Honduras: Manuel Zelaya’s ouster
Was the military ouster of President Zelaya a coup, or an act to save democracy from a Hugo Chavez protégé?
Honduran soldiers arrive at the presidential residency in Tegucigalpa.
(Reuters/Corbis/Oswaldo Rivas)
What happened
The Honduran military arrested leftist President Manuel Zelaya Sunday and flew him into exile in Costa Rica, in Central America’s first military coup since the Cold War. The Honduran Supreme Court said it had approved Zelaya’s ouster, because he was illegally moving ahead with a nonbinding referendum on a constitutional assembly. Congress named its leader, Roberto Micheletti, interim president. (Reuters)
What the commentators said
How is this a military coup? said Mary Anastasia O’Grady in The Wall Street Journal. Zelaya was unquestionably acting “above the law,” defying high court orders to scrap the unconstitutional referendum, and firing the army chief. “Honduran patriots” should resist every outside effort to restore Zelaya to power, especially from Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, Zelaya’s “good friend” and guide in consolidating power and destroying Honduran democracy.
That’s crazy—this is a textbook “bloodless coup,” said Larisa Alexandrovna in At-Largely. The politics in Honduras are “complex,” and Zelaya is “both a bad guy and a good guy,” but when the military intervenes to remove a sitting president, that’s a coup, not a victory for democracy. If Zelaya was violating the Constitution, the solution is to impeach him, not overthrow him.
That’s a “rare” point of agreement among Western Hemisphere nations off all ideological stripes, said Simon Romero in The New York Times. But after condemning the coup, the Americas split into two camps: regular democracies and “so-called participatory” democracies under the sway of Venezuela. Zelaya wanted to move Honduras into the latter camp, leading to “colder” ties with the U.S.
If the point was to keep Zelaya from becoming another Chavez, it will backfire, said Timothy Padgett in Time. The Honduran military just turned “an otherwise middling president” into a “political martyr,” just like Venezuela’s right-wing did with Chavez in 2002. Zelaya’s enemies had reasonable fears, but by ousting him with force, they just made themselves look like the “oligarch lackeys” he accused them of being.
Show: Oldest | Newest
5 Comments
Posted by jp, Monday, June 29, 2009, 1:57 pm My hope as a Honduran American is to see America help Honduras through this crisis. The appropriate tape is to proceed through impeachment, and only military action as last resort. This is the perfect opportunity for America to illustrate a consistent across the board policy of promoting and encouraging democracy even if it means reinstating a president they are not incredibly fond of.
Posted by Thomas Doyle, Monday, June 29, 2009, 11:44 pm So far Hugo Chavez has used his petro dollars attempting to undermine fair elections and unravel democratic governments in Bolovia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Paraguay, Mexico, and Nicaragua.Now he has targeted Honduras. The parliament of Honduras has decided to stand up to Chavez and his cronies before any hope for democracy is lost in Honduras also. Chavez threatens to invade Honduras. Democratic principles? Chavez has won power and holds onto that power by fraud and intimidation in Venezuela. Now he wants to control all of latin america. Hitler
Posted by RC, Tuesday, June 30, 2009, 5:03 am How dare Hugo Chavez to speak about democracy when he threats the honduran people with his army and they have done nothing to him except saying WE DONT LIKE YORU IDEALS...period. Who is he, except a tyrant that is drowing his country in lies, deceit and does not believe in freedom of speech. The honduran people stood up an said..NO MORE to all these lies. Mr Chavez..stay in your own back yard...this is a honduran issue. You do not own Latin America like you think you do with your oil money.
Posted by Patrick Henry, Tuesday, June 30, 2009, 8:19 am The military acted to protect the Constitution and only after the Supreme Court of Honduras had declared the actions of President Zelaya unconstitutional and Zelaya had persisted in defying the Supreme Court. Zelaya follows the lead of Castro/Chavez and as those had done, he tried to change the constitution to allow himself to be the eternal dictator. Good for the Military!!! With the U.S. playing the same game as all the other socialist dictators. Only God can save Honduras. My prayers are with the defenders of Constitutional government.
Posted by Brett, Wednesday, July 1, 2009, 10:59 am It seems obvious that Zelaya was illegally, but he should have been removed from office through proper channels, not a coup. Two wrongs don't make a right.
Post a Comment