Jul 1st, 2009
Pajama party lines
With worldwide attention on the Iranian election, it was easy to miss the equally dramatic Honduras coup d’etat – the first such military action in Central America in 16 years.
The democratically elected left-leaning President Jose Manuel Zelaya was kidnapped, still in his pajamas, from his home by military forces acting on behalf of his right-leaning Congressional nemesis, Roberto Micheletti. Congressional speaker Micheletti was quickly put into power by Congress, as Zelaya was forced into exile in Costa Rica.
Tensions between Zelaya and conservative Honduran powers had been rising steadily for weeks over proposed reforms to the Constitution, including a provision that would allow Presidential re-election. Zelaya was kidnapped hours before he was to vote on such measures.
Despite protests in Honduras and the censure of world leaders (including a somewhat watered-down stance from Obama), Micheletti maintains that Zelaya will be immediately arrested if he returns to Honduras soil. Both the World Bank and the UN are looking into halting investment and aid in Honduras until Zelaya has returned to power, but Micheletti at this point refuses to negotiate.
What the future holds for Zelaya is unknown; he has however noted that he does not wish to seek a second term, but merely to finish his first term.
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Comment (1)
Not even close to accurate. Zelaya tried to force a public vote to allow him additional terms. Under Honduran law, it is illegal for the President to do this. The Honduran Supreme Court ruled the vote was illegal, but Zelaya pressed on with it anyway. The court ordered him to stop. When he did not, the court removed him from office and had him ejected from the country. This was not a coup. This was the Honduran government following its own Constitution in a legal and ethical manner.