It’s a sign of the Information Age that good answers have become less important than good questions. I had time this weekend to ask the Internet some very pointed questions about current events… and a name came up.
We begin with Commifornia’s non-deployment of National Guard to secure the Southern border.
WASHINGTON . President Donald Trump attacked California on Thursday for doing what he and his administration asked it to do: agreeing to deploy state National Guard members to help the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency.
The president tweeted that California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) had agreed to send the troops to the border with Mexico “to do nothing.” He was referring to Brown’s commitment on Wednesday to dispatch 400 troops, as ordered by Trump, but with the caveat that they would not conduct immigration enforcement or build a wall. Trump said he wouldn’t fund .Brown’s charade.. …
Government officials told reporters in Washington on Monday that the guard members would be helping CBP in ways that don’t involve direct contact with unauthorized immigrants. They will instead be aiding with aerial surveillance, monitoring cameras, operating and maintaining equipment and other administrative tasks, the officials from CBP, the National Guard and the Department of Defense said.
On the surface, this is petty political bickering. But the context is the Honduran Asteroid of Refugees that’s current rolling through Mexico to crash Trump’s border immigration reputation Alinsky-style. Moonbeam is sending Cal-National Guard to the border with orders to, given the opportunity, let them in. This would be an act of treason on the level of opening a castle’s gates during a siege.
So, what’s happening with the Asteroid today?
Irineo Mujica, a caravan coordinator with the transnational humanitarian group Pueblo Sin Fronteras, praised the Honduran’s ambassador’s solidarity walk, saying it gave him a taste of the hardships migrants have faced since leaving Chiapas in southern Mexico, and what thousands of other migrants continue to face.
The annual caravan, which at one point swelled to as many as 1,600 migrants after being flooded with families fleeing from Honduras, was expected to end Thursday, after drawing the ire of President Donald Trump, who in response has ordered National Guard troops deployed to the Southwest border to help stop illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
But Leonard Olsen, organizer with Pueblo Sin Fronteras, told The Arizona Republic via text message that “the caravan continues strong” and on Friday “the plan is to continue our journey north.”
Rivera Montes’ march with the migrants struck some experts as a stunt.
The scene Wednesday in Mexico City appeared disingenuous considering the Honduran government’s lack of response to the economic and political crisis forcing people to flee, said Cecilia Menjivar, a University of Kansas sociology professor and expert on Central American migration.
“This is quite an awkward act on the part of the Honduran government … because the Honduran government is doing nothing to protect the people who have been forced to migrate in this caravan,” she said in an email. “Not only does the Honduran government do nothing, but in many ways, they have been actively engaged in making life impossible for the people who live in Honduras and who have no other choice to survive than to flee that country.
“So it is quite the political theater to accompany the migrants fleeing the country (and the government) that the ambassador represents.” …
The Honduran ambassador to Mexico, dressed in a suit, tie and dress shoes, joined the migrants in a 9-mile walk from the Honduran embassy in the Condesa neighborhood of Mexico City to the Casa de Peregrino near the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexican news media reported.
Photographs on Mexico’s El Universal website show Rivera Montes walking with Central American migrants, at times carrying a baby in his arms, in what the newspaper described as a “sign of solidarity” between the Honduran government and the migrants traveling in the caravan.
The Honduran ambassador also posed with Central American migrants in front of the Basilica [of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico’s most important religious site], according to Excelsior.
Rivera Montes promised to provide Honduran migrants traveling with the caravan humanitarian assistance and to assist them in the process of applying for proof of nationality documents during their journey, according to La Silla Rota.
Gawddamned baby-kissing photo-op politicians are the same everywhere, it seems. But what an interesting notion, that the Honduran gov’t first cruelly drove them out and now is kindly helping them along towards what is shaping up to be a definitive international incident. How did this Honduran Asteroid get started? What did the Deep State do in Honduras to generate 1,200+ refugees on short notice, if this is indeed a DS plot? This turned out to be a good question.
…What changed this year was an explosion of migrants from Honduras, an impoverished country of 9.3 million people where gang violence has made the murder rate one of the highest in the world.
The gang violence has been compounded by a political crisis triggered in the wake of November’s presidential election that many Hondurans believe was stolen by the U.S.-backed president, Juan Orlando Hernandez, who won a razor-thin victory over his main rival, Salvador Nasralla. Several days of violent protests followed.
“I expected (the caravan) to be bigger,” but not this big, said Alex Mensing, an organizer with Pueblo Sin Fronteras, the group that has organized annual migrant caravans including this year’s. “The percentage of Hondurans is way higher. It’s been like 75 or 80 percent. … That is way higher than it’s ever been.”
The size of the group caught organizers off-guard, and triggered a negative reaction from the United States far bigger than any the organizers expected, even from a president already well-known for his hard-line stance on immigration and promise to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. …
Days of tweets culminated with Trump’s decision to deploy several thousand National Guard troops to assist the Border Patrol along the southwest border to stop illegal immigration and drug trafficking.
Oh, hell. U.S.-backed presidential election in Honduras is suspected of being fraudulent and thought to have triggered the Migration. That’s the CIA playbook.
http://theintercept.com/2017/12/22/honduras-us-pressure-opposition-nasralla/
ON FRIDAY, THE U.S. congratulated Juan Orlando Hern?ndez on what it said was his re-election as president of Honduras. The U.S. State Department’s congratulations to Hern?ndez came a month into a standoff between the government and the opposition over the vote tally, and five days after the Honduran electoral commission, which is controlled by Hern?ndez-installed allies, declared him the winner.
The State Department message came amid continuing vote-fraud allegations by the opposition, journalists, and foreign observers. The Organization of American States had announced on December 17 that the purported victory was .impossible. to verify, and called for a new, clean election.
Despite the U.S. embassy’s calls earlier this month for a .transparent, impartial. and .credible. vote count, the U.S. has been working behind the scenes for weeks urging the Honduran opposition to shut down protests calling for a full recount or a new election.
Salvador Nasralla, the opposition candidate who held the lead when the public vote count was halted, told me on December 7 that U.S. officials .don’t want there to be any demonstrations. . .ellos no quieren que haya manifestaciones,. he said in Spanish.
Nasralla said that he had been meeting with Deputy Assistant Secretary of State John Creamer as well as with Heide Fulton, the acting U.S. ambassador to Honduras who Nasralla said he had spoken to by phone hours before our interview in Tegucigalpa. Creamer is a former top aide to retired Gen. John Kelly, the influential White House chief of staff who has referred to Hern?ndez as a “great guy” and a “good friend.. (Hern?ndez has responded in kind, calling Kelly a “great friend” and “someone who opens many doors..)
When I asked Nasralla if the U.S. officials wanted him to stop the marches, he replied, .Yes, [they want] that they be stopped, that we calm the people down.. (In Spanish, he said, .S?, que paren. Que tranquilicemos a la gente..)
As we spoke, Honduras was under a state of siege and a 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew. The U.S armed-and-trained Honduran armed forces had begun tear-gassing and shooting protestors.
Nasralla told me, .The United States is going to have, in Salvador Nasralla, an ally,. but that, nonetheless, he wouldn’t stop the marches . and probably couldn.t, even if he wanted to. .What I in my personal capacity as a comfortable person may be asking for, that is one thing,. he told me. “But another is what the mass of 6 million poor people want, and that is something I can not impede . that the people will go to the streets..
Nasralla.s account of meeting Creamer and Fulton was confirmed by U.S. officials in Washington who were briefed on the conversations.
When I asked Creamer if he or other U.S. officials had urged Nasralla to stop the demonstrations, he referred me to the State Department’s public relations office, which referred me back to Creamer’s office. Creamer’s staff replied that Creamer was not available for an interview. Fulton, reached on her cell phone, declined to comment.
We have a name. John Creamer. Let’s keep digging…
[Biography from U.S. State Department]John Creamer is the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Cuba, Mexico, Central America, and Western Hemisphere Regional Economic Policy and Summit issues.
Mr. Creamer is a career Foreign Service Officer with 30 years of experience. His overseas tours include service in Nicaragua, South Africa, Haiti, Argentina, Colombia, and Bolivia, where he served as Charge d’Affaires. Mr. Creamer has also served in Washington, DC, as Senior Desk Officer for Brazil, South Africa, and Colombia, Deputy Director of the Office of Andean Affairs, and Executive Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs.
Prior to assuming the role of Deputy Assistant Secretary Mr. Creamer served as Consul General at the U.S. Consulate in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and then as Civilian Deputy to the Commander and Foreign Policy Advisor, U.S. Southern Command, Miami, FL where he was responsible for overseeing the development of USSOUTHCOM regional strategy, as well as the Command’s strategic communications, public affairs activities, and human rights programs.
Mr. Creamer is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service with the rank of Minister-Counselor. He has been awarded the State Department’s Superior Honor Award four times as well as numerous Group awards.
Before joining the Department of State in 1986, Mr. Creamer received a Bachelor’s degree in Government from Georgetown University, as well as a Juris Doctor from Georgetown University Law Center. He also holds a Masters in National Security Strategy from the National Defense University. In 1985, Mr. Creamer received a Fulbright Scholarship to Malaysia. He speaks Spanish and Portuguese.
That could be a stereotype for a Deep Stater biography. Career bureaucrat/diplomat/lawyer from famous gov’t-preparatory university (what’s with the Jesuits these days?) to military-industrial complex ties to senior-level political connections. Fulbright scholar. Nothing to indicate he ever held an honest job.
This is interesting timing:
http://mx usembassy gov/deputy-assistant-secretary-creamer-visits-mexico-underscores-vitality-relationship/
Mexico City, August 4, 2016 . John Creamer, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Mexico and Western Hemisphere Regional Economic Policy and Summit Issues, visited Mexico August 2-4 to underscore the importance of the bilateral relationship and promote a broad range of areas of cooperation. Creamer met with high-level government officials, representatives from the private sector, academia, legislative, press, and civil society organizations to discuss bilateral cooperation in human rights, security, and economic development.
Appointed to his position in March, this is Creamer’s first trip to Mexico since assuming this role. During the trip, Creamer met with government officials from the Foreign Ministry, the Secretariat of Energy, the Attorney General’s Office, and the National Migration Institute. Creamer also participated in a roundtable with the business sector.
.Mexico is one of our most important bilateral relationships. Mexico is our neighbor, our friend, our partner, and our family,. said Deputy Assistant Secretary Creamer. .I was very pleased to meet with government officials, civil society leaders, activists and the business sector to continue advancing many issues of paramount importance for both of us, including economic opportunity, security, immigration, human rights, and the fight against corruption. We have much to share and the right mechanisms for sharing it..
So, Deputy SecState Creamer meets with Mexican civil rights leaders concerning immigration, security & human rights in August… turns up affiliated with what stinks like a CIA-backed coup in Honduras in November… this in February:
http://www.latribuna.hn/2018/02/14/departamento-estado-usa-honduras-unidos-la-lucha-las-maras/
[NOTE: Google-translated from original Spanish]Assistant Deputy Assistant Secretary of Western Hemisphere Affairs, John Creamer, meeting with President Juan Orlando Hern?ndez declared his country’s support “in the fight against organized crime, violence, also gang 13 and neighborhood 18.”
The high official of the State Department described as “impressive what Honduras has achieved in reducing the homicide rates.”
“At the same time, we talked about the need to continue supporting the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the MACCIH and the fight against corruption.”
“There is a need to launch a national dialogue, to meet the demands expressed in the elections last November. We encourage Hondurans to participate and thus implement electoral reforms. “
“On Human Rights, the US will continue to help Honduras on that issue.”
“It was a very productive and important meeting,” he added.
Creamer also expressed support for a “broad, credible and transparent national dialogue” with the support of the international community.
“We talked about various issues, security, DD HH, justice, economy and culture.”
“The US will continue to support Honduras in its fight against organized crime, the fight against corruption and impunity.”
…and the Honduran Asteroid ‘just happened to occur’ in March.
There is circumstantial evidence, which is neither proof nor an accusation, that John Creamer could be a ranking member of the Deep State and currently orchestrating a campaign to destabilize and discredit the sitting President of the United States.