Honduras Prez JOH Slammed by Bipartisan Congressional Group for Corruption While UNSG Supports Him

By Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon, Thread VideoHonduras - The Source - The Root - etc

SDNY COURTHOUSE, Jan 19 – After Honduras' president's brother was convicted of drug trafficking in a trial that showed the president receiving $1 million from El Chapo, now on January 19 this from Washington DC:

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot L. Engel (D-NY) as well as Lead Republican Michael McCaul (R-TX) along with Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere, Civilian Security and Trade Chairman Albio Sires (D-NJ) and Ranking Member Francis Rooney (R-FL), issued the following statement condemning Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández’s decision not to extend the Mission to Support the Fight against Corruption and Impunity in Honduras (MACCIH): 

“With the stroke of a pen, President Juan Orlando Hernández had the opportunity to extend MACCIH – the mechanism put in place to strengthen Honduras’s capacity to address systemic corruption. Unfortunately, President Hernández chose not to exercise his authority and allowed MACCIH to expire. We strongly condemn this decision.  “Corruption in Honduras has had a corrosive effect on the country and remains a key driver of migration to the United States. The Honduran people are the ones who will suffer the most from this ill-advised decision. We stand with them and support their right to live in a country whose government respects the rule of law and holds corrupt actors accountable. We remain committed to the fight against corruption in Honduras and will continue to support civil society-led efforts.” 

In July, the four House leaders sent a letter to President Hernández urging a clean extension of MACCIH, and they reiterated this message in December.

  Meanwhile UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, himself corrupt, praised JOH in September 2019 and has refused each and every question from banned Inner City Press about it, and his previous support of JOH, since. It is Guterres who should be in jail.

One of El Chapo's many bribees, former Mexican minister Genaro Garcia Luna, was arraigned and detained on January 3 in Brooklyn in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Inner City Press, which covered the SDNY trial of Tony Hernandez, the brother of Honduras' president Juan Orlando Hernandez whose campaign was shown to be funded by El Chapo, was in Brooklyn for this arraignment and files this report. (Podcast here, Periscopes I, II & III).

   Garcia Luna was brought in from the holding cell, wearing a grey sweatshirt and waving to a handful of supports in the Arraignments Courtroom gallery. He is retaining his own counsel, but there were not able to be present on January 3. Cesar de Castro, whose work Inner City Press has covered in the SDNY, appeared for arraignment only. Judge Peggy Kuo said that if Garcia Luna wants a publicly-funded lawyer going forward, he will have to file a financial affidavit.

  That seems unlikely. Assistant US Attorney Erin Reid said Garcia Luna has amassed riches which make him a flight risk. No bond package was presented, so Garcia Luna was detained on consent. His next appearance is on January 21 at 9:45 am before Judge Brian Cogan. Inner City Press will remain on this case - and on that of JOH and UN Antonio Guterres, who has hidden his spending including of El Chapo funds, as well as links to SDNY convicted UN briber CEFC China Energy. Guterres bans and censors the Press to conceal his links: but for immunity, a crime. Or crimes.

  UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has refused to answer Inner City Press' questions about his meeting(s) with JOH, and about a four person panel he sent to the country to support JOH.

  Inner City Press even before the verdict as the UN Spokespeople Stephane Dujarric and Melissa Fleming in writing, "October 18-1: On Honduras on which you have refused to answer or respond to Inner City Press' as it covers in SDNY the US v Tony Hernandez trial which continues jury deliberations today and has asked you why SG Guterres did not even bring up corruption and drug trafficking when he met president Juan Orlando Hernandez, 1) please immediately describe activities of the UN system and resident coordinator / representative on JOH's current terms and 2) what now are Guterres' belated comments and actions if any on that last night JOH's National Party majority in the Honduran parliament passed a law making itslef immune, and that Honduran police dispersed hundreds of demonstrators with tear gas on Wednesday in Tegucigalpa who demanded the resignation of President Juan Orlando Hernandez, suspected by the American courts of collaborating with the drug traffickers?"

  No answer all all.

 The trial began with a bang on October 2 with the charge that already life imprisoned El Chapo Guzman gave the defendant $1 million for this brother, the president. On October 7, sworn witness Alex Ardon described the meeting, with both El Chapo and Tony Hernandez present and the cash in plastic bags, see thread and see below.

The trial is before U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge P. Kevin Castel and Inner City Press is live tweeting it. See also Patreon here

 And here the post arrest statement as so far put in to the jury, as uploaded to YouTube by Inner City Press, here. The case is US v. Diaz Morales, 15-cr-00379 (Castel).

Inner City Press will continue to cover this and other SDNY and 2nd Circuit cases - watch this site, and there is more on Patreon, here.

UNSG Guterres Tried To Have Press Thrown Out of Synagogue Before His Speech No Answer on Why Or Missionary Killed

By Matthew Russell Lee, Audio, Video

PARK EAST SYNAGOGUE, October 31 – In the wake of the murders at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Inner City Press went to cover a memorial event at Manhattan's Park East Synagogue. As it stood in line with others to be screened, the UN Security detail of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, one of the speakers, pointed out Inner City Press. One heard audibly into the microphone in his ear, "He's going in." 

But once in, Inner City Press was told to go up to the balcony with the rest of the media including photographers. It was setting up its recording equipment when a non-UN security man told it to follow up. In the basement he said, "Go," opening a door out to 67th Street. Inner City Press asked why. Audio here. The security man reached over and turn off Inner City Press' recorder. Ultimately when Inner City Press demonstrated what it writes and streams about, the office -- Shay Amir, head of security - allowed Inner City Press back to the balcony.  Inner City Press photos of two of Guterres' Security involved in this censorship here. Inner City Press from the balcony, before noon, e-mailed questions to Guterres spokesman Stephane Dujarric, Alison Smale who told UNSR David A. Kaye questions would be answered, Deputy Amina J. Mohammed and others: "October 31-1: Immediately explain the basis on which SG Guterres' Security tried to get Park East Synagogue head of security Shay Amir to have Inner City Press removed from his speech about tolerance." Hours later, the UN refused to answer this question, and one on the missionary killed by Cameroon, while send a single canned answer on Sri Lanka. Also at the event were, among others, Bronx congressman Engel, US Deputy Ambassador David Cohen, Israel's Danny Danon. Guterres has yet to speak or have his spokesman Stephane Dujarric answer Inner City Press' question about Cameroon killing missionary Charles Wesco, despite promises by UN USG Alison Smale to UNSR David Kaye that questions would be answered. What has the UN become, under Guterres?

The UN maintains a secret list of people banned from entering its premises. On October 24 while barring Inner City Press from events on Burundi, Syria and Cameroon, UN Security Inspector Matthew Sullivan said the list would not be provided to Inner City Press as it is an "internal document." He returned to brag that the UN spoke with and even affirmatively called NYPD - the NY Police Department to which Inner City Press directed a Freedom of Information Law request about their knowledge of and collusion with the UN's barred list -- presumably to hinder the release of any information, or to retalate. Video here. Things are getting worse and worse at Antonio Guterres' UN. Inner City Press has appealed to both the Mayor's Office including International Affairs' Penny Abeywardena and to NYPD, through the OpenRecords portal it like all New Yorkers is directed to, thusly: "As a journalist banned even today from the UN - told that I am on the no due process "barred" list that is one of the subjects of this FOIL request I requested and am requesting expedited processing of -
Today UN Security Inspector Matthew Sullivan in barring me from events on Burundi and Syria said that the UN was called by and called the New York City government, presumably about this request and to impede or delay any response. He called the UN barred list an "internal document." This is contrary to US Constitutional (and international human) rights - but the purpose of this interim appeal is in this new light to demand expedited response of all records in your possession about this list, to avoid or mitigate collusion in the violation of an American (and New York) journalist's First Amendment rights. For your information, and in support of this appeal, UN Inspector Sullivan bragging about impeding this FOIL request is now online here. Please confirm receipt, respond to this appeal and provide the responsive documents asap. -Matthew Lee, Inner City Press." In further Kafka-esque response, while the NYPD response said to that portal "to view additional information and take any necessary action," now NYPD's Records Access Officer Richard Mantellino says "Please be advised that this email cannot accept FOIL requests and/or respond to inquiries or matters related to such." So who should we ask - the UN's Matthew Sullivan? Antonio Guterres? Watch this site? Even the Security officers who enforce the ban are not told the reason why a person is on the list: whether it was for actual violence, or writing articles questioning the Secretary General Antonio Guterres' misuse of public funds, for example. One told Inner City Press the secret list includes "demonstrators" and "political activists," audio here. Since the City of New York works with the UN including this banned list which includes New York City journalists, Inner City Press in mid October 2018 submitted a request under the Freedom of Information Law - but the Office of Mayor Bill de Blasio and his Mayor's Office of International Affairs under Penny Abeywardena are trying to delay response for SIX MONTHS until April 2019. Here is the request: "On behalf of Inner City Press and in my personal capacity this is a request under FOIL for all records in the possession of the NYC Office of the Mayor including the Mayor’s Office for International Affairs (MOIA; collectively OOM) regarding the exclusion of persons in the last three years from premises of the United Nations, in and around First Avenue and 42-48th Streets in Manhattan, including of NYC residents including journalists. This is also a request for all records in the same time period of the review, suspension or revocation of pistol permits for any UN personnel including but not limited to UN Department of Safety and Security personnel and the grounds therefore. To assist you in identifying and producing the responsive records on an expedited basis, I personally was physically ousted from the UN by UN DSS Lieutenant Ronald Dobbins and another unnamed on 3 July 2018 as I staked out and covered, as a journalist, the UN Budget Committee meetings. On 4 July 2018 I filed a report at the NYPD's 17th Precinct, despite being told - erroneously I now believe, including based on how my First Amendment rights have been impacted - that all UN personnel have total immunity. The report number is #2018-017-2848. See also, The UK Independent, here. On 5 July 2018 when I went to the UN to continue my work as a journalist I was told I am “banned.” I have since been told that the UN has a “current and active barred notice” against me, that there is a banned list that includes “demonstrators” and “political activists.” I am still banned today, after 104 days. See also, https://pressfreedomtracker.us/all-incidents/independent-journalist-matt-lee-forcibly-removed-un-stripped-press-credentials/ and https://www.cjr.org/the_profile/reporter-expelled-un.php I find this deeply troubling and worth of urgent Press coverage. This request includes but is not limited to all records related to the above, related to any knowledge by OOM including MOIA of any UN “banned” list and how it is compiled, and what due process protections if any are in place, etc. Also any knowledge by OOM including MOIA of any disciplinary measures taken against UN Security officers or other personnel, at least for the past three years. I am also requesting any record in your possession referring to "Inner City Press" for the past ten years, with the past three years to be provided on an expedited basis. I am requesting expedited process and a waiver of fees - Inner City Press is a non profit news organization that educated the public about the operations of government(s) and routinely receives fee waivers from agencies at the Federal, state and local level." And here is the response, to which we are preparing an appeal: "The Mayor's Office (OOM) has acknowledged your FOIL request... You can expect a response on or about Friday, April 26, 2019.

Additional Information:
Due to the volume of requests that we have received, we now estimate that we will be able to provide you with a response on or before the above date." Disgusting. We will have more on this.

  Guterres or apparently his head of Global Communications Alison Smale, if only as a proxy, can put a journalist on the list without any review, any notice, any appeal. It is a dictator's dream come true.

   Inner City Press was physically ousted twice by Guterres' UN Security this summer as it reported on his now-15 flights to his home in Lisbon with public funds, his trading away of Cameroon human rights abuses for favors in the Budget Committee, and now his son Pedro's undisclosed business links in Africa. Smale on August 17, without once speaking to me covering the UN for Inner City Press for 11 years, withdrew my media accreditation.

  But it's gone further than that. For example, on October 11 I showed up for a film screening about sex trafficking, “Love Sonia,” to which I had been invited by the UN Office of Drugs and Crimes. UNODC's New York director personally put me on the list for a post screening reception and came and met me and took me to the UN gate to sign me in, since my ticket - which she said she'd seen - mysteriously disappeared.

  UN Security refused to allow the NY director of UNODC to sign me in. “Even if he had a ticket we'd have to check,” one officer said. I was told that a supervisor would come out, and that UNODC would speak to them. But after one hour it never happened. Guterres' chief of staff Maria Luiza Viotti left the building and I audibly told her, I'm invited but I'm being blocked. She did not even break stride.

  The UN has given me nothing in writing that I am banned. Guterres' spokesman has stated it as a fact, without explanation or rationale, on October 9 and 11, while refusing to answer my e-mailed questions despite Smale's promise they would be answered to supposedly respect my "journalistic endeavours." 

   Another UN Security officer told me, No one is going to help you. You are on the list. I asked him, who else is on the list? He mentioned “demonstrators” and "political activists" and others. Audio here. 

  Tellingly, NOT on Guterres' banned list are those who pleaded guilty to UN bribery for example in the Ng Lap Seng - John Ashe case. They are not banned by Guterres, UNlike the journalist who most closely covered those convictions, and the current UN bribery case of Patrick Ho and the China Energy Fund Committee. Guterres is fine with bribery, but bans those who investigate and expose it.

UNSG Guterres thinks he can ban people without no notice, no due process, no review? And that it won't be noticed or reviewed? Watch this site.

After UN's Ban Ki-moon Dodges on Cholera in Haiti, 77 in US Congress Write to Him, Questions

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 23 -- After UN Secretary General dodged legal papers in one of the cases about UN Peacekeeping having brought cholera to Haiti, now 77 members of the US Congress have written to Ban:

"In the interests of securing justice for the victims and impacted communities as well as strengthening the UN’s leadership as a champion for human rights, we urge you to act immediately to establish a settlement mechanism through which victims and their families may seek relief and the country can move forward with the water and sanitation infrastructure it so desperately needs. Unless and until the UN honors the fundamental right to access justice, the issue of UN accountability in Haiti will remain."

  Inner City Press on December 23 asked Ban Ki-moon's spokesman Stephane Dujarric about the December 18 letter. Video here. He said, on camera, he didn't know about it. Inner City Press pointed out it is on Rep. John Conyers' web site - and if UN can't find it, here it is.

 The members of Congress signing the letter to Ban include John Conyers, Barbara Lee, James P. McGovern, Raul Grijalva, Donald Payne, Alan Grayson, John Lewis, Zoe Lofgren, Corrine Brown, Maxine Waters, Danny Davis, Bobby Rush, Jose Serrano, Gregory Meeks, Brad Sherman, Eliot Engel, Shiela Jackson Lee, Keith Ellison, Chaka, Fattah, Lloyd Doggett, Carolyn Maloney, Henry Waxman, Elijah Cummings, Al Green, Yvette Clark, Charles Rangell, Alcee Hastings, Jan Schakowsky, Adam Schiff, William Lacy Clay, Stephen Lynch and Michael Michaud, among others.
   
When Ban last held a press conference, it seemed clear that he had question(s) in advance, click here and here for that. But Inner City Press and the Free UN Coalition for Access will be asking -- and following up on what is now becoming a UN cover up of its peacekeepers shooting at democracy demonstrators on December 12 and blocking the camera of media trying to cover it. Video here, from 0:18; a second video is here. Now who will be help accountable?

  On December 16, for the second day in a row, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric, whether the peacekeeper filmed shooting a pistol and pushing back a cameraman -- like his boss Ladsous -- had been interviewed yet.
 
 Dujarric would not answer even this, saying he will only speak when he hears from MINUSTAH. Video here. 


This might be called a cover up, or a hope it goes away -- even as Ban Ki-moon, in tuxedo, goes to the ball of his UN Censorship Alliance where an award about Haiti will be given out, with no answers on shooting protesters there.

  Back on December 15, Inner City Press also asked UN Spokesman Dujarric about the incident, which the UN mission MINUSTAH has said it is investigating itself. Dujarric repeated this, adding that he didn't want to "pre-judge." Video here. But MINUSTAH's short press statement already characterized as "violent" the demonstrators that were shot at.

 Dujarric said they'd have to see if the peacekeeper felt threatened. Video here. After the web-cast UN noon briefing, Inner City Press was contacted by viewers who noted this subjective idea of an armed authority feeling threatened is that invoked in the cases of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri and Eric Garner on Staten Island in New York.

  As on its impunity for bringing cholera to Haiti, the UN is on strange and untenable ground in seeking to justify shooting at unarmed people. And the head of UN Peacekeepering Herve Ladsous is conveniently in former French colony Senegal during all this.

 UN Peacekeeping's chief is Herve Ladous, and tellingly he himself tried to block the camera of the Press, right inside the UN, in September 2014. Vine here.


When a subordinate carries out the same act as his or her ultimate supervisor publicly did, it is  case of command responsibility. So who should be held accountable is known - but will it happen?

  Back on December 2, Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric about MINUSTAH and protests:

Inner City Press: I wanted to ask you about Haiti, since there's the Mission there.  There have been protests about the failure to hold elections and they've been put down by police.  I wanted to know, first, whether there's been any MINUSTAH [United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti] involvement; and also what the Mission's thinking is as the 12 January deadline imposes when the Government will be dissolved and Mr. [Michel] Martelly will rule by decree.  Is that the fact?  And what’s the UN doing?

Spokesman Dujarric:  I don't believe there's been… I don't believe there's been any involvement of MINUSTAH in the demonstrations.  Obviously, it's important that people have the right to demonstrate peacefully and it's up to the authorities to ensure that right is respected.  The political situation in Haiti obviously remains a concern.  It is one that we're following closely.

   So what happened December 2 ("no involvement of MINUSTAH") and December 12 - MINUSTAH shooting into the crowd? Inner City Press has asked Dujarric about the UN's rules of engagement, so far without answer.

   With questions unanswered, UN Peacekeeping under Herve Ladsous had the gall on the afternoon of December 13 to rebroadcast MINUSTAH self-congratulations that ignored its filmed shooting at protesters and threatening media. Inner City Press initially asked the UN Spokesman:

"What were the rules of engagement? Who gave the order to use pistol(s) and, separately, tear gas? What is the UN's understanding of injuries caused? What was the role, and is the comment, of the Under Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations Herve Ladsous?"

  Inner City Press twice, in two media, asked for an explanation or comment from the UN Spokesman, and Saturday afternoon received this:

"The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti, (MINUSTAH), has been informed of an alleged excessive use of force, while responding to violent demonstrators targeting law enforcement personnel supporting the Haitian National Police (HNP) and causing injuries and destruction of property, during the demonstration in Port-au-Prince today. The Mission takes this allegation very seriously and immediately opened an investigation to establish the facts."

  Artfully, or inartfully, the MINUSTAH statement does not state that it is the UN's own alleged (filmed) excessive use of force - so is the UN investigating itself? We've asked the UN Spokesperson and weekend duty officer this:

Because the MINUSTAH statement leaves it unclear, can you confirm that it is the UN's own “alleged excessive use of force” that the UN is now investigating?

What is the time frame for the investigation?

Who is doing the investigation? MINUSTAH's human rights unit?

Can to state now that the results of the investigation will be made public?

Since the MINUSTAH statement expresses conclusions about the demonstrators (“violent,” “and causing injuries and destruction of property”) please provide similar preliminary findings as to UN Peacekeepers' action shown on this video:http://youtu.be/38owUZrNHzA

   Hours later, no answer, even as the second video emerged. Others in the UN system have been asked; we'll have more on that.

   Inner City Press has also sought comment from prospective UN-related awardee Andrea Bocelli, slated to accept without reference to the UN bringing cholera or now shooting into crowds there an award from the UN's Censorship Alliance next week -- and continues to await response.

  The MINUSTAH mission has just published this: "MINUSTAH has been informed of an alleged excessive use of force, while responding to violent demonstrators targeting law enforcement personnel supporting the Haitian National Police (HNP) and causing injuries and destruction of property, during the demonstration in Port-au-Prince today. The Mission takes this allegation very seriously and immediately opened an investigation to establish the facts."

  But UN Peacekeeping under Herve Ladsous is already accused of cover-ups. This MINUSTAH statement doesn't even say against whom the allegations are.

  Inner City Press, before the December 12 protests and footage of the UN firing into them, asked the UN Office of the Spokesperson about the failure to hold elections, and if the MINUSTAH mission was involved in cracking down on demonstrations. On the latter, the answer given then was no.

  Now, this video, by Le Nouvelliste. Who will be held accountable? UN Peacekeeping is run by Herve Ladsous, a former French diplomat and spokesman during the ouster of Aristide. We will have more on this.

The day after the injustice of the UN's impunity for bringing cholera to Haiti was the subject of a religious service across First Avenue from the UN, photo here, Inner City Press asked the UN's spokesman Stephane Dujarric, video here:

Inner City Press:  About Haiti.  There was — yesterday afternoon, almost at the same time as the Ebola press conference, there was a religious ceremony held across the street of the Church Centre by both Haitians that live in New York who have had family members killed by cholera and also UN staff who feel that the UN policy of not directly addressing the claims for the families that were victims of the cholera is unjust.  I wanted to know if you were aware of that, if you have any response to it?

Spokesman:  I personally was not aware.  I think you know that the legal position of the UN as to this case is not, has not changed.  That being said, the UN continues to be very involved jointly with the Government of Haiti to work on the cholera issue in Haiti, to work on rebuilding the sanitation system, and I think the Secretary-General in his visit to Haiti in — over the summer, right?  In July, in mid-July, excuse me, in mid-July, I think, you know, went to one of the impacted village, prayed with the families and showed his empathy to the victims.

Inner City Press:  I understand that.  I don't think — people see the Secretary-General trying to raise funds for water and sanitation going forward.  I guess the question becomes for families that lost their breadwinner and, therefore, have kids who are unable to go to school with school fees, things like that, is there any — what's the UN's thinking?  Is the — the Government apparently has not addressed that problem.  So I'm wondering… I guess…

Spokesman:  I think whenever you have — whenever you have victims of any disaster, the issue of losing the breadwinner is an important one and one that needs to be addressed by national authorities in assistance with the international community.  Masood?

  Up to December 12, a item in the US State Department's public schedule read:

"COUNSELOR TOM SHANNON Counselor Shannon is on travel to Port-au-Prince, Haiti through December 12. He is accompanied by Haiti Special Coordinator Thomas Adams."

  Shannon and Adams have been in Haiti for days, it seemed preparing for a visit by Secretary of State John Kerry on December 12. Protests are planned, not least due to the US arguing in court in support of the UN's immunity, that is, impunity, and refusal to help its victims, families whose bread-winner was killed by the cholera UN Peacekeeping brought.

   Does the US read its own (incomplete) travel warnings?

 But at the UN State Department's December 12 briefing, the Department's spokesperson said "we believe elections are essential for Haiti’s democratic development and to advance progress made in reconstruction and development. The United States and, certainly, Counselor Shannon on his trip and Haiti Special Coordinator Tom Adams are certainly advocating strongly for dialogue and compromise among the parties that will lead to a Haitian solution to permit elections without further delay. Toward that end, we welcome the December 9th recommendations offered by the consultative commission established by President Martelly as a basis for dialogue. We understand he’ll speak today regarding the recommendations.

So our position as the United States is that we broadly support dialogue and compromise leading to a solution in Haiti that will permit elections without further delay, and we think that’s incredibly important to advance progress made there."

  There was no visit by Kerry. But, on Twitter, a photo of the UN's MINUSTAH using a gun to shoot, for which Inner City Press has asked the UN Spokesperson for a response. Watch this site.


 
  MSF Doctors Without Borders said on November 24 that "the population has slowly lost their immunity to the disease. Compared to the same period in 2013, the number of cases handled by MSF has almost doubled. The lack of sanitary infrastructure and of measures to clean water risk aggravating the epidemic."

  Inner City Press asked the UN to respond to this, on November 28, but the UN has refused. The US government has online, also dated November 24, 2014, a Haiti web page that (still) says, under Health, that "Incidents of cholera have declined dramatically  since a major outbreak in 2010." Click here for that.

  While that page was not changed or updated, on December 4 the US State Department put out a travel warning for Haiti which mentioned what MSF called the "lack of sanitary infrastructure" - but NOT that the UN brought cholera to Haiti, much less that the US is supporting the UN's claim of immunity or impunity for it. Click here for the December 4 travel warning.

   The new US Travel Warning does, however, mention the UN, in this way: "The United Nations’ Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) remains in Haiti to support the activities of the Haitian National Police (HNP). The HNP, with assistance from MINUSTAH, is responsible for maintaining order and rendering assistance.  However, given the possibility and unpredictability of spontaneous protests, their ability to assist U.S. citizens during disturbances is very limited."

  It must be said: some of these protests are ABOUT cholera, and are DIRECTED at the UN, having having brought it and for having done nothing for the victims, whole families left without their main breadwinner.

   The US page on Haiti, on Safety and Security, says "Please see ourinformation for victims of crime, including possible victim compensation programs in the United States."

  What about compensation for the victims of the UN in Haiti?

  Inner City Press continues to pursue this question at the UN. On November 20 when Jose Ramos Horta took questions about the UN Peacekeeping review panel he now chairs, he initially said that the UN bringing cholera to Haiti was beyond the panel's mandate.

  When Inner City Press was able to ask him a question, it was to challenge this. How could more than 8,000 people killed, and the continuing impact on the UN's credibility, be beyond the mandate of this panel? Video here.

  Ramos Horta replied that, on reflection, he would raise the issue of cholera in Haiti to the panel's members, which now include Sri Lankan former UN official Radhika Coomaraswamy as well.

   Inner City Press also asked about the cover-up scandals swirling around UN Peacekeeping, about rapes and more in Darfur. Ramos Horta replied about abuses by peacekeepers in Timor Leste, that there must be accountability (he praised Sergio de Mello in this respect.)

UN Peacekeeping has become subject, under Herve Ladsous, to mounting questions about its operations, from crashed drones, selective “neutralization” of some rebels groups and not others, like the FDLR in the DR Congo, covering up attacks in Darfur and lack of accountability fornegligently introducing cholera to Haiti, to name just a few.

While Ladsous refuses and even blocks Press questions about these topics, recently Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has taken to saying that a major “external” panel will be set up to review the issues. On Friday, October 31, Ban’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric announced the 14-member panel, to be chaired by Ramos-Horta.

Ukraine Makes Manhattan Business Pitch, From Chocolate King to Cloudsourcing, Of Democracy & Dollars

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 29 -- A pitch was made to Americans by Central Park on May 29, under the high ceilings of the Ukrainian Institute on 79 Street in Manhattan, to outsource IT or information technology tasks to Ukraine.

You will only pay for the time the outsources workers actually work, one promoter said, they must log out before they can use Twitter or Facebook. You can support Ukrainian independence and democracy. And, she added in a more hushed tone, you can profit.

Who are the companies already outsourcing to Ukraine? A pamphlet handed out listed Citibank, Boeing, PepsyCo (mis-spelled) and Reuters. One wag wondered if that gave the wire service a conflict of interest in their reporting. They alreadytry to censor other media, Inner City Press reported here.

  The pamphlet included a quote from Barack Obama, about “assistance to the government of Ukraine so it can stabilize its economy and meet the basic needs of the Ukrainian people” -- and another from Congressman Eliot Engel, but not one from Christine Lagarde of the International Monetary Fund. A graph shown put 6% of Ukraine's IT business in Donetsk, scene of recent fighting.

  A non-Ukrainian executive, Anthony Conte of EPAM, was brought up as the last speaker. He talked hopefully about the election of Poroshenko the Chocolate King -- just as the UN offered praise, although in the hallways to its own News Center, here -- and about those EPAM has employed in Ukraine since 2005. They are also in Belarus.

  When the speeches were over, red caviar and pancakes were served and the networking began. The pamphlet said “Support Democracy, Increase Your Profits” but the order was perhaps different. Watch this site.

   

As US Congress Mulls Confirming Voice of America as Propaganda, VOA's Censorship Role Revealed under Freedom of Information Act

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 30 -- Alongside a draft US law to further make "clear that the Voice of America mission is to support U.S. public diplomacy efforts," there are claims that VOA currently is more independent than this.

   At the United Nations, this is hardly the case. Recently France's outgoing Ambassador to the UN Gerard Araud told a reporter for what's called Shi'ite media, "You are not a journalist, you are an agent." But VOA's questions are no less directed.

 Significantly, Voice of America not only at the UN but from its Washington headquarters, in a formal complaint submitted to the current UN spokesman by editor Steve Redisch with the approval of supervisor David Ensor, asked the UN to "review the accreditation" of the investigative Press, click here for that.

  In e-mails subsequently obtained by Inner City Press under the Freedom of Information Act, the VOA bureau chief sought and said she had obtained support for censorship from the United Nations Correspondents Association and the bureau chiefs of Agence France Presse and Reuters, here, here and then here (censorship under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act).

  Back on January 8, with Voice of America's Broadcasting Board of Governors still not having addressed censorship bids by VOA which it oversees, President Obama nominated to the BBG Michael W. Kempner, a founder of New Jersey's ConnectOne Bancorp and a bundler of campaign contributions.

   We asked and ask again, why does the US government need a propaganda network, and why turn it loose inside the US? And why would its BBG, after first granting Freedom of Information Act access and fee waivers then try to reverse all this after the documents released proved embarrassing?

  After that, BBG's FOIA Officer Andrew Krog suspended processing in the October 2013 government "funding lapse;" then Appeals Access Committee chair Marie Lennon denied access to any documents about taxpayer funded BBG programming in Sudan and Afghanistan (see below.)

 Back on July 2, 2013, Inner City Press published a short critique of Voice of America and its Broadcasting Board of Governors, here.

  In the three days that followed, mail poured in providing yet more detailed accounts of BBG and Voice of America incompetence and assaults on the principles they supposedly uphold. 

  The union that represents workers there, AFGE Local 1812, has written that

“poor morale was made markedly worse by a decision in 2010 to re-appoint the present newsroom director [Sonja Pace]. A correspondent since the 1980’s, she had been reassigned from the position of news chief more than a decade earlier. Fast forward to 2010: An audio recording of an open meeting in VOA’s newsroom shows that strong protests against the reappointment of the former news director were dismissed by VOA's Executive Editor [Steve Redisch] a former CNN employee. In the recording, the Executive Editor rejected staff concerns, saying 'you’re responsible for your own morale.' Though he has known of the morale crisis in VOA’s Central News Division created by the 2010 decision, current VOA director David Ensor has allowed this situation to continue.”

  Inner City Press in 2012 had its own experience of these three individuals. VOA's Executive Editor Steve Redisch wrote to the UN asking that Inner City Press' accreditation be “reviewed.”

  The only communication Inner City Press had received from VOA or BBG in Washington prior to this was from Sonja Pace, that “regarding VOA’s Charter and Code, we absolutely stand by those mandates and guidelines, without exception.”

  Apparently Voice of America's principles don't include the First Amendment. Subsequent inquiring under the Freedom of Information Act found David Ensor involved in the decision to try to get Inner City Press thrown out of the UN. Ensor served the US State Department in Afghanistan and perhaps re-formed his view of press freedom there.

  In mid 2013, the Obama administration nominated former Afghanistan envoy Ryan Crocker to join the then half-empty Broadcasting Board of Governors, along with John Kerry, while claiming that the output under the BBG is entirely independent from the US government. This is not credible.

  The Colombia Journalism Review, with its own conflicts, has made this point, and BBG has belatedly responded. Will any of this finally bring accountability? Watch this site.

  

Before Upcoming Iran P5+1 Talks in Vienna, Talk of Iranian UN Ambassador, Rep. Engel Sanctions, Oil for Goods with Russia?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, April 4 -- With the Iran nuclear P5+1 talks set to resume in Vienna, a US Senior Administration Official on April 4 told the press they are "on pace" to begin "drafting in May."

  But what about the US position on Iran's reported new Permanent Representative to the UN, about whom Inner City Press asked the UN on April 3? (The UN called it "bilateral" and would not comment on the US' duties under the UN Host Country Agreement).

  The US Senior Administration Official called the reported nomination troubling, but would not say how it may impact the P5+1 process. 

  Nor would the Official comment on moves to impose non-nuclear sanctions on Iran pitched by Eliot Engel (D-NY) here. The official declined comment on yet unseen legislation.

  There are also unseen transactions, only rumored, like a $20 billion oil for goods deal between Iran and Russia. Concern was expressed, but there is no evidence the deal is taking place.

  So: on pace to begining drafting in May? We'll see.

   Way back in October, Spokesperson of Catherine Ashton, European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Michael Mann, canceled a briefing for journalists in Geneva covering those talks. His Twitter feed went silent for 15 hours in the middle of the talks, after Ashton's belated condemnation of a deadly attack on UN peacekeepers in Darfur four days previous.

  Inner City Press asked if this was "on delay." The document Mann linked to does not even MENTION Darfur or UNAMID.

  Inner City Press noted the incongruity, for example, of Reuters covering the Geneva talks with four separate scribes even as editor Stephen Adler speaks of five percent newsroom cuts. (Perhaps relatedly, as Fars got scoops Reuters tweeted the price of hamburgers in Geneva. It is true,as this internal UN post-Sri Lanka proposal exclusively published Friday by Inner City Press puts it, that New York is viewed as a cheaper "duty station" than Geneva.)

 But Iran is the big one for Reuters: at the UN in New York, they festooned their office door proudly with copies of complaints about their reporting from Iran's Mission to the UN. Was this for gumshoe reporting or simply getting leaks from the UK and France?

  (The irony of Reuters and leaks is that the agency's UN bureau chief has used a Digital Millennium Copyright Act filing, here, to get Google to ban from its search a leaked copy of the Reuters chief's "on the record"anti-Press complaint to the UN, with the same strategy Erodgan used to declare his leaked phone calls "copyrighted.")

  In Geneva back in October, a first scoop came from Iran's Fars agency. As noted, when Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif met with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in New York, the only journalists who went up to Ban's 38th floor office to cover it were with Iranian media and Inner City Press.

  Up there, Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif quipped to UN Syria envoy Lakhdar Brahimi that he would see him soon in Tehran. Downstairs, the so-called UN Correspondents Association used UN resources to celebrate themselves, having hosted a faux UN briefing by Saudi-sponsored Syria rebel boss Ahmad al Jarba. This is how it works -- UNCA or its first vice president from Reuters also in essence spy for the UN, click here for story, audio, document. This has yet to be explained.

It is at the level of foreign ministers that Iran wants the November talks. There are sure to be questions to the US State Department's Jen Psaki and Marie Harf, present at the talks, about this. Harf was tweeting, even as other parts of the US State Department said they stopped, including on theUN Security Council's recent Africa trip, due to or to highlight the US government shutdown. Ah, politics. Watch this site.