This raises the fear on the streets that the embassy will be invaded.  And the rumors persist that a pro-coup rally of the "perfumed ones" will take place as a pretext for breaching the embassy.  This, from RAJ @  Honduran Coup 2009:

Reading between the lines the "pro democracy" (your tax dollars at work here) march organized to support the de facto government by the UCD (Union Civica Democratica) may have fizzled. The La Tribuna article mentions the organizers expected 500,000 people to join them from across the country. It then goes on to say that "hundreds" arrived at 10 am for the march.

Radio Globo has fielded numerous calls from workers who were being "ordered" to attend the march as part of their job. Unlike the marches of the resistance, busloads of supporters in white shirts were being allowed past the military checkpoints into Tegucigalpa this morning.

The UCD is an organization funded, in part, by the US State Department. It receives funds designated to groups that promote democracy in Latin America.

More information on this march as it becomes available.

UPDATE 10:42 AM PDT: La Prensa describes the march as consisting of "thousands" and they have posted pictures of the demonstraters outside the UN building in Tegucigalpa here.

Looking at the two pics, the Golpistas (Coupsters) may have run out of white T-shirts.

Police shot to death a teenager on his bicycle who yelled "Golpistas" at them (El Tiempo link not working).

In an unexpected move, the coup has suspended the curfew in Honduras between 10am and 5pm.

Both Radio Globo and La Tribuna are reporting that the curfew will be lifted this morning at 10 am until 4 pm today. There has been no official announcement yet, but its widely expected.

A rumor spreading in Honduras is that the de facto government is lifting the curfew so that the pro-Micheletti group, the Unión Civica Democrática (UCD) can stage a pro-Micheletti protest this morning at 10 am.

UPDATE 7:56 AM PDT: Its official, the curfew is temporarily lifted 10 am to 5 pm. Supermarkets have announced they will open at 10 am, as will banks, gas stations, and pharmacies.

Adrienne Pine posted a comment from a journalist in the street in Honduras:

Wed, 09/23/2009 - 13:38 -- AP

Journalist Gilberto Ríos, on site, reports that members of the "blancos" march (so named for their white t-shirts) have been armed, and the de facto gov't is trying to use them to enter the Brazilian embassy. Of course, the other possibility is that they are merely military dressed as "blancos." Awaiting more information...

Interesting, if this is true.  Michelleti would claim that his gang wasn't responsible, and did not violate Brazilian sovereignty.  But would anyone believe him?

Brazil yesterday called for an emergency Security Council meeting at the UN, and I believe the request was granted.  We shall see...

I've politely asked KGB999 to create his own blogs is he had something important to say about Honduras.  He declined, citing his right to comment on my own blogs.  OK, but a 500 word comment covering 30 sub-topics is just too much to respond to as another comment.  So I wish to do it here, in a blog.

KGB's first comment is actually a blog - a litany of things he has found out about Zelaya's return to Honduras.  Much of it was a repeat of what I wrote in my blog on the subject. There are no links.  We only have his word that he is telling us the truth.  I had few links myself, as I was rushing to get my report online.  The difference is, however,  that I wasn't challenging anyone's veracity!

Taken from the top of KGB's comments:

Just a quick update from what I've found in the Honduran MSM (mostly via: Tiempo, El Harldo, La Perinsa, La Tribuna):

In the first place, let's look at those online newspapers from Honduras.  El Tiempo is owned by Honduras' richest man, Jaime Rosenthal.  Even though Rosenthal was the power broker behind Zelaya's election, El Tiempo did not support him after June 28 in their editorials, and they did not support the golpistas either.  But about three weeks ago El Tiempo began publishing anti-coup material in response to several attacks on El Tiempo reporters and equipment by the national police and the military.  El Heraldo and La Prensa is owned by Jorge Canahuati Larach, one of the top leaders of the Coup d'Etat. La Tribuna is owned by Carlos Flores Facussé, one of the top Coup d'Etat.  

KGB999 writes on:

-At about 5am police/military clashed with Zelaya supporters and cleared out the area around the Brazilian embassy. There were a few reports of businesses set on fire and looted during the night - and photos showed the military recovering Molotovs from the debris. The police used tear gas, water cannon, and rubber bullets. Many vehicles were damaged or destroyed (most vehicles parked in front of the embassy, but at least one police vehicle was burned).

I'm only aware of one report of business vandalism, a Burger King that was attacked by three hooded men - no one knows where they're from.  What would a molotov look like recovered from the debris?  A broken bottle?  The military brought in cranes to remove vehicles belonging to embassy staff and protesters.

-The Brazilian embassy is estimating the Pro-Zelaya crowd to have been around 5000 people.

And Michelleti guessed 2,500 protesters, and Xiomara Zelaya guessed 50,000.  It's the old count game - doesn't tell us much.  The photos show standing room only in front of the embassy, and there were other gathering throughout Tegucigalpa and the rest of Honduras.  Many people.  No one has a count.

-There were 200 reported arrests for curfew violations. Individuals are being held temporarily at sports arenas and local jails. Pasadena-based CDHR has issued claims of torture and characterized the detentions as equivalent to Nazi concentration camps.(Note: IMO, it is unlikely at best that (a) any US organization would be able to assert with certainty the actual events that are occurring in the detention facilities within an hour of the arrested arriving, and (b) that a systemic infrastructure for torture has been set up in a local sports complex so quickly. I consider this to be uninformed propaganda geared to be inflammatory that tends to discredit the reporting agency)

Pasadena-based CDHR issued no such claim.  It is an organization with one project, the rights of the San Francisco 8.  KGB999 is confused.  The claims of torture were made by the Comité para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos en Honduras (CODEH).  It is a bona fide and credible agency that has existed in Honduras since 1981, staffed by experts in the field of human rights investigations and verifications.  Why KGB999 believes that a "systemic infrastructure" for torture is required is beyond me.  Kicking someone on the ground until he rats on his friends requires nothing but cops, ground and boots.  Raping a woman with police batons until she confesses her crimes against the state only requires cops and batons.  But on that basis KGB999 considers the CODEH report to be "uninformed propaganda."  We are to believe KGB999 is an expert on these matters.  He is "KGB", after all.

-Honduras has cut the phone, water, and electricity to the Brazilian embassy and were bombarding the compound with the Honduran national anthem using what appeared to be a military-grade directed speaker system (like the ones they are trying to use on ships to thwart pirate attacks). It is unclear if this is ongoing.

Tear gas grenades were also lobbed into the embassy compound.

-Brazil has recalled Francisco Resende, the head of their delegation to Brazil and advised officials not to come in to work. They have requested "if necessary" that the US embassy provide them with diesel for their generator and security.

Resende is not at the embassy, he is at his home in Tegucigalpa.  Most of the embassy staff stayed home as well, but some are inside the embassy.  I don't know why Resende would be recalled to Brazil: he's the charge d affairs left behind after the ambassador was recalled some weeks ago.  Zelaya's entourage is about 70, including reporters.  The requests from the US embassy have been for food and water, as well as generator fuel.  This link says that utilities have been restored.  The State Department said the US would help out as needed.

-Honduras' data networks are strained and access to all sites is spotty.

-There are two emerging (contradictory) stories about Zelaya's return. His speech and some reports imply that he navigated the border from El Salvidor. Other reports indicate that he came in by plane late Sunday night.

The airplane story is a fluke.  He flew from Managua to San Salvador.  President Funes said he saw Zelaya at the airport.  From there he traveled by automobile to Tegucigalpa.  NYT has a good story about the return.  The suggestion is that some military members helped him get home.

-The airport closure has prevented OAS secretary Insulza from entering the country for scheduled negotiations to finalize agreement to the Costa Rican accord(my term) .

Allegedly, Michelleti also threatened to shoot Insulza's plane down if he tries to come to Honduras.  And it's the "San José Accord" - after the capital of Costa Rica.

-Michaletti has given assurances to Brazil that the sovereignty of their embassy will not be violated. The Honduran government has also made clear statements that if Zelaya steps outside the embassy he will be arrested. Michaletti has also formally requested that Brazil either hand Zelaya over to officers of the court to face charges or to officially grant him asylum.

True, but I didn't hear about the "asylum" part.  Brazil has officially given him asylum, the moment they let him in the embassy.  But Michelleti isn't the sharpest tack in the box, so maybe he didn't realize that.

-Roadblocks have been set up throughout the country and access to the capitol is severely restricted. There is also a security cordon manned by police and military in the area around the Brazilian embassy.

So stipulated...

-103 individuals have been admitted to the Emergency Medical Teaching Hospital with injuries, none reported as serious. The hospital reports no gunshot wounds. Zelaya supporters are asserting one, possibly two deaths, the victims have not been named and no medical facility has yet confirmed treating shooting injuries or deaths.

This is where Kgb999 needs a citation, as the numbers vary with each report, and even change with the developments on the ground.  One problem is that the repression isn't confined to the area near the Brazilian embassy, but is going on all over town.  For example, Radio Globo has announced that the Hospital School has reported treating injuries from an attack on protesters in Colonia 21 November - 25 gunshot wounds.  There are 24 neighborhoods under attack, barricaded etc.

-A coolition of candidates for president has called for dialog and an agreement under the Costa Rican framework. They have offered to initiate discussions with both sides of the conflict with a mind to peaceful resolution. At least one (Lobo) has threatened to withdraw support from Michaletti if dialog is refused.

Elvin Santos distanced himself from the golpistas a few weeks ago, in an effort to save his chances in light of the huge number of voters in the anti-coup resistance.  The others are doing the same.  But it is noteworthy when these candidates went to San Jose two weeks ago and declared support for the accord, not one of them agreed to Zelaya's return to power. Arias didn't press them on that, and he should have.

-Zelaya has issued calls for his supporters to come to the Brazillian embassy to offer him protection. He referred to the actions removing his supporters as "disproportionate".

And...?

Those are the highlights I've been able to discover. Since comments are limited to 2 links ... I'll just give a link to a decent index of Honduran news outlets and recommend using google to translate the sites if you want more details.

http://honduras.com/newspapers.htm

http://translate.google.com

Well, that's much in the citation department.  What does Kgb expect?  That readers go to his link and search all the newspapers listed and search for the points he has made, simultaneously running everything through a rough translation application?  I mean, what's the point of pretending to make citations of points and authorities?

And then, remarkably, in another comment, Kgb999 writes:

Neo: I can not find any verifiable source for your claims of aircraft dropping tear gas. In fact it seems to directly contradict the reports from the Brazilian embassy - who are both neutral and have an amazingly close vantage point from which to observe the actions. And there is quite a lot of photographic documentation of the operation that also contradicts many of your claims.

I wasn't actually making any claims.  My blog was simply a rush collection of things that I had read concerning Zelaya's return and events following in Honduras.  Had Kgb999 simply asked for a citation, I would have provided one.  A translation of Dr. Almendares' letter from a source that Kgb999 believes to be propaganda:

Stop the Brutality of the Military Coup

Dear friends:

We confirm the terrible news that teargas and pepper gas canisters have been thrown from airplanes and by military troops, not only at the Brazilian Embassy but also around its perimeter so that the gas covers an extensive area, along with gunshots. This situation puts President Zelaya's life in danger, along with the diplomatic corps and all the members of the Resistance who have stayed outside the whole night, peacefully accompanying the legitimate President of Honduras.

The risk also extends to the people who are in neighboring areas who suffer from asthma, cardiac and cerebral illnesses or who may be allergic or hyper-sensitive to such gases and who may have a high risk of death.

This is just one more of the repressive military brutalities of the de facto regime. We desperately need an increase in solidarity with the people of Honduras.

Out of respect for human rights, peace and justice

Juan Almendares [my translation]

And a check on Juan Almendares credentials.

I think your zeal is leading you to report flat-out lies. You might want to temper your excitement with a modicum of critical thought. I've been watching videos of the area around the Brazilian embassy all morning - there is ZERO evidence or reports of snipers shooting into the place.

Kgb999 concludes I am reporting flat-out lies, based on his failure to find the source which he did not ask me to supply.  That spells A-G-E-N-D-A to me.  He suggests that my "zeal" and "excitement" need tempering with "critical thought."  Shucks, I don't know what I did to get on his bad side?  I was just writing shit down that I came across on the web to describe the situation.  I wasn't making an ARGUMENT.

There is also no evidence that difficulty accessing web services from Honduran outlets is based on anything but huge traffic overload. Most sites have stripped all large graphics from their home pages and still can't seem to keep up. It is important to remember that IP services in Honduras have been the subject of muchos corruption that has severely limited the bandwidth available to the entire nation.

Radio Globo, when its power was cut and its web broadcast went down, called EENE, the power company, and they were told that the military had taken control of the company.  That's just an example of one - its happening to all the liberal media outlets.  There's the evidence. Global, Channel 36 and Cholusat Sur went back up with generators.  Down again when fuel ran out, and was hard to get because of the curfew, which has again been extended until tomorrow morning 6 am.  

Finally, Kgb offers a "value-added" comment to an update I posted of a WSJ article on the Brazilian congress' motion to repudiate the actions taken by the golpistas with regard to the embassy.  But the "value-added" had no relevance to the subject of the WSJ article at all. 

Anyway, this is my point in all of this, and this applies to blogging in general, with regards to comments.  This blog is overly long, as you can see.  And it is a response to two - three comments made on another blog.  Since the comments raised the veracity question on the original blog, they should be answered.  There's nothing wrong with argument, challenge and defense etc.  It's great stuff.  But when the comment is so complex and convoluted that it makes it impossible to rejoin within the constraints of comments, it's just plain wrong and disrespectful.  So, says I:

KGB, I encourage you to create your own blogs on these matters. You've covered way too much ground to respond to without this particular blog losing its direction altogether. Thanx.

Kgb did not respond, so again, after he attacked my credibility:

You're a bit patronizing there, kid. Tell you what, I'll practice critical thinking if you post your own blogs - I certainly don't want "truth" polluting mine. Deal?

Sure, some snark there, but Kgb earned it.  His response?

If you post publicly, I will continue to comment.

That's pure "asshole" in my book.

Last night at the end of KPFA's broadcast on Honduras, the announcer said that during the broadcast he had received calls from listeners complaining about devoting the full hour to Honduras.  You know, thousands had gathered outside the Brazilian Embassy, an exiled President had returned, and it was a firecracker situation of international proportions that could turn from triumph to tragedy at the drop of a pin.  The bad guys had just about shut down all media coverage, but KPFA had managed to piece together news coverage of this event, including interviews in the street and interviews inside the embassy.  KPFA's audience is left, liberal and progressive, and they were complaining.  I still have to ask, what's that all about?  What is it about Honduras that is boring, insignificant and, perhaps, repulsive to a left wing audience?  I just can't grasp it.

Marshall law.  The constitution is suspended officially, as it has been tacitly since June 28 when the criminals  committed their crimes.  Media shut-down.  The anti-coup resistance protesters were bombed with tear gas dropped from aircraft, shot and wounded.  There's no real count.  3, 4, 6 fatalities from gunshot wounds, and hundreds wounded.  The armed forces now surround the Brazilian Embassy.  Military units are invading private homes in the neighborhood to set up tactical stations.  The rooftops around the embassy are covered with snipers, and reports of them shooting into the windows of the embassy are being recorded.  The military has also surrounded the hospital where the wounded and dead are taken.  I've read nothing about arrests, but obviously there are a great number and who knows where they are taken. 

Protesters are reassembling in other areas in Tegucigalpa.   The military has established checkpoints on all roads leading into Tegucigalpa and are stopping the steady flow of resistance protesters from all over Honduras who are trying to enter the city.

The golpistas have banned OAS and all members  of the international community from entering Honduras.  The airports and shut down.  The golpistas have told the National Electric Company to shut down all electricity in Honduras today. 

Wow, Radio Globo and Radio Progresso, both under attack by criminal government, are still managing to make intermittent web radio broadcasts - about the only source of information left.  These people are courageous.

The water and electricity have been shut down at the Brazilian embassy.  The golpistas have announced that it is the Brazilian embassy's fault that there is "public disorder, violence, material damage, and loss of life." (that's from La Tribuna, but you can't link to it now - http://www.latribuna.hn/web2.0/?p=43314 ). 

How will Brazil respond?  As far as I know, the embassy may have been breached by now, in violation of international law.  The recklessness of the golpistas make me think that Zelaya may not survive - I don't think the golpistas really want to arrest him and bring him to trial.  Mel is with his wife and children, and their lives are at risk also. El Heraldo is saying that National Party presidential candidate Pepe Lobo is calling for dialog:

"Now that Zelaya is in the country, there's nothing that dialog cannot solve. Both of them need to put aside any intransigence," he said of Micheletti and Zelaya.

Radio Globo's Internet broadcast just went down - only Radio Progresso is broadcasting now.  I'm going to stop and post this now.  Stay tuned...

Naw, I don't really think Mel is like Aragorn - maybe a teenie weenie bit.

But he came over the mountains and is not at the United Nations offices.  His Foreign Minister, Patricia Rhodas, has confirmed his return.  It's a developing story.  The US State Department has confirmed, and Brazil reports that Mel in in their embassy. 

Bloomberg confirms.

"I'm here in the Honduran capital, in the first place carrying out the people's will, which has insisted on my restoration," Zelaya said in a broadcast on Venezuela's government-owned Telesur network. "I'm here to initiate a dialogue."

Apparently Bloomberg has edited an earlier version of thier story that quotes Michelleti as saying that Zeleya was still in a hotel room in Nicaruaga and the return story was "media propaganda; terrorism."

Looks like the golpistas are mounting a major attack on media to muffle any news about the return.

Is the de facto regime worried? you be the judge. Cholusat reports being menaced with a takedown. Radio Globo is running on backup power, and Adrienne Pine reports that Radio Progreso cited a military convey sent against them was repelled by citizens mobilizing outside their station. Meanwhile, their website seems to have been hijacked and redirects you to other media, such as HRN, the national (pro-coup) radio network.

And now (2:06 PDT) with Radio Globo streaming over the internet, their website carries a notice that says their "account has been suspended". Oh, how clever the sabotage can be... but we are still listening!

Meanwhile, La Prensa has advised that it cannot update its website, and advises readers to follow its Twitter feed.

El Heraldo is directing readers to Facebook, for its part.

Thousands of anti-coup activists are converging on the Brazillian embassy in Tegucigalpa.  General Romeo Vasquez has said he will not call the military into the streets.  La Jornada in Mexico has published the first interview with Zelaya - in Spanish.  The golpistas have declared a curfew effective at 4:00 pm, which of course will be ignored.  For some strange reason I may have missed, there is no water in Tegucigalpa.   I don't  know what that is all  about. The golpistas are shutting down cell phone service. 

Al Giordano at NarcoNews has a chronological play by play blog going on. You might want to check the TeleSur broadcast for video with Spanish language audio. Right now they are running a FAQ on Honduras. 

Stay tuned, and keep your fingers crossed that this doesn't go all violent.