All of us, every single man, woman, and child on the face of the Earth were born with the same unalienable rights; to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And, if the governments of the world can't get that through their thick skulls, then, regime change will be necessary.
Our ambassador is the only person I met there who thinks there was a 'coup.'
By JIM DEMINT
Tegucigalpa
In the last three months, much has been made of a supposed military "coup" that whisked former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya from power and the supposed chaos it has created.
After visiting Tegucigalpa last week and meeting with a cross section of leaders from Honduras's government, business community, and civil society, I can report there is no chaos there. There is, however, chaos to spare in the Obama administration's policy toward our poor and loyal allies in Honduras.
That policy was set in a snap decision the day Mr. Zelaya was removed from office, without a full assessment of either the facts or reliable legal analysis of the constitutional provisions at issue. Three months later, it remains in force, despite mounting evidence of its moral and legal incoherence.
While in Honduras, I spoke to dozens of Hondurans, from nonpartisan members of civil society to former Zelaya political allies, from Supreme Court judges to presidential candidates and even personal friends of Mr. Zelaya. Each relayed stories of a man changed and corrupted by power. The evidence of Mr. Zelaya's abuses of presidential power—and his illegal attempts to rewrite the Honduran Constitution, a la Hugo Chávez—is not only overwhelming but uncontroverted.
As all strong democracies do after cleansing themselves of usurpers, Honduras has moved on.
The presidential election is on schedule for Nov. 29. Under Honduras's one-term-limit, Mr. Zelaya could not have sought re-election anyway. Current President Roberto Micheletti—who was installed after Mr. Zelaya's removal, per the Honduran Constitution—is not on the ballot either. The presidential candidates were nominated in primary elections almost a year ago, and all of them—including Mr. Zelaya's former vice president—expect the elections to be free, fair and transparent, as has every Honduran election for a generation.
Indeed, the desire to move beyond the Zelaya era was almost universal in our meetings. Almost. In a day packed with meetings, we met only one person in Honduras who opposed Mr. Zelaya's ouster, who wishes his return, and who mystifyingly rejects the legitimacy of the November elections: U.S. Ambassador Hugo Llorens.
When I asked Ambassador Llorens why the U.S. government insists on labeling what appears to the entire country to be the constitutional removal of Mr. Zelaya a "coup," he urged me to read the legal opinion drafted by the State Department's top lawyer, Harold Koh. As it happens, I have asked to see Mr. Koh's report before and since my trip, but all requests to publicly disclose it have been denied.
On the other hand, the only thorough examination of the facts to date—conducted by a senior analyst at the Law Library of Congress—confirms the legality and constitutionality of Mr. Zelaya's ouster. (It's on the Internet here)
Unlike the Obama administration's snap decision after June 28, the Law Library report is grounded in the facts of the case and the intricacies of Honduran constitutional law. So persuasive is the report that after its release, the New Republic's James Kirchick concluded in an Oct. 3 article that President Obama's hastily decided Honduras policy is now "a mistake in search of a rationale."
The Hondurans I met agree. All everyone seemed to want was a chance to make their case, or at least an independent review of the facts.
So far, the Obama administration has ignored these requests and instead has repeatedly doubled down. It's revoked the U.S. travel visas of President Micheletti, his government and private citizens, and refuses to talk to the government in Tegucigalpa. It's frozen desperately needed financial assistance to one of the poorest and friendliest U.S. allies in the region. It won't release the legal basis for its insistence on Mr. Zelaya's restoration to power. Nor has it explained why it's setting aside America's longstanding policy of supporting free elections to settle these kinds of disputes.
But these elections are the only way out—a fact even the Obama administration must see. The Honduran constitution prohibits Zelaya's return to power. The election date is set by law for Nov. 29. The elections will be monitored by international observers and overseen by an apolitical body, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, whose impartiality and independence has been roundly praised, even by Ambassador Llorens.
America's Founding Fathers—like the framers of Honduras's own constitution—believed strong institutions were necessary to defend freedom and democracy from the ambitions of would-be tyrants and dictators. Faced by Mr. Zelaya's attempted usurpations, the institutions of Honduran democracy performed as designed, and as our own Founding Fathers would have hoped.
Hondurans are therefore left scratching their heads. They know why Hugo Chávez, Daniel Ortega and the Castro brothers oppose free elections and the removal of would-be dictators, but they can't understand why the Obama administration does.
They're not the only ones.
Mr. DeMint, a Republican senator from South Carolina, is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The constitutional President of the Honduran republic, Roberto Micheletti Bain, responding to the heinous fact that the socialist government of Brazil, led by Lula da Silva, has committed an act of aggression by being a conspirator and party to the illegal housing of the international fugitive and traitor, Mel Zelaya Rosales, at their embassy in Tegucigalpa.
Rough Translation by yours truly:
Law and order will be maintained, as there are no reports of violence at this present moment and that is how our beloved Honduras will remain.
I call upon our citizens to remain calm as the presence of Mr. Zelaya in our country does not change our reality.
This past 28th of June, Mr. Zelaya was removed from his office, legally, by a decision of the Supreme Court of Honduras, the National Congress of our country.
As stipulated in Article 30 of our constitution, Mr. Zelaya accepts his duty to return and present himself to the authorities in order to face the charges against him for repeated violations of the laws of Honduras.
It is not clear why Mr. Zelaya has returned to Honduras, only he knows. But I can only arrive at the conclusion that he trying to impede the celebration of our upcoming elections on the 29th of November, as he and his followers have been doing in the last weeks.
However, his presence in the country does not alter the commitment of all Hondurans to the electoral process which commenced close to a year ago during his (Zelaya’s) own term.
It will culminate with the elections of the 29th of November.
The government has until today respected the representation of the government of Brazil in Honduras even though Brazil has not shown the courtesy of recognizing the constitutional government of Honduras.
I ask the government of Brazil to respect the judicial order emitted against Mr. Zelaya and turn him over to the proper authorities. The state of Honduras is committed to respect the constitutional rights of Mr. Zelaya within that judicial process.
They eyes of the world are on top of Brazil and Honduras.
Let us not permit that the actions or passions of a few to tarnish the image of our people.
This problem which has arisen for Honduras is of an internal nature and should be addressed and resolved internally utilizing Honduran processes.
This is not a matter which concerns international security or peace.
Confident in our inherent right to do so, we will defend our representative democracy, our sovereignty and auto determination…all together, government, nation, civil society, police forces, armed forces and all the people of Honduras.
Hondurans (men and women) have confidence and faith in your government; we are here ready and willing to defend you all.
El embajador de Estados Unidos en Honduras, Hugo Llorens, apoyaría la restitución del depuesto presidente Manuel Zelaya, según difundió esta mañana la emisora capitalina Radio Cadena Voces.
(The Ambassador of the United States in Honduras, Hugo Llorens, supports the restitution to power of deposed President Manuel Zelaya, according to Radio Cadena Voces station)
Según la información, Llorens estaría respaldando el retorno de Zelaya a través de reuniones con varios sectores políticos, con la advertencia de suspender algunas visas.
(As per the report, Llorens is backing the return of Zelaya via meetings with divergent political factions, with the warning the he will suspend visas)
Zelaya fue separado del poder el pasado 28 de junio y en su lugar asumió el presidente del Congreso Nacional Roberto Micheletti.
(Zelaya was ousted from power on the 28th of June and in his place the president of the national congress, Roberto Micheletti, took his place)
Desde su defenestración ha amenazado con regresar a Honduras, y el 5 de julio hizo un intento fallido por la vía aérea.
(Ever since his ouster he has continued to threaten to return to Honduras and on the 5th of July attempted to do so via air)
(In refrence to this, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has specifically asked that he desist from his attempts to return to the country)
As I have noted before, by denouncing his perfidy, Llorens is a cowardly thug, a rogue ambassador who takes his marching orders from Hugo Chavez and Raul Castro.
In the repugnant & nefarious tradition of Benedict Arnold, Alger Hiss, Aldrich Ames, Robert Hanssen and Ana Belen Montes, Llorens is a scumbag who is betraying the United States of America by engaging in vile and inimical actions against the national security interests of the Republic.
My open letter to the US Ambassador in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in light of his squalid campaign to have Dr. Enrique Ortez Colindres oustedfrom his numerous cabinet positions in Honduras:
Ambassador Hugo Llorens Embajada de los Estados Unidos de América Avenida La Paz Tegucigalpa M.D.C. Honduras
Dear Mr. Ambassador:
My name is Carlos Echevarria, an American citizen, born and raised in Miami, Florida, with longstanding commercial and personal interests in Honduras. It is with great dismay and a heavy heart that I write to you, in reference to the dual resignation of the Honduran Foreign Minister & latter Justice Minister, Enrique Ortez Colindres.
I have known Dr. Ortez Colindres for many years and he is dear friend of my family. He is a man of honor, decency and true patriotism. Sometimes his passion and zeal for the freedom of his country overtakes him. However, he is a staunch anti-communist and faithful friend of the United States of America.
You, Sir, on the other have engendered a faux crisis and misrepresented some remarks he made regarding President Barack Obama, prior to his investiture as Foreign Minister. It is abundantly clear that your efforts are an attempt to malign and enfeeble the constitutional government of President Roberto Micheletti, which took power upon the attempted putsch by the socialist thug, Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales.
With all due respect, Mr. Ambassador, it is fascinating to me that you feigned outrage over one remark by Dr. Ortez Colindres but you stood idly by for months as Mel Zelaya and Patricia Rodas engaged in the most scurrilous rhetoric and corresponding activities against the United States and her interests.
I would propound to you, Sir, that at your core you are not only a sympathizer of ex-President Zelaya but, moreover, an apologist of his copious transgressions of the Honduran constitution.
It is bad enough that you are perpetuating the administration’s misguided policies in Honduras, worse still you are for all intents and purposes taking your cue and marching orders from Hugo Chavez & Raul Castro.
What a sad commentary on the state of the world and upon our august constitutional republic that the United States, the repository and purveyor of liberty in the world, is attempting to impose tyranny and oppression in Honduras, by re-instating a dictator.
Ambassador Llorens have you no shame? Have you no honor? Have you no sense of decency, Sir?
TEGUCIGALPA -- A top church leader called on ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to reconsider his return, and to recall three of the Ten Commandments.
Local channels interrupted their regular programming to air a statement by Tegucigalpa's Archbishop Oscar Andrés Rodríguez Saturday morning, who addressed viewers in front of a Honduran flag and a painting of Jesus Christ.*
''On the day of your inauguration you cited three commandments of the rules of God -- not to lie, not to steal, not to kill,'' Rodríguez said. ``If you respect life, if you love life. . .please meditate because if not it could be too late.''
Rodríguez called on the Organization of American States (OAS) and other world leaders to reconsider their support of Zelaya.
Friday night, Honduras' new government withdrew from the InterAmerican diplomatic union following a visit from the organization's president José Miguel Insulza, who had attempted to broker a deal for Zelaya's return.
''To the Organization of American States, please pay attention to everything illegal that was happening before the 28th of June,'' Rodríguez said. ``This is a community that will define our own destiny without any unilateral pressures. We renounce any blockades, which will only hurt the poor.''
Dressed in the traditional black shirt, coat, and priestly white collar, Rodríguez said he spoke on behalf of 11 other Catholic bishops who signed a statement ``in support of peace. (Picture courtesy of El Heraldo)
Insulza, who was in Tegulcigalpa on Friday, met with the country's Supreme Court, attorney general and other political figures.
"We wanted to ask that this situation be reversed," Insulza told reporters after the meeting. "Unfortunately, one must say that there appears to be no willingness to do this."
Honduras' Supreme Court, which had authorized the coup, said it would not agree to reinstate the toppled leftist leader.
Micheletti's interim government — which has blamed Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for stoking the crisis — appeared ready to settle in for the long haul.
"If Honduras is out of the OAS, well, we will be isolated ... little by little we will regain the confidence of other nations, because we are a valiant people who have said 'enough' to Chavez," said Micheletti's assistant foreign minister, Martha Lorena Alvarado.
"We will not retreat," she said, "and Zelaya's return is not negotiable."
Micheletti led a raucous chant of "Democracy!" before a giant crowd Friday waving blue-and-white Honduran flags in front of the palace he has occupied since Zelaya was seized by soldiers on June 28 and flown into exile.
"I am the president of all Hondurans," he proclaimed, as police helicopters circled over the heavily guarded palace. (Read entire article)
Enrique Ortez, interim foreign minister, said Zelaya would be arrested if he came home and that the interim authorities were sure Zelaya had been removed in a legal process.
"We are not negotiating national sovereignty or the presidency," he told Reuters in an interview. "There is no chance at all" of Zelaya coming back to power.
WASHINGTON – Honduran coup leaders have three days to restore deposed President Manuel Zelaya to power, the Organization of American States said Wednesday, before Honduras risks being suspended from the group.
OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza delivered what he called "an ultimatum" as OAS talks regarding the crisis dragged into the early-morning hours. The talks began Tuesday afternoon.
In a sharply worded resolution, the OAS said it vehemently condemned the coup and "the arbitrary detention and expulsion" of Zelaya.
The coup, the resolution said, has produced an "unconstitutional alteration of the democratic order." The envoys demanded Zelaya's immediate and safe return to power.
Calling Zelaya's overthrow an "old-fashioned coup," Insulza said: "We need to show clearly that military coups will not be accepted. We thought we were in an era when military coups were no longer possible in this hemisphere."
Zelaya, who was ousted in a coup Sunday, planned to return to Honduras on Thursday, accompanied by Insulza, the presidents of Argentina and Ecuador and the head of the U.N. General Assembly, and seek restoration of his authority. Wednesday morning, however, he said that trip would be delayed until the weekend.
Roberto Micheletti, named by Honduras' Congress as the new president, said Tuesday that Zelaya could be met with an arrest warrant if he returned. (Read entire article)
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduras' interim leader warned that the only way his predecessor will return to office is through a foreign invasion — though a potential showdown with the ousted president was delayed due to action Wednesday by the Organization of American States.
A defiant Roberto Micheletti said in an interview with The Associated Press late Tuesday that "no one can make me resign," defying the United Nations, the OAS, the Obama administration and other leaders that have condemned the military coup that overthrew President Manuel Zelaya.
The U.N. General Assembly voted by acclamation Tuesday to demand Zelaya's immediate restoration, and the Organization of American States said Wednesday that coup leaders have three days to restore Zelaya to power before Honduras risks being suspended from the group.
That period for negotiation prompted Zelaya to announce he was putting off his plans to return home on Thursday until the weekend.
Micheletti vowed Zelaya would be arrested if he returns, even though the presidents of Argentina and Ecuador have signed on to accompany him along with the heads of the Organization of American States and the U.N. General Assembly.
Zelaya "has already committed crimes against the constitution and the law," said Micheletti, a member of Zelaya's Liberal Party who was named interim leader by Congress following the coup. "He can no longer return to the presidency of the republic unless a president from another Latin American country comes and imposes him using guns."
Micheletti said he would not resign no matter how intense the international pressure becomes. He insisted Honduras would be ready to defend itself against any invasion.
He did not name any specific countries, but Chavez has vowed to "overthrow" Micheletti and said earlier Tuesday that any aggression against Zelaya by Micheletti's government should prompt military intervention by the United Nations.
"No one can make me resign if I do not violate the laws of the country," Micheletti said. "If there is any invasion against our country, 7.5 million Hondurans will be ready to defend our territory and our laws and our homeland and our government." (Read entire article)
It has been interesting watching the response to the Honduran military's recent ousting its nation's president, Manuel Zelaya. Barack Obama called the action "not legal" and Hillary Clinton said that the arrest of Zelaya should be condemned. Most interesting, perhaps, is that taking this position places them shoulder to shoulder with Fidel Castro, Daniel Ortega and Venezuelan's roaring mouse, Hugo Chavez, who is threatening military action against Honduras. Now, some would say this is an eclectic group - others would say, not so much - regardless, what has gotten them so upset?
Let's start with what they say. They are calling the ouster a "coup" and claim that Zelaya is still Honduras' rightful president. Some of them say we must support democracy. But they have said little, if anything, about the rule of law. And most of what they have said is wrong.
First, it doesn't appear that Sunday's ouster was a military coup but a law enforcement action. It is not a military strongman who sought extra-legal control, but Zelaya himself. Here is the story.
Zelaya is a leftist, a less precocious version of Chavez, sort of like the Venezuelan's Mini-me. And, like Chavez, it's seems that Zelaya was bent on perpetuating his rule and increasing his power in defiance of the rule of law. That is to say, the Honduran Constitution limits presidents to one four-year term, and this wasn't quite enough to satisfy Zelaya's ambitions.
Also note that the military confined itself to its prescribed police action and is not running the country. The new president is 63-year-old Roberto Micheletti, a member of Zelaya's own Liberal Party. Moreover, elections are still planned for this November.
Micheletti also enjoys wide support, from the rank-and-file to the those breathing rarified air in elite institutions. As for Zelaya, while you may not be able to please all of the people all of the time, he certainly seems to have been able to displease them. He not only alienated the Congress, Supreme Court, the people and the attorney general -- who also declared the referendum illegal and vowed to prosecute anyone facilitating it -- he is also opposed by the Catholic Church and many evangelicals. Really, no one seems to like him.
No one, that is, but Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro and Daniel Ortega.
Oh, and let's not forget Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
Tell me who your friends are and I'll tell you who you are, anyone? (Read entire article)
Roberto Micheletti, designado presidente del país por el Parlamento tras el golpe, dijo este lunes que el Ejército fue "benévolo" con el depuesto Manuel Zelaya, al permitirle salir del país. Zelaya por su parte, afirmó que el jueves vuelve a Honduras a terminar su mandato. En su primer día como presidente, Micheletti pidió a los hondureños que no se preocupen por las amenazas de Chávez, Correa y Ortega. En Tegucigalpa se sucedieron enfrentamientos entre partidarios de Zelaya y la policía, mientras continua el toque de queda. Los miembros del ALBA (Venezuela, Ecuador, Nicaragua y Bolivia) retiraron ayer los embajadores de Honduras en protesta por el golpe.
"Aquí hubo un momento que parecía que no había presidente sino un rey o un dictador, quien ordenaba qué cosas se debían hacer, sin respetar a nadie", matizó Micheletti, quien agregó que Zelaya llevó al país a tener enfrentamientos con los diferentes poderes, pues quiso reformar la Constitución para hacerse reelegir.
"El Ejército más bien creo, fue benevolente al permitir que el ex presidente (Manuel Zelaya), saliera del país, cuando en realidad tenía que haber entrado a las cárceles nacionales por los delitos cometidos en diferentes circunstancias", apostilló Micheletti. Así lo aseguró en una entrevista con Radio Caracol de Colombia, en la que además indicó que "solo Dios sabe que puede hacer un ciudadano con la conducta del señor (Hugo) Chávez", quien amenazó con derrocarlo para restituir en el poder a su aliado Zelaya.
Sobre el presidente venezolano, agregó que se resistía a creer que el mundo aceptara injerencias en "situaciones que son internas de Honduras" y reclamó la "autodeterminación de los pueblos", la que, enfatizó, "hay que respetar". Insistió en que quería comunicarle "al mundo que aquí, en este país, no ha habido un golpe de Estado", sino "una sucesión constitucional" provocada por las debilidades del depuesto Zelaya.
Al ser interrogado sobre el rechazo de presidentes de diferentes tendencias y de organismos internacionales que no lo reconocen como nuevo mandatario, indicó que no ha hecho nada ilegal. "Reitero, no hemos hecho nada ilegal y en la medida en que los pueblos del mundo se vayan dando cuenta que en este país no ha habido un golpe de Estado, sino una sucesión constitucional, se darán cuenta de lo que realmente ha pasado en el país", puntualizó Micheletti.
De otro lado, indicó que seguirá en el poder porque fue la decisión expresada por el pueblo a través del Congreso Nacional, del cual era presidente y que lo nombró tras la salida de Zelaya. Explicó, por ejemplo, que los ministros del anterior Gobierno están en el país e "incluso algunos están ejerciendo sus labores, contentos". Puntualizó que la única funcionaria que salió del país, "por voluntad propia", fue la canciller Patricia Rodas, quien está en México.
En Tegucigalpa se sucedieron enfrentamientos entre partidarios de Zelaya y la policía. El toque de queda continúa hasta segunda orden.
Honduras' interim President Roberto Micheletti (L) takes the oath of newly appointed Foreign Minister Enrique Ortez Colindres at Congress in Tegucigalpa June 29, 2009. Micheletti was named interim president by Congress within hours of the coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya on Sunday. Zelaya, a Chavez ally who took office in 2006, angered the Honduran Congress, Supreme Court and army by pushing for a public vote to gauge support for changing the constitution to let presidents seek re-election beyond a single four-year term. REUTERS/Oswaldo Rivas
Americas: During his campaign, President Obama made a big deal of criticizing leaders who are elected democratically but don't govern democratically. He's had a chance to show that it mattered in Honduras. He didn't.
That's the sorry story as Honduras' now ex-president, Mel Zelaya, last Thursday defied a Supreme Court ruling and tried to hold a "survey" to rewrite the constitution for his permanent re-election. It's the same blueprint for a rigged political system that's made former democracies like Venezuela, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Ecuador into shells of free countries.
Zelaya's operatives did their dirt all the way through. First they got signatures to launch the "citizen's power" survey through threats — warning those who didn't sign that they'd be denied medical care and worse. Zelaya then had the ballots flown to Tegucigalpa on Venezuelan planes. After his move was declared illegal by the Supreme Court, he tried to do it anyway.
As a result of his brazen disregard for the law, Zelaya found himself escorted from office by the military Sunday morning, and into exile. Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Cuba's Fidel Castro rushed to blame the U.S., calling it a "yanqui coup."
President Obama on Monday called the action "not legal," and claimed that Zelaya is still the legitimate president.
There was a coup all right, but it wasn't committed by the U.S. or the Honduran court. It was committed by Zelaya himself. He brazenly defied the law, and Hondurans overwhelmingly supported his removal (a pro-Zelaya rally Monday drew a mere 200 acolytes).
Yet the U.S. administration stood with Chavez and Castro, calling Zelaya's lawful removal "a coup." Obama called the action a "terrible precedent," and said Zelaya remains president. (Read entire article)
The constitution of Honduras does not allow for a presidential re-election. No problem, said Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez to his protégée, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya. Chavez easily convinced Zelaya he should promote a referendum on this topic and went on to help him prepare the logistics fo the event. After all, Chavez told Zelaya, this had worked extremely well for him in Venezuela a few months ago while the governments of the hemisphere kept respectfully silent.
But the constitution of Honduras is explicit. It defines as a crime any attempt at changing its stipulation on no re-election.
Therefore, when Zelaya put his plans in motion the Supreme Court issued a judicial order to stop the referendum and ordered the army to prevent it. In parallel the National Congress of Honduras, including members of the government party, declared Zelaya’s pretension unconstitutional. Zelaya responded by dismissing the military chief and by pushing forward with his plans. In answer, the Supreme Court ordered the military chief reinstalled in his position since he was only following their orders.
Sunday June 28, President Zelaya tried to put the referendum in place and the Army, acting on orders by the Supreme Court, stopped the event. President Zelaya was placed in a plane, unharmed, and sent to neighboring Costa Rica. The same day the Honduran National Congress decided, with the votes of the members of the government party, to unseat him as president. The reason? President Zelaya had tried to place himself above the laws of the country. By trying to pave the way for his re-election he had attempted a coup.
The immediate reaction of the governments of the hemisphere meeting at the Organization of American States has been “politically correct”. All members, including the U.S., asked for the “immediate return of President Zelaya to his position” and condemned the “military coup”. This is, of course, the same organization that a few weeks ago begged the dictatorial government of Cuba to return to its fold, the same organization that has closed its eyes to the numerous violations of the Venezuelan constitution by Hugo Chavez and to his obvious alignment with the terrorist Colombian guerrillas.
It does not matter to these governments, including the U.S. government, that President Zelaya acted outside the constitution, that the Supreme Court of Honduras ordered him to stop an illegal event, that the National Congress of Honduras decided almost unanimously to oust him from the presidency and that the Honduran army was following orders from the Supreme Court. In the eyes of this organization an elected president, apparently, can do what he wants and get away with it. (Read entire article)
Many foreign observers are condemning the ouster of Honduran President Mel Zelaya, a supporter of Hugo Chavez, as a "military coup." But can it be a coup when the Honduran military acted on the orders of the nation's Supreme Court, the step was backed by the nation's attorney general, and the man replacing Mr. Zelaya and elected in emergency session by that nation's Congress is a member of the former president's own political party?
Mr. Zelaya had sacked General Romeo Vasquez, head of the country's armed forces, after he refused to use his troops to provide logistical support for a referendum designed to let Mr. Zelaya escape the country's one-term limit on presidents. Both the referendum and the firing of the military chief have been declared illegal by the Honduran Supreme Court. Nonetheless, Mr. Zelaya intended yesterday to use ballots printed in Venezuela to conduct the vote anyway.
All this will be familiar to members of Honduras' legislature, who vividly recall how Mr. Chavez in Venezuela adopted similar means to hijack his country's democracy and economy. Elected a decade ago, Mr. Chavez held a Constituent Assembly and changed the constitution to enhance his power and subvert the country's governing institutions. Mr. Zelaya made it clear that he wished to do the same in Honduras and that the referendum was the first step in installing a new constitution that would enhance his powers and allow him to run for re-election.
No one likes to see a nation's military in the streets, especially in a continent with such painful memories of military rule. But Honduras is clearly a different situation. Members of Mr. Zelaya's own party in Congress voted last week to declare him unfit for his office. Given his refusal to leave, who else was going to enforce the orders of the nation's other branches of government?
During the past 3 1/2 years, my country has lived through a sad satire of governance.
Influenced by the No. 1 promoter of 21st-century socialism, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, our ex-president, Manuel Zelaya, took us down the road of social divide, abuse of media publicity, propaganda and the absolute void of checks and balances with one end in mind: to stay in power indefinitely.
During his last year, he embarked on a mission to carry out a total reform of our constitution, following the well-tested formula of Mr. Chavez and Equador's President Rafael Correa so he could remain in power "constitutionally."
Running a campaign disguised as promoting change for the people and true direct participation of the masses, he started to promote this project with all his executive might. The judicial branch deemed this project illegal, as did our electoral tribunal and the Attorney General's Office.
Nonetheless, these institutions started to be portrayed as part of the groups of power that were afraid of change, tyrants opposed to the people of our country, who did not want people to express themselves. Whatever person or institution went against his project was also an enemy of the people. Sound familiar, Mr. Chavez?
Last week, Mr. Zelaya issued executive orders to the armed forces to carry out the first phase of the constitutional reform project. The head of the armed forces, knowing that this order was illegal and unconstitutional, said "No." Mr. Zelaya went on national TV and fired Gen. Romeo Vasquez for refusing to carry out the order, but our nation's Supreme Court reinstated him. The firing was a clear signal Mr. Zelaya was putting his personal ambition and interests before any genuine interest to change things and improve the quality of life of Hondurans.
He was only thinking of improving his quality of life through illegal means and at the cost of the peace of a whole country. This was the beginning of the end of a crisis in our young democracy.
This morning, the armed forces restored peace and democracy to our country, backed by all institutions: legislative branch; judicial branch; political parties, including the former president's own party; business bureaus; and most other groups representing society. Their stance sends a clear message: No one, not even the president, is above the law. (Read entire article)
More background information on the events prior to Zelaya’s removal from office: Here is more information on Mel Zelaya’s move:
Zelaya couldn’t get the ballots printed in Honduras since the referendum had been pronounced illegal by the country’s Supreme Court AND the electoral board. Therefore, the government couldn’t print them. No private printer was willing to break the law, either. So Zelaya had the ballots printed in Venezuela and flown in.
The Supreme Court instructed the military (who would be the ones doing the job) NOT to distribute the ballots to the polling stations.
led thousands of supporters to recover the material from an air force warehouse before it could be confiscated.
His supporters broke into the military installation where the ballots were kept.
Zelaya’s supporters started distributing the ballots at 15,000 voting stations across the country. This act placed him in outright defiance of the law, the Constitution, and the Supreme Court.
When the armed forces refused to distribute the ballots, Zelaya fired the chief of the armed forces, Gen. Romeo Vásquez, and the defense minister, the head of the army and the air force resigned in protest. The country’s Supreme Court voted unanimously that Vásquez be reinstated.
Tuesday last week the Honduran Congress, led by members of his own party, passed a law preventing the holding of referendums or plebiscites 180 days before or after general elections.
The Honduran Congress, led by members of his own party, named a commission to investigate Zelaya. The Commission found (my translation: If you quote it, please credit me and link to this post)
Zelaya acted against the mandates of legal and electoral laws, the Public Ministry, the National Congress, the Attorney General, and other institutions of the State, which had declared the poll illegal
On Thursday (h/t GoV) the Attorney General requested that Congress impeach Zelaya
The position of the Honduran Congress, the Supreme Court, and the attorney general is that the Constitution is to be strictly adhered to.
This is why Zelaya was removed from power: all branches of government and the country’s institutions recognized that he had broken the law.
Again, the military - by placing him in an airplane to Costa Rica early Sunday morning before he carried through the unlawful poll - acted in compliance with the Supreme Court and the Honduran Congress.
Enforcing the Honduran Constitution: Mary O’Grady, in today’s Wall Street Journal, writes (emphasis added),
Honduras is fighting back by strictly following the constitution. The Honduran Congress met in emergency session yesterday and designated its president as the interim executive as stipulated in Honduran law. It also said that presidential elections set for November will go forward. The Supreme Court later said that the military acted on its orders. It also said that when Mr. Zelaya realized that he was going to be prosecuted for his illegal behavior, he agreed to an offer to resign in exchange for safe passage out of the country. Mr. Zelaya denies it.
Many Hondurans are going to be celebrating Mr. Zelaya’s foreign excursion. Street protests against his heavy-handed tactics had already begun last week. On Friday a large number of military reservists took their turn. “We won’t go backwards,” one sign said. “We want to live in peace, freedom and development.”
Besides opposition from the Congress, the Supreme Court, theelectoral tribunal and the attorney general, the president had also become persona non grata with the Catholic Church and numerousevangelical church leaders. On Thursday evening his own party in Congress sponsored a resolution to investigate whether he is mentally unfit to remain in office.
And,
Former Argentine Ambassador to the U.N. Emilio Cárdenas told me on Saturday that he was concerned that “the OAS under Insulza has not taken seriously the so-called ‘democratic charter.’ It seems to believe that only military ‘coups’ can challenge democracy. The truth is that democracy can be challenged from within, as the experiences of Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and now Honduras, prove.” A less-kind interpretation of Mr. Insulza’s judgment is that he doesn’t mind the Chávez-style coup.
The struggle against chavismo has never been about left-right politics. It is about defending the independence of institutions that keep presidents from becoming dictators. This crisis clearly delineates the problem. In failing to come to the aid of checks and balances, Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Insulza expose their true colors.
Jason Steck, writing at Real Clear World Blog, explains
what is happening in Honduras may be an example of a coup that is not only legal, but mandatory
because, in Honduras’s case, the military has been endowed with a role in maintaining democratic governance; this time their task was to delivery Zelaya safely out of office and into the airplane to Costa Rica.
governments in the region may reject military ousters much more easily than, say, the civilian demonstrations that forced democratically elected leaders to resign earlier this decade in Argentina and Bolivia
the U.S. is not demanding that deposed President Manuel Zelaya be restored to office.
She also said the military coup has not triggered an automatic cutoff of U.S. aid to Honduras.
Clinton told reporters at the State Department that a delegation from the Organization of American States will be heading to Honduras as early as Tuesday “to begin working with the parties” on the restoration of constitutional order.
Whatever that means. The fact remains that the Honduran government and the institutions remained intact - only Zelaya was ousted.
Related reading: Donald Sensing writes on the role of the Honduran military:
…in Honduras, going all the way back to the 1840s, battalion commanders had not only a military-command responsibility, but a civilian law-enforcement responsibility. They were closely equivalent to American sheriffs in many regards. Because of their ordinary roots, battalion commanders, officers and their soldiers were much less “classed” than elsewhere in Latin America. There never formed a significant rift between the people and the military.
Though attenuated nowadays from days of old, the Honduran army has long had a traditional role as keeper, and sometimes guardian, of civil order and has been viewed by the people as such. …
What the Honduran army did last week in shoving Zelaya, a would-be puppet of Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez, out of office was not a coup by even the wildest imagination. It was Zelaya who was trying to mount a coup, by using an unconstitutional referendum (with ballots printed in Venezuela!) to justify remaining in office as long as he wanted. No one in government, including his own party, supported Zelaya.
In fact, the Honduran Supreme Court actually ordered the army to remove him, a perfectly sensible development because of the historical role of Honduras’ military in civil order.
If the Obama administration had stopped to consider Honduran history and culture (or had the State Dept. paused even to consult its own experts, it would not (one supposes) have been so quick on the trigger. But instead, it practiced “ready-fire-aim,” though without the aim, even too late.
The country’s supreme court disagrees, but oh well. The One hath spoken. Regarding the lip service he pays here to “democratic traditions,” does the fact that Honduras’s congress blessed Zelaya’s ouster and installed Micheletti as president factor at all into the calculus about how democratic this was? What about the fact that Zelaya was organizing his referendum towards anti-democratic ends, as a first step towards installing himself as a Chavez-esque strongman?
And since Obama’s so worried about setting “terrible precedents,” how about the precedent of piping up in support of a Chavez stooge instead of simply staying out of this? He goes so far here as to say that Zelaya’s still the president of Honduras, which risks forcing an impossible situation where he’s returned to power despite all other arms of the government — military, legislature, and judiciary — being openly hostile to him. What could go wrong?
"Nobody, not Barack Obama and much less Hugo Chavez, has any right to threaten this country."
Honduran President Roberto Micheletti Bain
First and foremost, I would like to apologize for the delay in posting this material, but I had some personal issues and have been involved, to a certain degree, directly in the occurrences in Honduras over the weekend.
For the record my father was a "company" man for many years and conducted a plethora of activities in Latin America, especially Honduras during the Contras period in the '80's.
He has, moreover, been engaging in business in that Central American nation for well over 40 years...I know all aspects of Honduras quite well.
Let me commence by dispelling what many, even some on the right, have categorized as a "coup".
Amongst the best analysis which I can associate myself with, I cite the following links:
And last but not least I am honored to report to my fellow Infidels that Gateway Punditelevated one of my comments yesterday and incorporated it into his post today:
Gateway, this is not a coup, this is the Honduran Armed Forces carrying out an order of the Supreme Court of Honduras and the congress, as well as military leaders that refused to buckle to Zelaya's attempt to fully Chavez-ize the nation....Today is a day of liberty in Honduras.
Yesterday was a Day of Days in Honduras.
I thank God that Roberto Micheletti Bain, former leader of the National Congress (as mandated by the Constitution) is now the de jure President of Honduras.
Whom would have ever advanced an argument that one day, the nation pejoratively referred to as a "banana republic", would by their actions demonstrate to United States and to the world an unbinding resolve and adherence to liberty, order and justice.
God Bless the glorious armed services of Honduras (whose special forces are trained by Americans and Israelis) which upheld the honor and decency of a nation which refused to condemn itself to darkness and tyranny.
As a final aside, today our dear family friend, whom had just met with my father on Thursday in Tegucigalpa, has been named Foreign Minister of Honduras, Dr. Enrique Ortez Colindres.
He is a career, senior level Ambassador with long tenures in France, under different administrations, and at the United Nations. A staunch anti-communist and pro-American to boot! (of course not Barry's Amerika)
So today, like yesterday, I exclaim, "God Bless Honduras y Viva Honduras Libre!!!"
Oh, and by the way, I have been apprised through back channels that the "Ambassadors" from Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Ecuador, etc. had been forcibly expelled and in the case of both the Cuban and Venezuelan diplomats, they were the recipients of thundering violence due to their obstreperous nature!!!
Via the Wall Street Journal:
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Hugo Llorens is stridently and viciously doing everything in his power to bring the socialist tyrant, Mel Zelaya, back to power:
Hat Tip: Tundra Tabloids
