DeMint Honduras Trip Planned In Defiance Of U.S. Policy
source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/02/demint-honduras-trip-plan_n_307632.html
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/02/demint-honduras-trip-plan_n_...
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — A U.S. senator and three congressmen plan to meet Friday with Honduras' interim leader in defiance of official Washington policy barring contact with the architects of the military coup that ousted the nation's president.South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint intends to meet with interim President Roberto Micheletti as well as members of the Central American nation's Supreme Court, election officials and business and civic leaders during the fact-finding trip, said Wesley Denton, a spokesman for the senator.
The visit comes as President Barack Obama's administration seeks to isolate the interim government and use other forms of pressure – including suspending aid and canceling the visas of some members of the country's wealthy elite – in hopes of returning ousted President Manuel Zelaya to serve the remaining months of his term.
DeMint, one of a number of U.S. conservatives who have defended Zelaya's ouster on June 28 in Central America's first coup in more than a decade, supports the interim government plan to hold elections Nov. 29.
"The best solution to the crisis in Honduras is free and fair democratic elections that allow the Honduran people to decide their own future," DeMint said in a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press.
The international community has made it clear that the vote will not be recognized unless Zelaya is reinstated.
Zelaya was ousted after he ignored Supreme Court orders to halt efforts to revamp the constitution. His opponents argue that he intended to extend his time in power – a charge that Zelaya denies. He has been holed-up in the Brazilian Embassy with dozens of supporters since sneaking back into the country on Sept. 21.
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/02/demint-honduras-trip-plan_n_307632.html
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RyanBWylie
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To meet with the coup government is a treason to democracy. It also seems a continuation of the GOP denying who is president. He won on the platform of bridging divides and nonpartisanship but what he didn't realize was just how unwilling the other side of the isle was to this practice. They are truly the party of 'NO!' these days - but this is too far. And what are the democrats going to do about it...? I hope not continue to appease and pander. time for ACTION.
- 3 years ago
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RyanBWylie
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neocongo
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This is jaw dropping for a member of the minority party to so utterly disregard the president and majority's intentions on matters of foreign policy. I want to say it is unprecedented. It clearly is a partisan maneuver, but is it also a case of "I'll be damned if some uppity negra is going to tell me what to do?"
- 3 years ago
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neocongo
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bansheewail
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No means no. Who does he think he is, Mark Sanford? Joe Wilson? Strom Thurmond? ......Nevermind.
For weeks, DeMint has held up a critical Senate vote on Arturo Valenzuela, Obama's choice to be assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, and Thomas A. Shannon Jr., the nominee to be ambassador to Brazil
As head of the Foreign Relations Committee, Kerry can withhold committee funds for travel and deny permission for the use of military aircraft. But he had never before used that power to block another senator's travel, his aides said.
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) denounced Kerry's move on the Senate floor and sought the intervention of the minority leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). The Republican leader appealed to the Defense Department to provide an aircraft for DeMint's trip and the Pentagon agreed to do so, according to the South Carolina senator's office.
The statement, issued by Kerry's spokesman, Frederick Jones, added that when DeMint allows a vote on the appointment of the two diplomats, "the Committee will approve his travel to Honduras."
More Obstructionism.
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- 3 years ago
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bansheewail
