Honduran authorities claimed July 27 that Colombia's FARC [2] guerilla organization has financed supporters of ousted President Manuel Zelaya. The National Police say they seized a book and receipts that show payments between $2,500 and $100,000 for officials of the Zelaya government to "spend in El Paraiso," the region on the Nicaraguan border where followers of Zelaya wait for the ousted president's return.
Police spokesman Danilo Orellano told Honduran media that the payments were delivered by a former congressional candidate of the ruling Liberal Party and son of an official of the ousted Zelaya government. He said the money "comes from South America, following [information found in] a computer that was seized from a leader of the FARC... There is a partnership with some people here that lead our country." He added that Zelaya supporters are "directly involved" with the Colombian guerillas "and who receive money from the FARC. I can say this directly." He said the evidence has been turned over to the Public Ministry. (Colombia Reports [3], July 27)
Computers seized from presidential palace
In another likely fabrication, the National Criminal Investigation Directorate (DNIC) on July 17 seized 45 computers from the presidential palace that purportedly contain files with pre-prepared fraudulent results of the referendum on Zelaya's proposed constitutional reform that was to have been held June 28, the day he was ousted. The claim has been aggressively plugged by the John Birch Society's New American [4], and right-wing trolls on Slashdot [5] and World War 4 Report [6]. It received a brief mention in USA Today [7], and more in-depth treatment on Barcelona's Europa Press [8] July 17.
But the Europa Press account includes the following: "One of the government attorneys who took part in the operation this Friday showed the news media an electoral record of the Technical Institute Luis Bográn, of Tegucigalpa, in which...there were 550 paper ballots, of which 450 were affirmative votes for Zelaya's proposal and 30 were against, in addition to 20 blank votes and 30 void ones." Obviously, credible results would have to have returns in the thousands, not hundreds. So whatever the figures on these computer files represent, it is logically something other than what is being portrayed.
See our last post on Honduras [9].
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