BREAKING: Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa Under Gas Attack
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 HondurasIf you enter "Honduras gas" into Google News several hits from the Latin American will show. I picked one from Mexico, Nuestro Pais:
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.
Military of Honduras attack Brazilian embassy with chemicalsI'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?
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
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UPDATE:
http://voselsoberano.com/v1/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=787:urgente-ataque-a-la-embajada-de-brasil&catid=1:noticias-generales&Itemid=1
Good pic of the sonic weapon being used.
Adrienne Pine says the gas is Hydrogen Cyanide - not sure of her source.
http://quotha.net/node/386
A Brazilian web site, O Globo, also identifies the gas as HCN.
http://oglobo.globo.com/mundo/mat/2009/09/25/zelaya-denuncia-ataque-quimico-contra-embaixada-767776080.asp
September 25, 2009 4:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Not likely to be HCN CNBr or CNCl, they are too acutely toxic, plus their use would be in violation of the chemical weapons convention. The victims would be dead pretty quickly if they were having the reported symptoms due to a cyanide compound.
It is more likely that CN or CS tear gas are being used - both of which can cause serious toxicities but not necessarily rapid death. Both however can be fatal if high enough concentrations are used. If these are being used their use for military purposes on the territory of another country qualifies as a violation of the CWC. Strange that they are legal for police use isn't it.
September 25, 2009 6:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for that, adelfarb. In my cruising today on info about HCN, I came across a blurb about the U.S. exempting certain "riot control" chemicals from the "warfare chemicals" roster. It's likely that other countries followed suit.
My understanding is that a doctor who was either at the embassy or came to the embassy used a sniffer and detected traces of HCN and ... ah heck, I can't remember and I can't find the source. Some blogger I am, eh?
September 25, 2009 6:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is possible that there may have been some confusion. CS is a tear gas is used by the US (foreign military aid?) but the shorthand notations of CN and CS could easily be confused.
In addition, CS is a nitrile i.e. containing CN as an organic functionality, not inonic as in HCN or KCN etc.
Thus depending on the analytical technique and the nomenclature, as convoluted by Spanish to English translation, I can see that CN/CS = cyanide may be an interpretation.
Both however are potentially lethal, CS particularly so.
September 25, 2009 11:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Incidently, some tear gas cannisters picked up on the streets indicate that they are made in Peru. This raised some concern about illicit arms trade under various treaties, but I have no idea where that would go.
September 26, 2009 3:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
UPDATE 2:
From CNN:
http://cnnwire.blogs.cnn.com/2009/09/25/zelaya-brazil-embassy-in-honduras-attacked-with-gas/
"Zelaya: Brazil embassy in Honduras attacked with gas
Posted: 04:11 PM ET
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (CNN) — Ousted Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya, who has been holed up with supporters at the Brazilian Embassy, said they were victims of a gas attack Friday morning that caused many people to vomit and have breathing difficulties.
A police official told CNN that Zelaya’s allegation was a “totally false statement.”
Zelaya and his aides said at a news conference that a local public health specialist they identified as Dr. Mauricio Castellano took air samples near the embassy after the attack and determined that the gas contained HCN, an abbreviation for hydrogen cyanide. HCN can cause dryness and burning of the throat, shortness of breath, convulsion, coma and cardiovascular collapse.
Zelaya said he felt irritation in his throat and eyes Friday morning and went outside to get fresh air. When he did so, he said, he noticed that some people were sick.
Andres Tamayo, who was with Zelaya at the embassy and identified himself as a priest, said the chemical attack came from three sources: neighboring houses that have been evacuated, a white truck that was seen near the embassy and a low-flying helicopter.
“This is a terrorist act,” Tamayo said."
September 25, 2009 5:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
UPDATE 3:
On the Honduran National Emergency Radio Broadcast, the de facto government has explained the symptoms of toxic gas and sonic attacks on people inside the embassy were the results of routine cleaning using regular cleaning chemicals and loud cleaning machinery.
September 25, 2009 5:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for keeping us up to date on what's happening in Honduras. This is, if true, a horrifying development that compromises any claims to legitimacy that the Micheletti partisans have been asserting.
Listening to reports and interviews from Honduras via NPR and elsewhere, I cannot help but hear the voices of our own rabid right screaming "I want my country back!" Elections must stand for something, and a coup is a coup.
This latest alleged assault on a foreign Embassy only shows how things can degenerate quickly if we first abandon the rule of Law.
September 25, 2009 6:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
My magic eightball is saying "yes" it's true. The clincher for me was the radio broadcast about cleaning supplies. "Cleaning what?" my mind scolds.
September 25, 2009 6:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
UPDATE 4:
Al Giordano @ NarcoNews finally reports, with some new items - a cell phone jammer found in the embassy and an unknown device next door. Interesting blog, good pix.
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/3460/honduran-coup-regime-mocks-un-security-council-embassy-attacks
September 25, 2009 6:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great catch! This isn't even on Google News yet
September 25, 2009 8:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, they're using this shit on us too!
http://nihilix.blogspot.com/2009/09/robocops-vocals-super-pain-ray.html
"Super Pain Ray" Oh no...
September 25, 2009 8:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Um what? That is an act of war. I would expect the Brazilians to be - literally - up in arms about this.
September 26, 2009 7:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
http://www.xomba.com/tell_me_why_why_cant_i_mix_bleach_and_ammonia
"Household bleach is 5% sodium hypochlorite. Mix it with ammonia and mono- and di-chloramines are formed. These nasty fellows will cause lovely symptoms such as respiratory tract irritation, tearing, and nausea. To make things better, add water to get hydrochloric acid and nascent oxygen- also known as chlorine gas, the chemical weapon of choice of Nazi Germany in World War II- for the added bonus of drowning in your own fluids!"
There is no reason this cannot be done deliberately by the military which could then attempt to explain that away exactly in the way they are. 'Nope we are not using CS in violation of international treaty obligations. Just making a more potent cleaner!"
And the symptoms match pretty well. So we don't have to hypothesize about some military aid package, a little home grown chemical warfare is as close as your home and garden store.
September 26, 2009 10:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
We do need to hypothetise about why Brazil has not made a statement about an attack on its soil.
September 26, 2009 11:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
Bingo. That's what I've been wondering. Of course it was Brazil that pushed for the emergency Security Council meet yesterday, which culminated in issuing a warning to the junta "hands-off the embassy." I think the key word is "harassment" in the UN language - no direct intervention from Brasil.
My hypothesis...all parties are walking on a diplomatic tightrope, every decision wraps around the diminishing probability of the San José Accord.
September 26, 2009 1:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
For the record, ammonia was the other chemical trace that the doctors picked up with their sniffers - the one I couldn't remember in my comment above.
September 26, 2009 1:28 PM | Reply | Permalink