Honduras: A Coup in the Making

Saheli Chowdhury

Another coup in the making in Honduras?

The president of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, created a stir when she recently called out a coup in the making against her government. On April 22, the president decried that her government is the victim of “a conspiracy in the making,” which is being plotted by the very same people who had carried out the coup against ex-President Manuel Zelaya in 2009.

Honduras: A Coup in the Making

Guaidó Arrives in Miami With Washington’s Assistance, Denounces Threats but Leaves His Family Behind

Caracas, April 25, 2023 (OrinocoTribune.com)—This Monday, Venezuela’s former deputy Juan Guaidó was escorted by Colombia Migration and US “agents” to the El Dorado airport, from where he flew, before midnight, to the city of Miami, Florida, United States, in a commercial Avianca flight with a ticket provided by the US government, according to statements by Colombian Foreign Minister Alvaro Leyva.

Guaidó Arrives in Miami With Washington’s Assistance, Denounces Threats but Leaves His Family Behind

Related:

Venezuela’s Juan Guaido Lands in US Seeking Refuge:

Colombian authorities said Guaido entered Colombia “irregularly” and escorted him to the airport for a flight to the US, where Guaido’s mother and brother live. The State Department later said American diplomats in Colombia helped bring Guaido to the US.

German ambassador expelled from Chad

German ambassador expelled from Chad

But a Chadian government official told AFP anonymously that N’Djamena blamed the diplomat for “interfering too much” in the “governance of the country”, as well as “remarks tending to divide the Chadians“.

The main opposition leaders have been in exile or in hiding since the bloody repression of a demonstration against the government on 20 October 2022, which officially left 73 people dead, but many more according to NGOs, which also mention “forced disappearances” and “extrajudicial executions”.

Related:

2022 Chadian protests:

Prime Minister Saleh Kebzabo called the protests an “armed insurrection”. He also personally ordered the ban on several opposition parties, claiming they had “led a rebellion in the south and killed people”.

Ukraine May See New ‘Maidan’

Ukraine could be looking at another Maidan

Meanwhile, Zelenskyy’s assurances don’t assuage some veteran observers of the country either. “We have not seen significant enough efforts to address corruption — although perhaps with one important exception,” said a former senior U.S. diplomat who has considerable experience in Ukraine. “I think they really are trying to prevent diversion of any of the massive Western assistance they’re receiving. I believe they do understand the risks, if there were to be a major scandal.”

But the former diplomat said that what struck him in recent meetings with opposition politicians and civil society leaders in Kyiv was how, “on the one hand, they truly appreciate Zelenskyy’s strength as a war leader,” but are “deeply worried also about corruption and his authoritarian style.”

“In their minds, there is going to be a reckoning as soon as the war ends,” he said. “And I think that’s probably going to be true.”

Regime Change Continues: Thousands Rally in Georgia’s Tbilisi Against Government

Thousands of opposition supporters rallied Sunday in the Georgian capital Tbilisi as the Black Sea nation’s government faces mounting accusations of backsliding on democracy.

Demonstrators gathered outside the Georgian parliament for a rally organized by the country’s main opposition force, the United National Movement (UNM), founded by jailed ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili.

Protesters waved Georgian, Ukrainian and European Union flags and held a huge banner that read “For European future.”

Thousands Rally in Georgia’s Tbilisi Against Government

Related:

Regime change proceeds: State Departments sanctions Georgian judges, assassinations feared next

A Front Company and a Fake Identity: How the U.S. Came to Use Spyware It Was Trying to Kill.

A Front Company and a Fake Identity: How the U.S. Came to Use Spyware It Was Trying to Kill.

The secret contract — which The New York Times is disclosing for the first time — violates the Biden administration’s public policy, and still appears to be active. The contract, reviewed by The Times, stated that the “United States government” would be the ultimate user of the tool, although it is unclear which government agency authorized the deal and might be using the spyware. It specifically allowed the government to test, evaluate, and even deploy the spyware against targets of its choice in Mexico.

The secret November 2021 contract used the same American company — designated as “Cleopatra Holdings” but actually a small New Jersey-based government contractor called Riva Networks — that the F.B.I. used two years earlier to purchase Pegasus. Riva’s chief executive used a fake name in signing the 2021 contract and at least one contract Riva executed on behalf of the F.B.I.

The deal unfolded as the European private equity fund that owns NSO pursued a plan to get U.S. government business by establishing a holding company, Gideon Cyber Systems. The private equity fund’s ultimate goal was to find an American buyer for the company.

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