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<h1><b>Live Blog: President Zelaya Has Returned to
Honduras</b></h1><font size=3>Posted by
<a href="http://narcosphere.narconews.com/users/al-giordano">Al
Giordano</a> - September 21, 2009 at 11:58 am<br>
<a href="http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/3439/live-blog-president-zelaya-has-returned-honduras" eudora="autourl">
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/3439/live-blog-president-zelaya-has-returned-honduras<br>
<br>
</a>By Al Giordano<br><br>
<img src="http://narcosphere.narconews.com/userfiles/zelaya1_0.jpeg" width=553 height=369 alt="[]">
<br><br>
The first to break the news in English was the
<a href="http://www.hondurancampesino.org">Honduran Campesino</a>
blog:<br><br>
</font>
<dl>
<dd>Honduran president Manuel Zelaya is in Tegucigalpa…<br><br>
<dd>The United Nations is protecting Mel…<br><br>
</dl><a href="http://www.telesurtv.net/noticias/canal/senalenvivo.php">
TeleSur</a> confirms the report, as does
<a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE58K3JY20090921">
Reuters</a>:<br><br>
<dl>
<dd>"I am here in Tegucigalpa. I am here for the restoration of
democracy, to call for dialogue." he told Honduras' Canal 36
television network.<br><br>
</dl>As occurred during the first hours of the June 28 coup d'etat, the
Internet signals of Channel 36 and Radio Globo are blocked, as is cell
phone service in the capital (I've yet to confirm that there is any
Internet or cell phone access in Tegucigalpa at all right now - it all
appears to be jammed - but we do have reporter Belén Fernández reporting
right this moment from that city and the information blockade will</i> be
broken soon enough.) We can take that extreme of censorship as additional
confirmation that the President has indeed returned and the illegitimate
coup regime is panicking.<br><br>
Developing... We'll update here as we're able to report and confirm
more...<br><br>
Update: 12:08 p.m. Tegucigalpa (2:08 p.m. ET)</b>: TeleSur confirms that
the President is in Tegucigalpa but adds that it cannot confirm reports
that he is in the United Nations building there. It anticipates a press
conference from Zelaya this afternoon...<br><br>
12:24 p.m. Tegucigalpa (2:24 p.m. ET):</b> One of our correspondents just
got an email message from Tegucigalpa which reports that not all</i> cell
phone service is blocked.<br><br>
12:28 p.m.: </b>Via TeleSur: The Spaniard news agency EFE reports that
the President is in the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa.<br><br>
12:29 p.m.:</b> The US State Department confirms that Zelaya is in
Honduras (via
<a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jAkMGKIUDg_ngUiZboxQbYj5_DPwD9ARS7TO0">
AP</a>).<br><br>
12:39 p.m.:</b> The web page of the coup regime's "president"
leads with a loud denial:
<a href="http://www.presidencia.gob.hn/">"Micheletti denies the
presence of 'Mel' in the country."</a> Meanwhile AFP reports that
the Brazilian government has confirmed Zelaya's presence in its Embassy
in Tegucigalpa, according to TeleSur.<br><br>
12:47 p.m.:</b> TeleSur is showing images of uniformed National Police
members, with billy clubs, shields, helmets and guns, surrounding the
zone near the Brazilian Embassy, apparently to close access to the area,
blocking anti-coup demonstrators from entering or leaving. The network is
also broadcasting live images, from Channel 36, of two helicopters
circling over the Embassy.<br><br>
12:51 p.m.:</b> TeleSur reporter Adriana Sívori is now inside</i> the
Brazilian Embassy and confirms President Zelaya's physical presence
there.<br><br>
1:57 p.m.:</b> We now have phone contact with Narco News correspondent
Belén Fernández, who in Tegucigalpa this morning walked into the Radio
Globo headquarters just as the news broke that Zelaya had returned. She's
going to have one hell of a story for us later today.<br><br>
2:04 p.m.:</b> Connecting the dots... The return of Zelaya has all the
markings of a very well coordinated operation by the Honduran civil
resistance and the member countries of the Organization of American
States (OAS). The choice of Brazil's embassy - the Latin American country
with the largest Air Force - pretty much guarantees that the coup regime
can't possibly think it can violate the sovereignty of that space. That
the US State Department confirmed, this morning, that Zelaya is in
Honduras while the coup regime denied it strongly suggests it had advance
knowledge that this would happen today (if not active
participation).<br><br>
This is a textbook example of what we've referred to before as
"dilemma actions." It puts the coup regime on the horns of a
dilemma, in which it has no good options. It can leave Zelaya to put
together his government again from the Brazilian embassy with the active
support of so many sectors of Honduran civil society, or it can try to
arrest the President, provoking a nonviolent insurrection from the people
of the kind that has toppled many a regime throughout history. Minute by
minute, hour by hour, and, soon, day by day, the coup regime is losing
its grip. At some point it will have to choose either to unleash a
terrible violent wave of state terrorism upon the country's own people -
which will provoke all out insurrection in response (guaranteed by
Article 3 of the Honduran Constitution) - or Micheletti and his Simian
Council can start packing their bags and seeking asylum someplace like
Panama. Meanwhile, the people are coming down from the hills to meet
their elected president. This, kind readers, is immediate
history.<br><br>
2:24 p.m.:</b> Some other consequences of today's breaking development:
President Zelaya today erases any of the talk or speculation that he did
not have the courage to put himself at risk in this struggle, which will
also have an emboldening effect on every single individual among the
hundreds of thousands in the civil resistance. The effect is causing all
to think: If he's willing to risk all, then so am I.<br><br>
</i>This move also makes a laughing stock out of Micheletti and his
security forces. Remember our reports about how airfields throughout the
country were blocked by buses and other vehicles, so paranoid was the
regime about Zelaya's potential return? That Zelaya slipped through the
security net demonstrates that the coup regime does not have the control
it claims to have. Micheletti - the usurper dictator - has also helped
elevate his status as a national buffoon with his early claims today that
Zelaya hadn't really returned. He accused the media that reported his
return of lying and of
<a href="http://www.laprensahn.com/Ediciones/2009/09/21/Noticias/Micheletti-acusa-de-terrorismo-mediatico">
"media terrorism."</a> Well, now the same pro-coup newspapers
that reported his tantrum have this photo, taken today, of President
Zelaya and his cabinet members inside the Brazilian Embassy:<br><br>
<img src="http://narcosphere.narconews.com/userfiles/zelayareturns.jpeg" width=552 height=316 alt="[]">
<br><br>
There you have it. Countdown to complete mental breakdown by Micheletti
and his dwindling core of supporters (and, yes, that includes a grouplet
of US expats that have been blogging constant disinformation from
Honduras - their self-delusion and dishonesty to all is now crashing on
the rocks of reality, too).<br><br>
2:56 p.m.:</b> Ivan Marovic - who as a young man played a major role in
strategizing the civil resistance that toppled the Serbian dictator
Milosevic, and who spent a few days in Honduras this summer at the
invitation of the civil resistance - and I just had a chat online about
our observations of what is happening and how it changes everything in
Honduras.<br><br>
With his permission, I'll share with you an excerpt:<br><br>
<dl>
<dd>me</b>: So, let's put ourselves in Micheletti's shoes. What options
does he have at this point?<br><br>
<dd>Ivan</b>: It's a tough one. He can arrest Zelaya, but Zelaya said
he's here to call for dialogue. That would be bad. Micheletti can enter a
dialogue, but then he's screwed.<br><br>
<dd>me</b>: Well, I don't think he can send troops into the Brazilian
Embassy, which is sovereign territory. Brazil has the biggest air force
in Latin America. Brazil is the coordinating nation of the UN security
forces in Haiti...<br><br>
<dd>Ivan</b>: This is important, because with Zelaya in the country, the
momentum has shifted. Stalling doesn't work anymore.<br><br>
<dd>me</b>: It's a textbook "dilemma action."<br><br>
<dd>Ivan</b>: Yes.<br><br>
<dd>me</b>: The regime can either leave him there to reassemble his
government with broad popular support, or it can unleash a wave of
violence and terror, which would provoke all out insurrection. Now that
Zelaya has demonstrated he is willing to risk his own freedom and safety,
that becomes contagious to hundreds of thousands that will decide to do
the same. <br><br>
<dd>Ivan</b>: Yes, this has a big symbolic value. That's why no regime is
afraid of the government in exile. But in the country, that's a different
thing.<br><br>
</dl>It's a game changer, folks.<br><br>
<br><br>
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