TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2009
US Representative at OAS calls Zelaya return “irresponsible!”
Call the State Department to set them straight!
At the Organization of American States today, the Obama administration appears to have given a clear signal to the coup government that it now has a free hand to do what it wants. Call the State Department and the White House to tell them that Zelaya had every right to return to his country and the U.S. must condemn the violent repression by the coup regime.
Below is a translation of a Notimex article about Lewis Amselem's speech at the OAS and below that are two sample messages to convey to the State Department and/or President Barak Obama.
Call the White House comment line at 202-456- 1111 or write President Barack Obama.
Call the State Department at 202-647-4000 and ask for the comment line.
US Accuses Zelaya of Aggravating the Honduran Crisis
Notimex in Washington
To read original in Spanish, click here.
Monday, Sept. 28, 2009
The United States today accused deposed President of Honduras Manuel Zelaya of aggravating the institutional crisis in his country since his return and demanded that he stop "making sanctionable statements."
The US reprimand before the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) contrasted with the condemnation by a majority of member countries of the recent methods adopted by the defacto Honduran government.
Lewis Amselem, interim representative of the United States at the OAS said that the return of Zelaya to Honduras "had not served" diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis resulting from the June 28 coup which deposed him from power.
"The return was irresponsible," said Amselem, who extended that criticism to the countries that permitted the return last week of Zelaya, who has taken refuge in the Embassy of Brazil in Tegucigalpa.
"Zelaya and those that facilitated his return are responsible for the actions of his followers," said the diplomat, who avoided any reference to a return to power by the former president.
End of article.
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Call the White House comment line at 202-456- 1111 or write President Barack Obama.
Call the State Department at 202-647-4000 and ask for the comment line.
Below are two sample message for you to modify for your own use!
First sample message:
"The US representative to the OAS, Lewis Amselem, has made statements today that appear to support the coup and deny the right of President Zelaya to return to his country to lead a movement to remove the illegal coup government. Negotiations have been spectacularly ineffective in this case and the people of Honduras certainly have a right to revolt to put their elected leader back in his office. With our history of revolution for our independence from the British crown, how could we say differently? My fear is that your advisors are listening too closely to the rich oligarchy of Honduras who have kept the poor of that country down for so long. Please do not make their recommendations the basis for our policy. Listen instead to the many movements that are working to return President Zelaya to office."
Second sample message:
"For the US ambassador to the OAS to blame violence in Honduras on democratically elected President Zelaya is morally reprehensible and politically counterproductive if we want to recover our stature in the world. I demand that that Ambassador Amselem be reprimanded and that President Obama make a clear statement condemning the coup government's human rights abuses and demanding the return of constitutional order to Honduras with President Zelaya returned to office without conditions. To blame the violence in Honduras on the people struggling to restore democracy is like blaming the victim of domestic violence for forcing her husband to hit her. Today, I am ashamed of my government."
To read more about Louis Amselem, go here.
To read previous action alerts on Honduras, click here.
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