Commander Cowboy

Ex-president Manuel Zelaya, known as "Mel" in Honduras and as "Commander Cowboy" by cohort Chavez. Supporters of Mel are the US "left," Hugo Chavez, Daniel Ortega, Evo Morales, the UN General Assembly, Secretary Clinton, and the Castro brothers, etc.

Zelaya, a wealthy landowner/businessman and rancher from Olancho is a latino Dubya. Like Dubya, Mel's daddy, Manuel Sr., was also politically, shall we say involved, and supportive of the military's la Talanquera" massacre in the 1970s.

Commander Cowboy's ouster is said to be over the issue of tweaking or drafting a new constitution. That is what most "leftist" presidents do once in office (see Hugo). The US "left," and others, justify Mel's action as necessary because the Honduran constitution was written in 1982 - when Ronnie Reagan was US president. On the surface, that's ill-logic, but the intent is to say any constitution written when a republican was US president must be bad because the Hondurans were writing only to please their US oppressors.

Not really, but for "left" sheeple it somehow "connects the dots" - what the "left" really means is those poor foreign brown folks can only run their country correctly when they want what the "left" wants.

In the US or Latin America, or anywhere - the best way to get elected is to convince the voters you "cares about the poor." Some day maybe enough folks at the same time will realize it's not a question of left or right - but of which self-serving bonehead will rule us next, and hopefully not rule us for 50 years as in the left's best friend, Senor Castro.

Nicaragua in the 1980s, one among many, used the US constitution as a guideline when writing their constitution for a pluralistic representative democracy. So, while the US "left" has ranted for years about BushCo's abuse of their beloved Constitution - the same constitutional guidelines are not good enough for others? Go figure.

Zelaya's ploy to rewrite the constitution is illegal and represents high treason according to the Honduran constitution. I'm certain the "left" in America would weep and gnash teeth had Reagan or BushCo attempted a rewrite of the US constitution.

And what good would a leftist/progressive be if they couldn't also throw out there that someone in the current Honduran situation was trained at the notorious School of the Americas? General Romeo Vasquez is now in charge of the armed forces!!

Excuse me stupid, but Vasquez was sacked by Zelaya on June 25, 2009, for refusing to allow the armed forces to help in conducting a referendum on a constitutional change. Apparently Zelaya was content with Vasquez services until such time. Vasquez says he refused to help with the vote which was aimed at removing the constitutional term limit of one term per President because the Supreme Court had ruled the vote illegal. The same day Vasquez was fired he was reinstated by the SC but Zelaya ignored the ruling. And by the way, Zelaya is not a "leftist" no matter how hard the "left" tries to embrace him - hug him all you want but Commander Cowboy is not and never will be a member of the "left."

The SOA - the School of Assassins. If you ask me Yale and Harvard and a few others can produce questionable political/military characters. In my life in Central America I too meme'ed the message that the SOA grads were US puppets used for torture, terror, death ... in the fight against communism.

But having personally known a few grads the above rhetoric is no more true than stating the US troops are raping murdering grunts. There are good guys and bad guys. There are SOA grads working to improve the situation in their country. Lumping a group of people under one label is typical of folks who are too lazy and/or too ignorant to do their own research and thinking. Easier to believe the rhetoric written by those who have no honest interest in human rights or democracy, but in power. Those who control the message, hold the power. Some of the Russian and Cuban military training methods I saw in Central America in the '80s were no different than the US. Believe it or not, death and destruction are not the sole property of the US rightwing.

Never mind that the Honduran "coup" is more or less a done deal. Roberto Micheletti, acting president, was legal in line of succession and is supported by the Honduran high court, the military, the Congress, the people. The Honduran AG has said Commander Cowboy faces arrest and 20 years in prison for abuse of authority if he returns anytime soon.

On a brighter note, Mel and friends (Morales, Ortega, Chavez, Correa) are in earnest discussions on how to save Honduras from the deathgrip of US oppression. (I must say Correa is a handsome man and sharp dresser in this foto.)