Telesur shows it’s criminally low standards of journalism, their report was false…Micheletti has not given an official statement, and will do so tomorrow. Telesur, hasn’t updated it’s website to reflect this. As if it surprises me.

Telesur has announced that Zelaya has accepted Oscar Arias’s seven point document, but reports that the interim government has rejected it. But I won’t believe it until I see it published in a Honduran journal.

The comments attributed to Vilma Morales, part of the Honduran delegation in Costa Rica, are much older than the story. I think this is just poor journalism or worse, deliberate untruth. Rereading her words, in Venezuelan opposition journal El Universal, it seems that there was no “immediate accord” but that negotiations are ongoing.

We’ll know in a few hours.

Oscar Arias has written a seven-point document (pdf) expressing what he believes to be an acceptable compromise between Zelaya and the interim Honduran government. But it does not include the points that Zelaya and Micheletti both said were essential.

It doesn’t allow for the “unconditional” return of Zelaya as president, but places conditions of Mel not seeking any referendum not authorized by the Honduran Constitution, and that Mel will hand over power in January as planned. But, the document allows Zelaya back as president, something which Micheletti has said he will not allow.

It’s up to both sides to see whether they can accept the terms. The interim government has the most to lose in this. But I doubt very much that Chávez will accept these points. Chávez doesn’t want Zelaya returned only to leave power in January as the constitution states. No way! That would be a terrible defeat for his autocratic leaders. Zelaya would have to act independently of Chávez in order to accept this deal, in which Zelaya wins but Chávez and his cronies lose.

Micheletti’s government, on the other hand, would be severely punished by Mel if he returns. If the situation with Chimirri shows us anything about Mel, it is that he doesn’t care about the law, but about loyalty. Smells like the Mafia, right? I wouldn’t want to be part of the government at that moment. The vendetta would be brutal.

I think, with some reticence, that we should accept the terms. But I don’t think Michelleti will, and I don’t blame him.

Below is a translation of the document, taken from the copy that was published by El Heraldo.

Proposal of the President of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias, to Solve the Crisis in Honduras

1. The legitimate restitution of José Manuel Zelaya Rosales in the Presidency of the Republic, charge in which he will remain until the end of the constitutional period for which he was elected, that concludes January 27 of next year, date in which he will had over power to the candidate designated freely and democratically by the people, in elections supervised and recognized by the international community.
2. The conformation of a party of unity and reconciliation, composed of representatives from the main political parties.
3. The declaration of a general amnesty exclusively for the all the political crimes committed because of this conflict, before and after the last 28 of July.
4. The express renouncement of president Zelaya, and of his government, of the pretension of placing a ‘fourth urn’ in the next elections, or to conduct any popular consultation not expressly authorized by the Constitution of the Republic of Honduras.
5. The moving forward of national elections from the 29th of November to the last Sunday in October, and the moving forward of the beginning of the electoral campaign from the first days of September, to the first days of August.
6. The transfer of the command of the armed forces to the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, a month before the elections, to effect a guarantee of transparency and normalcy of the suffrage, according to the terms of the Constitution of the Republic of Honduras.
7. The integration of a verification commission composed of notable Hondurans and members of international organizations, specially, by representatives of the Organization of American States, guarding that these accords are carried out, and supervising a correct return to constitutional order.

Image by J. Vargas, used with a Creative Commons license

Journalism in the world is a cesspool of corruption. The media sell “truth” to the highest bidder. There is no such thing as impartial journalism, sadly. The supposed suppression of opposing media in Honduras is reality a shutdown of people who had sold their ethics and were simply repeating what they were hired to say. There is ample evidence of the dishonesty of Zelaya’s government in this.

Yesterday the district attorney of Tegucigalpa uncovered a call center designed to fabricate “popular support” for Mel Zelaya’s referendum. There were fiber optic cables, telephones, recorders there. On the desks were scripts with the messages operators were to say, pretending to be supporters of Zelaya. The operators had false names, and false places where they were supposed to be from. The center employed 80 people, and operational costs were over half a million lempiras a month. The contract for the rent of the place was signed by ex-minister Enrique Flores Lanza.

What were these people doing? Calling every radio and TV station in favor of Mel Zelaya, to create the illusion of popular support. They were also leaving comments in all major news outlets in favor of Mel Zelaya. Direct shameless media manipulation.

Reporters Sans Frontières has issued a report of the attacks on the media during the crisis. People on both sides of the political equation appear on the list. Respected El Heraldo cartoonist Allan McDonald is in hiding, for instance. Esdras Amado Lopez, which was implicated in a YouTube scandal months ago which an anonymous contributer named “Juana Pueblo&rdquo exposed, among other things, that the government was paying journalists to “tone down” comments when Marcelo Chimirri was being accused of corruption.

The video above is one of those recordings. The rest can be found in Juana Pueblo’s Youtube channel. It preserves the conversation between now deposed president Mel Zelaya and current interim president Roberto Micheletti, a few years ago. In the conversation, Micheletti counsels Zelaya to “denounce” Chimirri, although he admits Chimirri was Zelaya’s friend.

Chávez is using the corrupt media to pollute democracy so much, that it is now in the name of democracy that he fights against true freedom. We need to defend ourselves by discerning truth from error, and not throwing ourselves at the mercy of rants reminiscent of Orwell’s two minutes hate. No media outlet is deserves our trust, whatever their political slant. Saldy, we need to rescue as many people of possible from the illusion that what they see on television, or read in the newspaper is the truth.

A new article on the Los Angeles Times, shows how the world got the Honduras crisis all wrong. From the article:

These leaders had nothing to inform their decisions but fuzzy idealism, ideological prejudices, assorted self-interests and profound ignorance of realities on the ground in Honduras.