Soldiers seized the national palace and flew President Manuel Zelaya into exile Sunday, hours before a disputed constitutional referendum. Zelaya, a leftist ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, said he was victim of a coup.
Hours later, Congress voted to accept what it said was Zelaya’s letter of resignation, but Zelaya said the letter wasn’t his and vowed to remain in power.
The Supreme Court said it was supporting the military in what it called a defense of democracy, and the Honduran ambassador to the Organization of American States said the military was planning to swear in Congressional President Roberto Micheletti _ who is next in line to the presidency _ to replace Zelaya.
I wanted to give you a post on Honduras but so profound is my ignorance of that country that I honestly couldn’t find it on a map. Even the usual blogger pose of pretending to know something about which you really know nothing seems inappropriate under those circumstances. All that seems relevant for now is that the president who’s been deposed is a Chavez crony and that Hugo himself is threatening to bring down the new government, replete with military action if necessary. Looks like my prediction of headaches for The One from his new pal might come true sooner than expected.
Fausta has background here: if you don’t have time to read it, note that proto-dictator Hugo Chavez (and whoever’s channeling Fidel Castro this week) is spitting nails on this. Given that, as the Wall Street Journal notes, this entire thing got started over President Zelaya’s attempt to set up a referendum* in opposition to pretty much the opposition of the rest of the Honduran government, civilian and military… well. A man is known by his friends, and I wish I knew what the equivalent Spanish idiom is.
Greg Weeks at Two Weeks Notice, linking to Laura Carlsen in HuffPo liveblogging the emergency session of the OAS.
Interesting that the big Zero and (when it comes to Iranian human abuse and election fraud) Eunuch in Chief now solemnly evokes what he casts aside as unimportant INRE Iran… the promotion of democracy and the rule of law.
INRE Obama’s sudden fascination with promoting democracy, he uses a charter, the Inter-American Democratic Charter that plainly states it exists to encourage the spread of democracy in the Americas’ hemisphere. Apparently, this WH occupant needs a formal document to stand up for human rights and freedom in the world.
But that bit about “rule of law” has got to be an idiot test. If “rule of law” is behind Obama’s newly discovered balls to meddle with such strong statements (or so the media and lib/progressives insist they are) like “deeply concerned”, one may consider that it was Zelaya, himself, who was ignoring the Honduras “rule of law”. It was his insistence to hold a referendum vote that the Honduras Congress, the electoral tribunal, and their Supreme Court stated was illegal.
UPDATE: Allah Pundit
UPDATE #2: Steven Taylor:
I think it is also worth noting that many are forming opinions simply based on the fact that ousted President Zelaya was a political ally of Hugo Chávez, but that fact is irrelevant to whether or not the actions taken by members of the Honduran government and military were legal. I do concur that Zelaya’s proposed plebiscite was unconstitutional and that he was violating a Supreme Court
ruling in pursuing it. As such, I agree that action was warranted against Zelaya, but that doesn’t affect the fact that what was undertaken in Honduras was a coup, albeit a bloodless one.
Democracies are not made healthier by extra-legal moves even if they are made to block other extra-legal moves. Indeed, the inability of the congress
Via Matt Y, Randy Paul
UPDATE: Andy McCarthy at The Corner
Zelaya was violating his country’s constitution with his referendum that would have, Chavez-style, repealed term limits on the presidency. The Honduras Supreme Court ruled the referendum illegal, and the military refused to distribute the ballots. Instead of backing down, Zelaya fired the head of the military, which precipitated the ouster.
Clearly, democracies cannot abide armed overthrow of elected governments, but that presumes that the government acts within the rule of law. Zelaya had no intention of doing so, and his flagrant violations and attempt to accrue personal power made that crystal clear. Zelaya had begun seizing dictatorial powers, and the military responded by arresting him. The military then handed power back to the legislature rather than keeping it for themselves, which makes this less of a coup and more of a military impeachment.
When I think about the 1980s, I am reminded of Pac-Man, The Cosby Show and Central American military coups orchestrated by School of the Americas graduates.
And Michael Jackson!
Francisco Toro in TNR
UPDATE: Several posts from Daniel Larison: here, here and here.
At NRO,
Joshua Keating in Foreign Policy
UPDATE: There’s a lot more Larison. Here’s just one post.
There’s a lot more Giordano. Here’s just one post.
J.G. Thayer in Commentary
UPDATE: Digby
UPDATE 9/21: Ed Morrissey
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