Honduras faces repeat of 2009 coup

HONDURAN presidential challenger Salvador Nasralla alleged ballot fraud and urged protests for Wednesday as troops rolled toward the capital.

Fears of a repeat of the 2009 US-backed coup against president Manuel Zelaya were raised after video posted on social media on Tuesday showed long lines of army trucks carrying soldiers on the road from Sigatepeque to La Esperanza — west of the capital Tegucigalpa.

Counting of votes in Sunday’s presidential election resumed after a mysterious two-day hiatus.

Mr Nasralla’s five-point lead over incumbent Juan Orlando Hernandez rapidly shrank to 24,000 — less than one per cent — with around half a million ballots left to count.

The Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) promised a final result by Wednesday night.

On Tuesday Opposition Alliance candidate Mr Nasralla accused the ruling National Party of Honduras (PNH) of pressuring the TSE, which had called his 45 per cent to 40 per cent lead irreversible days earlier, to steal the election.

He said: "The company hired to give out the results, under pressure from the magistrate president, removed security mechanisms from the data transmission system."

Mr Nasralla called on his supporters to take to the streets to protest the fraud, insisting: “We’ve already won the election.”

“I‘m not going to tolerate this, and as there are no reliable institutions in Honduras to defend us, tomorrow the Honduran people need to defend the vote on the streets.”

PNH National Secretary Juan Zelaya — no relation of the ousted president — called his supporters on to the streets on Tuesday to “defend the triumph,” despite his candidate still trailing at the ballots.

Mr Hernandez succeeded party mate Porfirio Lobo, who took over from Liberal Party congress speaker Roberto Micheletti.

Mr Michelletti was made interim president after the military coup against Manuel Zelaya after he won a referendum to extend the presidential term limit — with a pledge not to seek re-election.

The coup condoned by then-US secretary of state Hillary Clinton with the support of former Republican senator Jim DeMint, a prominent backer of US President Donald Trump.

It was followed by a vicious security crackdown with the murders and disappearances of Zelaya supporters and others, including indigenous campaigner Berta Caceres.

Mr Nasralla has said his supporter Mr Zelaya would have influence in a new government, and his wife and former presidential candidate Xiomara Castro would join his cabinet.

He has also promised to review the siting of a US military air base in the country that Mr Zelaya vowed to convert to civilian use.

The mystery of the Guanches

The origins and language of the indigenous people of the Canary Islands remain a mystery, writes Dr Sabina Goralski Filonov Translation by James Tweedie The guanches, the aboriginals of the Canary Islands whose origin, lost in the mists of time, still arouses intense and passionate debate and great controversy about their origins and the how the seven Canary Islands were populated – which according to some studies occurred between 10,000 and 8,000 years BC. Literally, the word ‘Guan’ means man or person and ‘Chenech’ or ‘Chinet’ is applied to the island of Tenerife, thus meaning a man or inhabitant of Tenerife – although according to Núñez de la Peña, the Spanish named them the Guanchos during the conquest of the islands. But with the passage of time, experts in the subject are questioning whether the word Guanche was used to designate the primitive inhabitants of all the islands in the pre-Hispanic period. The term ‘Guanche’ has also ceased to be applied to the di...

Venezuela condemns MUD silence over terror attack

Venezuela’s foreign minister condemned the opposition and their foreign backers for their silence over Tuesday’s helicopter attack on the capital. At a press conference on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Samuel Moncada said Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) coalition leader Henry Ramos’ only comment on social media was that the attack was “useless.” “Firstly that does not condemn it,” Mr Moncada said. “Secondly it appears he was condemning it because it didn’t have the desired effect, that is to say, that it would blow up the building.” And he asked why fellow Mud leader Henrique Capriles lacked the “moral courage to... repudiate a terrorist act.” The newly-appointed minster and former ambassador to Britain accused fellow members of the Washington-based Organisation of American States of “feigning ignorance” and so protecting the culprits. And he accused sections of the media of portraying the culprit — Police investigator and one-time action film star Oscar Perez — as a “Rambo ...

Los Gigantes Beach Landslide Tragedy - Three Days of Mourning for Victims

SHATTERED IDYLL: Los Guios beach in Los Gigantes in happier times. SANTIAGO del Teide council declared three days of official mourning after two women were killed in a landslide on Los Gigantes beach on November 1. by James Tweedie The local authority announced the period of mourning following an emergency council meeting on Monday November 2, called in response to the tragic deaths of 57-year old British holidaymaker Marion O’Hara and 34-year old Canarian hotel worker Maria Vanesa Arias Romera. Flags at Santiago del Teide town hall were flown at half mast for the period of mourning, and all official functions observed a minute’s silence in memory of the victims. The two women were killed when 130-foot wide stretch of the cliffs above the tiny Los Guios beach collapsed from a height of about 200 feet, burying them beneath rubble up to 15 feet deep, according to a spokesman for the Guardia Civil which was conducting the investigation into the accident. The landslide occurred about 3pm ...

Ex-pats hail extinction of ‘mammoth’ development

Socialists and conservatives unite to defeat CC plan for Las Teresitas beach Protesters outside the town hall SAN ANDREAS residents are celebrating victory after Santa Cruz council voted to deny permission for a controversial development on Las Teresitas beach. by James Tweedie The Association of Friends of Anaga, Las Teresitas and its Coast (Asociacion de Amigos de la Playa de las Teresitas, Anaga y su Litoral), which includes a number of ex-patriots, mounted a demonstration outside Santa Cruz town hall on Friday September 18 to urge opposition councillors to “keep their word” and support a Socialist Party of the Canaries (PSC) motion against the mammoth development. Some wore long paper ‘noses’ and chanted “concejal Pinocho” – councillor Pinocchio – to express their distrust of local politicians. A coalition of small businesses in Anaga, the Friends of the Port group and environmentalists Ben Magec – Ecologistas en Accion also supported the campaign against the scheme...

Venezuelan opposition declares "Zero Hour" for regime change

Venezuela’s opposition declared “Zero Hour” in its putsch against the socialist government on Monday — emboldened by US support. Leaders of the Democratic Unity Roundtable (Mud) coalition gathered for the announcement of their takeover plan a day after their unauthorised referendum seeking a mandate for regime change. National Assembly vice-president and Popular Will (VP) acting leader Freddy Guevara said the Mud-controlled parliament would announce the results of the plebiscite on Tuesday. It asked voters to reject President Nicolas Maduro’s calling of a constitutional reform assembly demand the army support the opposition and back a “national unity government.” But before the announcement of the result Mr Guevara said the national Assembly would form a new government on Tuesday — a move beyond its constitutional powers — along with 1,020 local “Zero Hour committees.” He called a “national general strike” for Thursday while on Friday the assembly would again exceed its powe...

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