Will Honduras conceed to US President Barack Obama's illegal demands to reinstate Manuel Zelaya?

Following the Rule of Law in Honduras

"There was no military coup, the military was the tool of government and there was a peaceful transition of government. CNN and other news outlets were quick to describe the action as a grasp for power, which is a story that fits the picture that many hold when they think of Latin American governments. This was anything but that. This was a government, all parties and branches working together, trying to prevent a tyrannical ruler from running roughshod over the constitution for his own purposes -- trying to prevent a ruler from taking the country down the Venezuela road. This issue is so important to the nation of Honduras that for the first time in its history both major parties and other minor parties were galvanized in support of this necessary change. In a country of over 7 million people with 4.5 million voters, the overwhelming majority is in support of the government action. There have been only a few hundreds of Zelaya supporters seen on TV, but they are a tiny minority and not representative of the country."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-taylor/following-the-rule-of-law_b_224202.html

Good point. The real coup was Zelaya's attempt to take over non constitutional control of the government. The military was acting on their constitution to prevent overthrow of the government by a Chavez like dictator. If this isn't enough to show the messed up thinking coming from the us administrative branch I don't know what is...

Right on, NN

Wrong-turn Obama
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jul/05/wrong-turn-obama/

It took the Obama administration less than eight hours to side with Cuba's Fidel Castro, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega over the ouster of Manuel Zelaya in Honduras.

As we have come to expect, Mr. Obama got it wrong again, but this time, nobody noticed. The U.S. news media, preoccupied with the sudden demise of Michael Jackson, ignored the event in Central America.

For those who care about things more important than the passing of a "pop music legend," here's the rest of the story:

Manuel Zelaya, a wealthy rancher and agribusiness executive but self-described "poor farmer," won a four-year term as Honduran president in November 2005 with 49.8 percent of the vote. Article 374 of the Honduran Constitution bars the nation's chief executive from serving consecutive terms. Apparently, one term wasn't enough for Mr. Zelaya, a protege of Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez and Nicaragua's phobic anti-American leader, Daniel Ortega.

Late last year, as the Honduran economy tanked and unemployment grew to nearly 28 percent, Mr. Zelaya forced Elvin Santos, the country's elected vice president, to resign and began holding conversations with Mr. Chavez and Mr. Ortega on how to hold onto power. In lengthy Chavez-like populist speeches, he denounced the United States and wealthy landowners and linked himself with leftists in the Honduran labor movement. On March 23, he issued an executive decree directing a national referendum on a Venezuela-style constituent assembly to rewrite the country's constitution in time for presidential and legislative elections in November. The Obama-Clinton State Department was mute about all this.
[More at the link.:.]

As I have come to expect, an alleged failure of Obama is expatiate upon by right wingers.

As what I am informed, Zelays is a legitimately elected President, which has been deposed. "The OAS, along with U.S. President Barack Obama and the European Union, has called for Zelaya’s immediate reinstatement." I'm not sure which of both parties in Honduras is less democratic - but Zelaya may try to change the law to get a consecutive turn. But ... should he be persecuted for that? I guess there are other - democratic - ways to hinder him.

Actually, what Zelaya did, is almost as disturbing as what Berlusconi frequently does. Or Putin.

Did no one of you notice?

Why would Honduras listen to Obama? No other nation does :-)

Honestly, what kind of dope do you right wingers smoke?

There is nothing 'illegal' in Obama issuing a statement for the RIGHTFUL and elected President to be returned to his country. The Military had no right to proceed as they did. The referendum the people were voting on was non binding. It was more a 'let's see how the people feel about altering our constitution'. It wouldn't have come up for a vote for months.

If the PEOPLE were willing this could happen. See, that's how it's SUPPOSED to work.

I can't fathom why you weenies would see the need to deny another country the right to VOTE on something. Gee....might this President have been saying FU to American corporate interests, favoring nationalizing his country's resources and placing them outside the reach of the IMF, WTO and any other global rip off agency we fund? I know how you guys hate that...

Ousted Honduran president expected in Washington
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gqfhTXmrs-Q3bCp7EhNUzEZNTa2gD9994B3O0
U.S. officials say Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton plans to meet ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya this week. It would be the highest-level contact the Obama administration has had with Zelaya since he was deposed last week.

Zelaya is expected in Washington on Tuesday following an unsuccessful attempt to return to Honduras over the weekend that deepened the country's political crisis. The State Department says the administration remains committed to seeing a restoration of democratic order in Honduras and deplored the use of force against Zelaya's supporters.

Zelaya tried to fly back Sunday, but his plane was not allowed to land by Honduran authorities. Clashes between police and soldiers and thousands of Zelaya supporters left at least one fatality.

@kruijs & conpiracy2riot

LOL - you anti-constitutionalists always try to make stuff sound like a difference between "left-wing" and "right-wing" persuasions! In this case the Supreme Court and the congress directed the president to be removed, much like the impeachment process in the United States. They were following the guidelines set forth in their constitution and legal system to do this. The military was directed to execute this, and it did in a peaceful way.

Citizens of other countries (including our "citizen of the world") ought not interfere with the private affairs of a sovereign country.

Here is the actual text:

ARTICULO 239.- El ciudadano que haya desempeñado la titularidad del Poder Ejecutivo no podrá ser Presidente o Designado.
El que quebrante esta disposición o proponga su reforma, así como aquellos que lo apoyen directa o indirectamente, cesarán de inmediato en el desempeño de sus respectivos cargos, y quedarán inhabilitados por diez años para el ejercicio de toda función pública.

and translated:

    Article 239 — The citizen that has already served as head of the Executive Branch can not be President or Designee (Vice-President).

    Whoever violates this provision or proposes its reform, as well as those that support him directly or indirectly, will immediately cease in their respective responsibilities and will remain unable to exercise any public function for a period of 10 years.

That's the law as set forth in the Honduran Constitution. (See http://www.angelfire.com/ca5/mas/constitucion/c1982/c1982506.html ). This is what Mr Zelaya broke, why he was removed from office, and why it is wrong for outsiders to demand his reinstatement.

@notablenotices
"you anti-constitutionalists always try to make stuff sound like a difference between "left-wing" and "right-wing" persuasion"
I am not an anti-"constitutionalist" (although part of the US constitution could bear some reformation)

"and why it is wrong for outsiders to demand his reinstatement. "
and thus demanding it is illegal? I fear you will tell us that Obama now must step down because of the law you cited. I wouldn't be surprised, anyway.

NN - "Citizens of other countries (including our "citizen of the world") ought not interfere with the private affairs of a sovereign country"

Surely that statement cries out for some qualification...

Here is a video with Hondurans reacting - mainly to CNN's poor coverage, but the United States gets its share of attention too (unfortunately there are no English subtitles)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPR5xJ5CYT8

"[I]s the U.S. at least consistent in its promises not to meddle? Not all the time. When Benjamin Netanyahu came to power in Israel, the Obama administration made its distaste clear. It also has tried to find ways to isolate Hamid Karzai's elected government in Afghanistan -- and was initially not happy about the prospects of its re-election. Most recently, the U.S. condemned the Honduran military's arrest of President Manuel Zelaya. The nation's supreme court had found his efforts to extend his presidential tenure in violation of its constitution, once Zelaya tried to finesse an illegal third term. In other words, the U.S. pressures other nations as it pleases -- though strangely now more to lean on friends than to criticize rivals and enemies. In contrast, had President Obama voiced early, consistent and sharp criticism of the Iranian crackdown, the theocracy would have worried that the president's stature could have galvanized global boycotts and embargos to isolate the theocracy and aid the dissidents. And the reformers in the streets could have become even more confident with a trademark Obama 'hope and change' endorsement. Internal democratic change in Iran is the only peaceful solution to stopping an Iranian bomb, three decades of Iranian-sponsored terrorism and a Middle East arms race. When thousands risked their lives for a better Iran, a better Middle East and a better world, we, the land of the free, simply were not with them."

Hoover Institution historian Victor Davis Hanson

"Help me out here. President Obama immediately 'meddles' in the affairs of Honduras, denouncing a military coup, the intent of which is to preserve the country's constitution, but when it comes to Iran's fraudulent election and the violent repression of demonstrators who wanted their votes counted, the president initially vacillates and equivocates. Are we expected to accept this as a consistent foreign policy? Even Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was reluctant to call the removal of President Manuel Zelaya a coup, if for no other reason than it would stop U.S. aid flowing to the impoverished Central American nation. The fingerprints (or in this case the boot prints) of the Castro brothers, Venezuela's dictator Hugo Chavez and Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua are all over this. If one is known by the company one keeps, the specter of the Castros and their protégé dictators joining President Obama in denouncing the Honduran military coup is not reassuring. Clearly Zelaya was the choice of the dictators to help spread 'revolution' to America's back door. ... The threat by Chavez to send his troops into Honduras ought to be another signal to the Obama administration that thugs can't be made nice by talking to them. So far, the world's tyrants have been unresponsive to Obama's offer of a new start. ... They are getting the message, but it's a different one than President Obama hoped to send. The message is that Obama is weak and can be had. It is one thing for a president to be liked, but in a dangerous world with dictators who have, or wish to acquire, nuclear weapons and by these and other means destroy the United States, it is better that an American president be feared."

Cal Thomas

"My anxious recollections, my sympathetic feeling, and my best wishes are irresistibly excited whensoever, in any country, I see an oppressed nation unfurl the banners of freedom."

George Washington

"For a long time, Honduras has been seen by the eyes of the international community as a small, impoverished country that survives on the handouts of the economic powers. To a certain extent this is true. We do depend on U.S. and European economies.

We have no oil.
We do not produce goods, and we do not export technology.
Our main income comes from tourism.

As of this moment, our country faces a challenge that may change our history for years or even decades to come.
We have two choices.

We can choose to bow our heads, bend our knees, be silent and let ex-president Zelaya come back to the presidential seat, and fall further down the spiral on which he has led us so far.
We can let him take power and become another stronghold for Chavez's led socialism.
We can choose to let Zelaya become one more dictator in the same fashion as Evo Morales, Daniel Ortega, Rafael Correa, and the masterminds behind this all -- Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro.

Our second choice is to take a stand.
What we did was to defend and uphold our constitution.
We said no to tyranny.
That was our choice.
We chose to live in freedom.

To President Obama, to the UN, to the OAS, to the European Union, to The World Bank, The International Monetary Fund, to the world, we say: We are a free, sovereign and independent country, and we choose to take a stand.

We take a stand, even if we have to stand alone."

Tegucigalpa, Honduas

From the Charter of the Organization of American States (OAS) http://www.oas.org/juridico/English/charter.html

Article 13

The political existence of the State is independent of recognition by other States. Even before being recognized, the State has the right to defend its integrity and independence, to provide for its preservation and prosperity, and consequently to organize itself as it sees fit, to legislate concerning its interests, to administer its services, and to determine the jurisdiction and competence of its courts. The exercise of these rights is limited only by the exercise of the rights of other States in accordance with international law.

Article 19

No State or group of States has the right to intervene, directly or indirectly, for any reason whatever, in the internal or external affairs of any other State. The foregoing principle prohibits not only armed force but also any other form of interference or attempted threat against the personality of the State or against its political, economic, and cultural elements.

Article 20

No State may use or encourage the use of coercive measures of an economic or political character in order to force the sovereign will of another State and obtain from it advantages of any kind.

since when do you care about multilateral agreements, notablenotices?

Honduras at the Tipping Point
Why is the U.S. not supporting the rule of law?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124683595220397927.html?mod=relevancy

Hundreds of emails from Hondurans flooded my in-box last week after I reported on the military's arrest of President Manuel Zelaya, as ordered by the Supreme Court, and his subsequent banishment from the country.

Mr. Zelaya's violations of the rule of law in recent months were numerous. But the tipping point came 10 days ago, when he led a violent mob that stormed a military base to seize and distribute Venezuelan-printed ballots for an illegal referendum.

All but a handful of my letters pleaded for international understanding of the threat to the constitutional democracy that Mr. Zelaya presented. One phrase occurred again and again: "Please pray for us."

Hondurans have good cause for calling on divine intervention: Reason has gone AWOL in places like Turtle Bay and Foggy Bottom. Ruling the debate on Mr. Zelaya's behavior is Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chávez, who is now the reigning international authority on "democracy."

Mr. Chávez is demanding that Mr. Zelaya be reinstated and is even threatening to overthrow the new Honduran president, Roberto Micheletti. He's leading the charge from the Organization of American States (OAS). The United Nations and the Obama administration are falling in line.

Is this insane? You bet. We have fallen through the looking glass and it's time to review how hemispheric relations came to such a sad state.

...

Hondurans had the courage to push back. Now Chávez-supported agitators are trying to stir up violence. Yesterday afternoon airline service was suspended in Tegucigalpa when Mr. Zelaya tried to return to the country and his plane was not permitted to land. There were reports of violence between his backers and troops.

This is a moment when the U.S. ought to be on the side of the rule of law, which the Honduran court and Congress upheld. If Washington does not reverse course, it will be one more act of appeasement toward an ambitious and increasingly dangerous dictator.

[More at the link...]

The Law Triumphs in Honduras
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124633015879271647.html?mod=relevancy

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.

[More at the link...]

Leader’s Ouster Not a Coup, Says the Honduran Military
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/02/world/americas/02coup.html

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Flipping through a stack of legal opinions and holding up a detention order signed by a Supreme Court judge, the chief lawyer of the Honduran armed forces insisted that what soldiers carried out over the weekend when they detained President Manuel Zelaya was no coup d’état.

“A coup is a political move,” the lawyer, Col. Herberth Bayardo Inestroza Membreño, said Tuesday night in an interview. “It requires the armed forces to assume power over the country, which didn’t happen, and it has to break the rule of law, which didn’t happen either.”

Governments around the world have decided differently, labeling Mr. Zelaya’s removal an illegal act and calling for his prompt return to power. On Monday, the day after the coup, President Obama said, “We believe that the coup was not legal and that President Zelaya remains the president of Honduras, the democratically elected president there.”

Colonel Bayardo, dressed in green camouflage and wearing a blue beret, described a behind-the-scenes struggle between the armed forces and Mr. Zelaya that played out over the weeks before the decision to grab the president from his home, shuttle him to a military base and fly him out of the country.

The army had resisted participating in a nonbinding referendum on constitutional changes that Mr. Zelaya continued to push after both Congress and the courts had labeled the president’s move unconstitutional. Army lawyers were convinced that Mr. Zelaya was moving to lift a provision limiting presidents to a single term in office, Colonel Bayardo said.

When the army refused an order to help organize the referendum, the president fired the commander of the armed forces, Gen. Romeo Vásquez. He was reinstated by the Supreme Court, which found his removal illegal.

The detention order, signed June 26 by a Supreme Court judge, ordered the armed forces to detain the president, identified by his full name, José Manuel Zelaya Rosales, at his home in the Tres Caminos area of Tegucigalpa, the capital. It accused him of treason and abuse of authority, among other charges.

“It was a clean operation,” Colonel Bayardo said, dismissing Mr. Zelaya’s remarks before the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday in which he described the arrest as a brutal coup. “It was a fast operation. It was over in minutes, and there were no injuries, no deaths. We said, ‘Sir, we have a judicial order to detain you.’ We did it with respect.”
[More at the link...]

Honduras - The Real Story, From The Inside (Not the news media version)
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977731221&grpId=3659174697241980

The following was sent to me by a dear friend and colleague, who is from Honduras and a lawyer. She and her husband (also a lawyer) prepared it and I present it here unchanged with their permission (though I have removed their names for privacy purposes). They make the case that the Honduran Congress and Supreme Court acted to protect the Constitution from the illegal actions of the former President Zelaya. In other words, not the coup the world has mistaken it for. Please take the time to read it.

Dear friends,

It seems that the events in Honduras have taken a rather bloody path and we feel powerless and frustrated that the media express various opinions without (seemingly) having asked for the opinion of one single lawyer.

In what follows we explain briefly the background of the ongoing crisis placing it in the Honduran legal context. This will hopefully eliminate all the “static” and will enable you to have an accurate view of the situation, i.e. that there was no “military-led coup” in Honduras, that the military always acted under civilian control and that the Honduran Constitution has been strictly respected.

Article 239 of the Honduran Constitution provides that a person who has served as President once cannot run the second time for office, and moreover, if one breaks this rule or suggests a reform of this provision, then he/she must immediately cease holding public office, and will be prohibited from holding public office for the next 10 years. The same sanction applies to those who aid and abet such a person.

This article is further reinforced by article 374, which says that any reform of the Constitution cannot change the articles dealing, among others, with the duration of the presidential mandate and with the prohibition of a president from running a second time.

Starting from February 2009, Manuel Zelaya, President of Honduras at the time, repeatedly talked of a reform of the Constitution. Initially he publicly admitted that the purpose of the change was to allow the President to run for a second mandate. However, being warned of the consequences this would entail under article 239 of the Constitution, he asserted, in subsequent interventions, that he only wanted to suggest certain changes to the Constitution, without specifying them.

Zelaya suggested organizing a referendum which was supposed to ask the Hondurans whether they would like a change in the Constitution. However, according to Article 373, the decision to change the Constitution can only be taken by the Congress (i.e. Parliament) with a qualified majority of two thirds of the votes, and the Congress is also the only one able to decide if a public consultation process is to be launched.

Article 5 of the Constitution provides that referenda or plebiscites can be organized in order to consult the people on issues of major national interest. The request to organize a referendum can be made by minimum 10 congressmen, by the President, through a resolution of the Council of Ministers, or by minimum 6% of the voters, but it must be analyzed by the Congress and approved with a majority of two thirds of the total number of congressmen. If the referendum is approved, the Congress must subsequently pass a decree determining the terms of the consultation and ordering the Electoral Tribunal to handle the logistics.

Despite of the provisions of article 5 mentioned above, on March 23, 2009, the President issued an Executive Decree, through which he called upon a public consultation with the ultimate goal of summoning a National Constituent Assembly to adopt a new Constitution. This Executive Decree was never published, as required by law, in order to prevent it from being challenged in court.

However, the Attorney General, (who is from the same political party as the ex-president) challenged the unpublished decree. The competent judicial tribunal admitted the Attorney General’s action, and decided, on May 27, 2009, to suspend the application of the decree, may it be published or not.

Two days later, on May 29, 2009, following the request of the Attorney General, the tribunal clarified its decision and stated that its ruling also applied to any other current or future administrative acts, having the same object and purpose as the suspended decree, including any change of name of the consultative process.

However, the President of Honduras issued a second Executive Decree, which annulled the first (concerning a “public consultation”) and which ordered a so-called “national poll” that would take place on Sunday, June 28 of 2009. This national poll involved asking the following question: “Are you in favor of the addition of a fourth voting box in the general elections of 2009, in which the people will decide on the summoning of a National Constituent Assembly?”

Dated May 26, 2009, this second decree was not published until June 25, 2009. In the interval between May 29 and June 25, the President challenged unsuccessfully the decision of the tribunal to suspend any presidential decree which would concern the organization of a public consultation.

In the same interval, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal and the Attorney General began legal actions to confiscate the poll’s materials and named the Air Force Chief as depositary of the confiscated items.

The President and a group of his followers rejected the May 27 court decision and assaulted the Air Force facilities in Tegucigalpa, where the confiscated materials were being kept. In the end, the second Executive Decree was published on June 25 and the President asked the military (more specifically the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) to assist with the preparations of the referendum, which was supposed to take place only three days from publication, on June 28, 2009.

The head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff refused to carry out the order, arguing that the President’s disposition conflicted with a court decision. As a result, the President sacked him, without following the procedure for sacking high military officials provided by the Constitutive Law of the Army. The civilian minister of Defense, the direct superior of the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, resigned in sign of protest.

[More at the link]

Here is how to get news from La Prensa HN (from Honduras) translated into English

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.laprensahn.com%2F&sl=es&tl=en&history_state0=

http://www.undispatch.com/node/8563

...

Here is a sample of what they are signing onto, passed onto UN Dispatch from a congress watcher who says Rep. Mack will likely "drop it in the hopper" tomorrrow.

Whereas several sectors of Honduras were opposed to this referendum, including the legislature, the judiciary, the Attorney General, the Human Rights Commission, the Catholic Church, evangelical groups, business associations, and four of the five political parties represented in the National Congress—including President Zelaya's own party.

Whereas on June 28, 2009, just hours before the polls were to open for the illegal referendum, the Honduran military arrested President Zelaya pursuant to a court order, and later exiled him from the country.

Whereas the Honduran Supreme Court has stated that the military acted on its orders, and the Honduran Congress passed a decree removing President Zelaya from office and replacing him with the President of Congress, Roberto Micheletti.

Whereas since his removal, Mr. Zelaya has been flown around the hemisphere by Hugo Chavez’s private jets.

Whereas since Mr. Zelaya’s inaugural, Honduras has been plagued by lowered living standards as poverty, violence, unemployment, and inflation have remained high.

Now, therefore be it:

Resolved, that the House of Representatives -

(1) expresses its strong support for the people of Honduras;

(2) condemns Mr. Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales for his unconstitutional and illegal attempts to alter the Constitution of Honduras; and

(3) calls on all parties to seek a peaceful resolution that is both legal and constitutional.

[Read more at the link...]

http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2009/07/honduras-timeline-democracy-at-work.html

Atlas reader Allan R received this from friends who live on Roatan. Thousands of Hondurans have marched in support of their democracy here. It is the best description that I have come across of the events that led Honduras to save itself from a Chavez backed dictatorship (a coup, as it were):

I don’t profess to be an expert at Honduran politics or constitution, but I have been here a while and stay pretty involved with what’s going on in Honduras and especially Roatan. For those that don’t know me, I’m an American investor that has lived in Honduras full time since 2002. I’m very active on several commissions and have met with minister level executives of the Honduran government many times in the past few years.

There have been a lot of comments, descriptions, and hypothesis over the past few days. I’ve spent a LOT of time reading Spanish and English reports, talking to a lot of people on the islands and on the mainland, and listening to the local politicians. I’d like to present my take on what’s happened. This is especially for Nick who’s been posting on the Roatan Tourist discussion group, but hopefully it will help clarify some points for others as well.

· Mel Zelaya was elected 3 ½ years ago with an underwhelming 49% of the vote. He was seen as a fairly conservative member of the liberal party. The general feeling when he was elected was that he wasn’t the greatest pick, but his background as a wealthy logger and rancher coupled with his more liberal social policies would probably be OK.

· Almost from day 1, Mel started shifting Honduras policies to the left.

o Remember when he tried t o nationalize the oil industry - forcing all fuel distributors to buy from 1 company so that Mel could control the price? The US rightfully reminded Mel that the US oil companies had a lot invested here and the confiscating of those assets would not be a good thing. Mel changed his mind a couple of days later.

o Mel gave away the fishing rights to an area that Honduras has been fishing for decades if not a hundred years. He gave those rights to Nicaragua for nothing - or at least nothing that was ever publicly reported. Mel forgot to mention this transaction to anyone in the country, let alone the fisherman. Guess how the fishermen found out? The Nicaraguan Navy confiscated several boats over a period of a few weeks. The crews on these boats were detained from a few days to a few weeks. Some of the boats were eventually returned to the rightful owners - after paying “fines”. Some of the boats even had the electronics and gear still on board when they were returned to the owners. The Honduran government did absolutely nothing to repatriate these boats.

o Mel wanted Honduras to join ALBA - a collection of countries that was formed by Cuba and Venezuela to counteract NAFTA/CAFTA from the US. When this was announced, there was a lot of concern - especially from the business community. I was in a meeting with the local congressman less than a week before it was ratified. The message being sent was that this was just a way to get cheap oil from Venezuela. The congress wouldn’t consider ratifying this treaty for 6 or 8 months and by then Mel would have the oil that he was after. Again, less than a week later Mel got the treaty was ratified by the congress.

o Not too long ago, the minimum wage was raised from L. 3,500 per month to L. 5,500. That’s about a 60% increase. I’m not saying that the minimum wage didn’t need to be raised, but this huge increase was 3 times more than the labor unions were requesting (20%) and 6 times more than the business organizations had offered (10%). These increases caused tremendous layoffs on the mainland. Many maquillas (garment factories) began to move to Nicaragua because the cost of business in Honduras had gotten too high. This was another huge drop in jobs. I’ve not seen the actual number of jobs lost because of the 60% increase in minimum wage, but it was staggering.

o The Honduran constitution says that each year the President presents the annual budget to congress for approval. If the approval is not obtained by a specific date (I think it’s the end of January, but am not 100% sure) the budget from last year will be used until the new budget is approved by congress.

§ Mel never submitted a budget for 2009, hence the Congress can’t approve it so Honduras is operating in 2009 on 2008’s budget.

§ Now, why would a President not submit a budget? Who knows for sure but one of the possibilities is that 2009 is an election year. Mel would like to stay in power past 2009. The budget in 2008 didn’t include an election, so in essence there is NO money available for the 2009 election because we’re operating on 2008’s budget. There are other theories about hiding graft and corruption, but I would assume that anyone that becomes President in Honduras wouldn’t be concerned about hiding corruption and theft in the budget - he certainly didn’t mind doing it the previous 3 years!

· Somewhere along the way, Mel decided to take a lesson from his mentor (Chavez) and arrange it so that he could remain in power for as long as he wanted. There was a little problem with this. The Honduran constitution, enacted in 1982, has 378 articles. 6 of these articles are “cast in stone”, meaning that they can NOT be changed. These 6 articles deal with defining the type of government, territory claims, and presidential term limits. They are the basis of the Honduran20democracy.

o One other tidbit from the constitution - Article 42, Section 5 says that anyone who is found to “incite, promote, or aid in the continuation or re-election of the President” would face loss of citizenship. Remember this one later on in this saga.

· To further complicate things for Zelaya, ANY changes to the constitution have to be initiated by the legislative branch. The congress has to convene a constituent assembly. That’s basically a group of people selected by the congress to analyze any proposed changes and form those ideas into the new constitution. After the proposed changes are formulated, the congress would approve them to be put to a national referendum. The executive branch (the President) has nothing to do with that process.

· Mel didn’t think that the congress would go along with his ideas of staying in power so he decided he’d call his own referendum. He doesn’t have the authority to do that - remember that constitutional changes can only be done by the legislature AND the term limits are one of the articles cast in stone - but he goes ahead and calls one anyway.

· The Honduran Supreme Court says “Sorry Mel, you can’t do a re ferendum. That’s not within your power as president”.

· Mel, or more probably one of his advisors, figures out that if a referendum can’t be done, we could probably do a survey or a poll instead! Great idea - nobody will figure out that the poll that we’re now going to do is exactly the same thing as we were going to do with the referendum.

· Damn those people on the Supreme Court! They figured out the ruse! They ruled unanimously that regardless of what you call it, if it acts like a referendum the president can’t do it. If it looks like a duck, and walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck . . . .

· Mel continues to talk of doing the poll on June 28 regardless of the Supreme Court

[More at the link...]

thanks for the news review, notablenotices, but couldn't you just start a forum instead of cluttering up the comments section of this question, making me scrolling down several page-sizes just to post this question?

@kruijs:

I am certain you could have seen the message that admin sqlman is "Waiting to hear from the author..."

I have e-mailed him yesterday (24 hours ago), and additionally posted supporting background material. I don't know what more I can do. I am the author. When he deems that he has heard enough from me, then I am certain he will unsuspend this question. Until then, you will have to keep scrolling down!

just concerned that our buddy dieseldog would decide to no longer participating in these comment because of the length. I don't know exactly what he wanted to hear from you, but I understand, that you gave him a lot of text to find out what he wanted to know from you. I'm not sure anyway if he can/will find it somewhere in these masses.

Yeah, I understand. It is a lot of text. One of the problems is finding English news that reflects the Honduran point of view from inside the country, so when I find anything that I think will help explain it I add to the list of information he can review. Under normal circumstances I would just copy a little bit, and then post the link for people to find the rest of the article.

The REAL Story from a Roatan Dive Resort
Bay Islands Beach Resort provides an ON-SITE report about what they are experiencing in Honduras.

With all the news coming out of Honduras, we thought is would be good to see what's happening in the country, specifically the island of Roatan - a popular place for dive travelers. DiverWire spoke with Ted O'Brien of Bay Islands Beach Resort and here is his personal ON-SITE REPORT:
http://www.divenewswire.com/NewsITems.aspx?newsID=10351

It is very perplexing for us to be here at the Bay Islands Beach Resort, enjoying the fabulous diving and tranquility, and see the shameful, inaccurate reporting by the news media of the political situation in Honduras, especially by CNN.
They won't let go of the erroneous idea that we had a military take over of government. CNN continues to use the description "military backed government." This is simply not the case, any more than the US Government is a "military backed government." We are led to believe that we are under marshal law, and there is rioting and “chaos” in the streets. It’s just not so.

Cam and I have very close friends in Tegucigalpa and La Ceiba who are "on scene" where whatever is reported to be happening, isn't happening, and they are appalled by the way the media is distorting this story. Peaceful marches are reported as angry demonstrations.

[More at the link...]

From the Congressional Record "HONDURAS -- (Senate - July 06, 2009)" Page: S7132

Mr. COBURN. Mr. President, I want to spend a few minutes tonight talking about what is going on in Honduras. I have a lot of friends in Honduras, and I have this peculiar worry that we find ourselves on the wrong side of freedom in the situation that is happening in Honduras.

As you read the press clips, what we have heard is there was a coup.

That, in fact, is not true. The Supreme Court of Honduras, under the direction of the Congress, asked the military to intercede because the President of Honduras had violated their own laws. Yet our State Department and our foreign policy sided with Hugo Chavez, Raoul Castro, and the former President.

There is no question that improvements have been made in the past in Central and South America, but tonight we find ourselves supporting an anticonstitutional President of Honduras when, in fact, the Congress of Honduras and the Supreme Court of Honduras have said he is violating their laws. So rather than look at the whole picture, we have decided we will intervene in our diplomacy on the side of a Chavez-type, would-be dictator because what was happening in Honduras was an effort to change so you could have a President for life in Honduras. That is what was going on. That is why the Congress and that is why the Supreme Court of Honduras acted. We now are siding against the people of Honduras.

What is little known is 800 to 1,000 Venezuelan thugs were admitted into Honduras, in the week prior to this, with Honduran passports to create chaos or a systematic attempt to create upheaval and discord and rioting by Chavez's thugs. So now we find ourselves, the free United States, siding with somebody who wants to make sure the Honduran people are not free, to create another petro czar dictator in South Central America.

[ More can be found at http://thomas.loc.gov/ ]

From http://www.wibc.com/news/article.aspx?id=1261072

In Washington, the State Department said the U.S. has suspended military assistance programs estimated at $16.5 million and a few development assistance programs estimated at $1.9 million, all aimed at the Honduran government. At the same time, officials said all assistance for the people of Honduras food aid, disease prevention, child survival aid, disaster assistance and elections assistance is still being provided.

Honduras views: Presidential crisis
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8130038.stm

ARGENTINA DOMINGUEZ, Retired "President Zelaya deceived us."
...
DANIEL MARTINEZ, Lawyer "I support President Zelaya and hope he comes back. "
...
INGRID RAUDALEZ, Student "He did nothing to help the poor."
...
MAURICIO GUERRACRUZ, Taxi driver "He did a few good things"
...
DAGOBERTO MARTIN, Shoe-shiner "We are better without him"
[More at the link...]

i flagged the question to see why its still Suspended.

Thanks dieseldog. I have no clue why this is suspended either - Jim certainly is not waiting to hear from the author... I have communicated with him both via e-mail and in the comments here, so the status message is out of date.

i haven't heard nothing from the flag i sent.

Thanks for unsuspending this!

Honduras government gains ground with Congress
http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/new-honduras-government-gains-ground-with-congress-2009-07-11.html

There are tentative signs from Democrats in Congress of support for the forces that removed Honduras President Manuel Zelaya from power at the end of June.
[More at the link...]

This is scary. It is an article (in Spanish) in an Honduran newspaper about the level of fraud the ex-president had attempted to put in place to influence the outcome of future elections.

http://www.latribuna.hn/web2.0/?p=20368

Use google translator to get a "English translation" right here: http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.latribuna.hn%2Fweb2.0%2F%3Fp%3D20368&sl=es&tl=en&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

From http://www.vheadline.com/readnews.asp?id=81610
Opposition accuses Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of hypocrisy

...
The Venezuelan President has threatened war on Honduras' de facto government, and had previously sent voting machines to the Central American country for the referendum on constitutional reform that sparked Mr Zelaya's overthrow. Mr Chavez also provided a plane for his failed return to Honduras last Sunday.
...
[More at the link...]

Honduras: computers seized with 'election results' pre-loaded
http://rantburg.com/poparticle.php?D=2009-07-18&ID=274578 http://usurpador.blogcindario.com/2009/07/00188-honduras-computers-seized-with-election-results-pre-loaded.html
Tegucigalpa -- The National Direction of Criminal Investigation confiscated computers in the Presidential House in which were registered the supposed results of the referendum on the reform of the Constitution that was planned by former President Manuel Zelaya on last June 28, the day that he was ousted.

The District attorney's Office will investigate now if it is a possible crime of fraud and forgery of the documents, due to that some had been filled with the data of the people that supposedly had participated in the failed referendum. One of the public prosecutors that participated in the operating one carried out yesterday showed to the mass media an electoral minutes of the Technical Institute Luis Bogran, of Tegucigalpa, in which the number of people is specified that participated on the table 345, where 550 ballots were counted of which 450 were votes in favor of the proposal of Zelaya and 30 in against, besides 20 blank votes and 30 voided.

...

The Coup That Wasn’t
http://www.agoravox.com/article.php3?id_article=10386
Some of you may remember that after then Honduran President Zelaya was removed from office I wrote a piece about Obama’s motivations for joining with Chavez and others in calling for Zelaya to be returned to power. Although the main point of the article was an analysis of Obama’s decision-making - that I stand by - I also completely muffed the Honduran story. I went so far as to call Zelaya’s removal a "coup".

As many of you proved in your well-researched comments: I was wrong.

I believed that Zelaya had complied with the Supreme Court ruling that he not hold a binding referendum to illegally change the Honduran Constitution. I was wrong about that. I believe that Zelaya hadn’t yet violated the Honduran Constitution. I was wrong about that. And I believed that Zelaya’s removal was premature because he hadn’t yet taken steps to attempt to seize power. As it turns out I was wrong about that one too.

...

Although there was no election on June 28th because the military kicked Zelaya out of the country and canceled it, these machines each contain "certified" voting records. And - not surprisingly - every single one indicates that Zelaya won the referendum overwhelmingly.

Turns out that the Honduran military wasn’t jumping the gun after all. They were just in time.
[More at the link...]

For much of his presidency, George W. Bush bore liberal attacks on basically everything he did and said. One of the most common accusations was that he was "imperialist" and that under his leadership America had become an international bully. Well, where are all those liberals now that Barack Obama and his band of merry thugs are trying to bully Honduras into returning to power a leader who violated their own constitution?

Despite steadfast refusal of Hondurans to become victims of former President Manuel Zelaya, a would-be communist dictator, the Obama administration continues to pressure them in order to curry favor with the likes of Hugo Chavez, the Castro Brothers and fellow communist Leonel Fernandez, president of the Dominican Republic. On Thursday, the Obama administration officially cut off all aid to Honduras, totaling $31 million in non-humanitarian assistance. The announcement came as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was meeting with Zelaya. "The secretary of state has made the decision, consistent with U.S. legislation, recognizing the need for strong measures in light of the continued resistance to the adoption of the San Jose Accord by the de facto regime and continuing failure to restore democratic, constitutional rule to Honduras," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said.

Article 239 of the Honduran Constitution specifically states that a president trying to extend his term forfeits his right to remain in office, and with good reason. Hugo Chavez was originally elected president of Venezuela but soon corrupted the democracy from the inside until he became dictator in 1998. So, oddly enough, with the lawful ouster of Zelaya Honduras maintained constitutional rule of law. But what does the Obama regime know about that?

Honduran Interior Minister Oscar Raul Matute wrote rather pointedly in a letter to Clinton, "Whether you wish us well or not, we will pay any price, we will bear any burden, we will take on any difficulty, we will support any friend and oppose any enemy to ensure the survival and the success of liberty and democracy in our country." Quoting from John F. Kennedy's 1961 inaugural address certainly gets the point across.

Mark Alexander - Friday Digest, September 4, 2009 Vol. 09 No. 35 The Patriot Post
http://patriotpost.us/

Good question NN (I like your new spelling for conceed).

Obama the communist & terrorist supporter, cuts off aid to Honduras, while giving a billion to the terrorists in Gaza. This guy has got to go.

Here's the birds of a feather picture, with Castro, Chavez, Ortega, and Obama hanging together.
http://thoughtsbysteve.blogspot.com/2009/09/castro-chavez-ortega-their-useful-idiot.html

i haven't followed this story much & i like obama for the most part, but i don't understand how all the democrats support this guy in honduras...just because there was a coup doesn't mean it's bad or that they're not going to eventually have elections...the way i see it, we're being hypocritical...we say we support the rule of law and their supreme court ruled his being in office or whatever he did illegal, with their military then enforcing the ruling...isn't that 1 of the purposes of the military, to protect the country?...if a president refuses to leave office, who's going to make him?...seems as tho we're just supporting another dictator in the making...this is one case where i hope obama doesn't get his wish

Since we only seem to get the news in this country that the gov't wants us to get, I'll trust outside sources over what any news anchor tries to stuff down my throat concerning the Honduran debacle any any other.

You know, Fox isn't ALL that different from CNN or MSNBC or ABC. They pretty much all fall into line and report the same BS. It's just the other stations don't allow their mouthpieces to have screaming meltdowns like Fox does.

You want evidence of our 'imperialist' policies in Central America?
View 'The Panama Deception' on youtube. It's a thoughtful, informative documentary on how Bush invaded and slaughtered innocent civilians to conquer and rule a nation brought only into existence for our benefit.

And remember Reagan and his big ole bs line about how rebels in El Salvador were only a 2 day drive from invading the US? Sure. I know I laid awake at night worrying if Pedro was on his way here to make me his bitch.

The only thing America has ever been interested in 'helping' another country with is fine tuning the details of how they can build more military bases there, how they can hand over resources to Corporations and how they can commandeer their drugs and drug $. We install puppets everywhere we go. Democracy indeed. Do you really need to wonder why so many choke on the flavor of our democracy?

I support ANY country that throws off the chains America tries to wrap them in and that includes Chavez, Morales, Ortega and Zelaya. The larger the # of countries that can resist the WTO, World Bank and IMF the happier I am.

I know I laid awake at night worrying if Pedro was on his way here to make me his bitch.

i pity poor pedro if he succeeded! :O)

@conspiracy2riot:

Hey I think I might agree with your last statement - in fact if there were countries opposing the UN, WHO, InterPol, UNICEF, ICC, ICJ, and so forth, I would be thrilled. A lot of these entities have noble intentions for their foundational causes, but their good qualities pretty much stop there.

U.S. Warns Honduras on New Vote
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125202394425285239.html
The U.S. said it will cut off some aid and may not recognize the result of Honduras's upcoming presidential election, in an attempt to pressure the country's interim government to accept the return of its deposed president.

The U.S. on Thursday terminated some $30 million of aid that had been suspended after Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was ousted on June 28, U.S. officials said in a conference call with reporters. But the officials said the U.S. hadn't determined that the ouster of Mr. Zelaya was a military coup. Mr. Zelaya met Thursday with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington to discuss ways to bring an end to Honduras's political crisis.
...
[More at the link...]

'U.S. Revokes Official Visas in Honduras'

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/13/world/americas/13honduras.html

Honduras interim leader asks Brazil to hand over Zelaya
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.e2376c1d8341909f8b69a6dff8f54c7d.51&show_article=1&catnum=0
Interim Honduran president Roberto Micheletti called on Brazil to hand over deposed leader Manuel Zelaya, who was in the Brazilian embassy here after secretly returning to Honduras.

"I call on the Brazilian government to respect the judicial order handed down against Mr Zelaya and deliver him to the competent authorities of Honduras," Micheletti said in remarks broadcast on radio and television.

"The nation of Honduras is committed to respect the rights of Mr Zelaya to due process," added Micheletti, who had warned that his deposed and expelled predecessor faced arrest and trial for treason if he returned.

Kelly calls for calm in Tegucigalpa, where ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is holed up in the Brazilian Embassy. America is "discussing" how to give assistance to that embassy, where power and water services have been cut off. Meanwhile, the State Department is still pushing the San Jose Accord, "which remains the best approach to resolve this crisis," Kelly said. "There is no plan B at this point."

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/09/22/briefing_skipper_zelaya_terror_in_new_york_yemen_lee_myung_bak

'Zelaya aide: Honduran coup talks have broken down'

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jAkMGKIUDg_ngUiZboxQbYj5_DPwD9BCH3VO0

Honduras leader's nephew killed
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8327196.stm
The nephew of the interim President of Honduras Roberto Micheletti has been found dead in what the police are calling an execution style killing.

Enzo Micheletti's body was discovered on Sunday in woodland near Choloma, 250 km north of the capital, Tegucigalpa.

Police say his hands were tied behind his back and his body was riddled with bullets
[More at the link...]

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) Fri Oct 30, 4:52 pm ET- Honduras is on the verge of ending a four-month political crisis after rival camps cut a deal that could return ousted President Manuel Zelaya to power and earn international support for a November 29 election...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091030/ts_nm/us_honduras

Honduran Lawmakers Study Deal on Zelaya Reinstatement
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-11-03-voa2.cfm
Honduran lawmakers are studying a deal to end the crisis over President Manuel Zelaya's ouster in a coup in June, but there is no word whether or when they will vote on his reinstatement.

The head of Congress, Jose Alfredo Saavedra, told local media Monday that once lawmakers understand the details of the agreement, they will decide on a path to follow.

Mr. Zelaya has taken refuge at the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa since returning to Honduras in September. He is urging lawmakers to avoid playing "dirty games" and vote on his reinstatement without delay.
[More at the link...]