This video I saw on CNN as it happened, although only from point 4 below. It took place in El Paraiso, when Zelaya was attempting to cross into Honduras at Las Manos. It was shot by TeleSUR, the international TV channel of Hugo Chávez in Venezuela. The video shows how Zelaya-supporters are pushed away by anti-riot forces. It was shown as an example of how the “repressive military” attacked the ‘unarmed” and “peaceful” demonstrators. But now the video has been analyzed by the newspaper La Prensa in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

Since the video is in Spanish I will explain.
Observation nr 1: There are zelayistas hidden in the van. A person screams “they are shooting!”
Observation nr 2: There is a bullet hole in the windshield of the van, even though the riot forces are on the opposite side of the vehicle.
Observation nr 3: Note how a shot is fired from inside the van, from the floor in front of the seats.
Observation nr 4: The sympathizers with Zelaya now emerge from the van, and others appear to stand in firing position.
Observation nr 5: The person with a Zelaya hat also appears to be in firing position, and he is carrying a firearm.
Observation nr 6: When he ran one could hear the clinging of metal, and then laughter is heard.

Myself I couldn’t hear the sound of metal, but I did hear something that was not commented in the video: As they are running along the wall, a person asks the cameraman twice, “¿Te quedó bueno?” That is, he wanted to know if he had got a good scene, if it had turned out as planned, but didn’t realize that the camera was still running. Another indication that the whole event was staged for propaganda purposes.

After having seen the impression the video has had over the world, and how it was created, can one but laugh? As Abraham Lincoln said, “It is true that you may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.”

It should be pointed out that almost all TV scenes that have been shown about riots in Honduras abroad are shot by TeleSUR, even most of what has been shown by CNN en Español. The reason is that the Zelaya supporters chase away all the others with threat of violence, leaving only TeleSUR with access to the events. This may well be a deliberate strategy, since both TeleSUR and the zelayistas ultimately take order from the same man, Hugo Chávez.