The Enemy of My Enemy Is My Friend: New Honduran President Emerges Amidst Great Strife

Jun 29, 2009 13 Comments ›› Erik Wong

A protege of Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro gets ousted from office for trying to lift Presidential Term Limit restrictions, and Obama does everything but congratulate the people who stood up for freedom and true Democracy. Why? Is it because Zelaya is an ally of some of the biggest Socialists/Communists in the known world, just like Obama wants to be? Is it because he was not successful in trying to reign forever, just like Obama wants to be? Look past the diplomacy, and ask why? Why does Obama stand against this coup? The answers, unfortunately, may be chilling. The consequences, unfortunately, may be dire.

A not legal coup, no ? They say two wrongs don’t make a right, but in this case, illegal does not make it wrong. It was a right to correct a left, I mean wrong, and any leader with any semblance of sense (The exact thing a leader SHOULD have) would recognize that the right thing was done in Honduras. The ousted leader is expected to speak in front of the UN on Tuesday, what happens there and then could have very strong repercussions on the flow of events and portrayal of our stance on true justice on a global scale.

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama says the weekend ouster of Honduran leader Manuel Zelaya was a “not legal” coup and that he remains the country’s president.

Obama spoke to reporters in the Oval Office on Monday after meetings with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. Obama said he wanted to be very clear that President Zelaya is the democratically elected president.

Obama pledged the U.S. to “stand on the side of democracy” and to work with other nations and international entities to resolve the matter peacefully.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

WASHINGTON (AP)—Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday the United States believes the unrest in Honduras “has evolved into a coup,” but 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.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said President Barack Obama has not spoken with Zelaya since the Honduran leader was forced into exile. Gibbs said it was premature to talk about whether the U.S. would withdraw its ambassador or seek to cut off aid from Honduras.

Clinton stopped short of saying the Obama administration would demand the return to power of the deposed president, who was forcibly removed from the country on Sunday morning by the Honduran military.

A reporter asked whether the administration would insist that Zelaya be restored to power.

“We haven’t laid out any demands that we’re insisting on, because we’re working with others on behalf of our ultimate objectives, which are shared broadly,” Clinton replied.

“So we think that the arrest and expulsion of a president is certainly cause for concern that has to be addressed. And it’s not just with respect to whether our aid continues, but whether democracy in Honduras continues.”

Clinton cited a “fast-moving set of circumstances” in Honduras that require close monitoring.

“Our immediate priority is to restore full democratic and constitutional order in that country,” Clinton said at her first news conference since breaking her right elbow in a fall at the State Department June 17.

“As we move forward, all parties have a responsibility to address the underlying problems that led to yesterday’s events in a way that enhances democracy and the rule of law in Honduras,” she added.

While stating that circumstances in Honduras had “evolved into a coup,” Clinton added that it was a fast-moving situation with an uncertain outcome. “So we are withholding any formal legal determination. But I think the reality is that having expelled the president, we have a lot of work to do to try to help the Hondurans get back on the democratic path that they’ve been on for a number of years now,” Clinton said.

She said the United States is looking at its aid program for the country and considering the implications of the forced removal of Zelaya for continued American assistance.

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CNN:

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Hours after the sitting president was deposed by a military-led coup, a new president of Honduras was sworn in Sunday.

But the former president was not ready to give up his powers.

The political developments that swept Honduras over the past weeks and led up to Sunday’s coup had the makings of a crisis, but the situation in the Central American nation of 8 million people was calm.

Roberto Micheletti was sworn in as provisional president to the applause of members of Congress, who chanted, “Honduras! Honduras!” Outside the building, supporters of ousted President Jose Manuel Zelaya protested, but their numbers were limited, and the streets remained mostly peaceful. Micheletti told CNN en Español Sunday evening that he has imposed an “indefinite” curfew.

Micheletti, the head of Congress, became president after lawmakers voted by a show of hands to strip Zelaya of his powers, with a resolution stating that Zelaya “provoked confrontations and divisions,” within the country. A letter of resignation purported to be from Zelaya was read to members before the vote.

But the deposed president, Zelaya, emphatically denied in an interview with CNN en Español that he wrote the letter. Speaking from Costa Rica, where he was taken after the coup, he said he plans to continue exercising his presidential duties with a trip to Managua, Nicaragua, to attend a summit of Central American heads-of-state.

Zelaya awoke to the sound of gunfire in his residence and was still in his pajamas when the military forced him to leave the country Sunday morning, he told reporters. He was flown to Costa Rica, where he has not requested political asylum.

“This was a brutal kidnapping of me with no justification,” Zelaya said.

He called the coup an attack on Honduran democracy.

“There are ways to protest without arms,” Zelaya said.

The coup came on the same day that he had vowed to follow through with a nonbinding referendum that the Honduran Supreme Court had ruled illegal.

The coup was widely criticized in the region, in strongest terms by Zelaya’s leftist allies, including Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. A statement from Venezuela’s foreign ministry said Zelaya was “violently expelled from his country by a group of unpatriotic, coup-mongering soldiers.”

The Bolivian government also condemned the coup, accusing Honduran troops of kidnapping Zelaya and violently expelling him from his country.

Elsewhere, Jose Miguel Insulza, the secretary-general of the Organization of American States, strongly condemned the coup in a statement. And in Washington, President Obama said in a statement that he was “deeply concerned” by the news.

“I call on all political and social actors in Honduras to respect democratic norms, the rule of law and the tenets of the Inter-American Democratic Charter,” Obama said. “Any existing tensions and disputes must be resolved peacefully through dialogue free from any outside interference.”

The president of the General Assembly of the United Nations, Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, called the Honduran military’s intervention a “criminal action.”

But in Honduras, the Supreme Court said in an official statement that the military was acting in accordance with a court order to put an end to Sunday’s scheduled vote, which the court’s justices had found illegal.

Micheletti addressed the issue directly in his first remarks as provisional president.

“I did not reach this position because of a coup,” Micheletti said. “I am here because of an absolutely legal transition process.”

No other countries immediately recognized Micheletti as president.

Zelaya, a leftist elected in 2005, had found himself pitted against the other branches of government and military leaders over the issue of Sunday’s planned referendum. It would have asked voters to place a measure on November’s ballot allowing the formation of a constitutional assembly that could modify the nation’s charter to allow the president to run for another term.

In various interviews Sunday, Zelaya characterized the vote not as a referendum, but as a survey to gauge receptiveness toward a constitutional assembly. He denied that he would have been the beneficiary of any future constitutional changes.

Zelaya, whose four-year term ends in January 2010, cannot run for re-election under current law.

The Honduran Supreme Court had ruled the poll illegal, and Congress and the top military brass agreed, but Zelaya had remained steadfast.

In the end, it appeared the opposition to Zelaya was too great. The military confiscated the ballots from the presidential residence, in effect canceling the disputed vote.

In separate appearances Sunday, Zelaya, Venezuela’s Chavez and Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez said that the military had also detained Honduran Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas, further raising regional tensions.

Speaking in Havana, Rodriguez said that the Cuban, Venezuelan and Nicaraguan ambassadors to Honduras had tried but were unable to protect Rodas from a group of masked soldiers who forcibly took her from their grasp. Further details regarding that incident were unclear.

“If they attack our ambassadors, they will be declaring a state of war,” Chavez said. “If they have weapons, then we have weapons, too.”

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TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) – Honduras’ newly appointed leader vowed Monday to resist pressure from across the Americas to reinstate the president ousted in a military coup, as protesters burned tires outside the occupied presidential palace.

Leaders from Hugo Chavez to Barack Obama called for the reinstatement of Manuel Zelaya, who was arrested in his pajamas Sunday morning by soldiers who stormed his residence and flew him into exile. Eight leftist countries pulled their ambassadors from Honduras.

Roberto Micheletti, appointed president by Congress, insisted that Zelaya was legally removed by the courts and Congress for violating Honduras’ constitution—allegedly to extend his rule.

Zelaya’s ouster was Central America’s first coup in at least 16 years, a blow from the barracks that reminded many of the military dictatorships the region has tried to bury in its past.

Zelaya attended a meeting in Nicaragua of a bloc of nine nations, which agreed to remove their ambassadors from Honduras until Zelaya is restored and to reject diplomats from the replacement government.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, one of the leaders in Nicaragua, vowed earlier to “overthrow” Micheletti, who shrugged aside the threat, telling HRN radio on Monday: “Nobody scares us.”

Micheletti said he was sure that “80 to 90 percent of the Honduran population is happy with what happened.”

True or false, the rest of the world certainly was not, and the president of the U.N. General Assembly invited Zelaya to address the world gathering.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the U.S. was working for “full restoration of democratic order in Honduras.”

U.S. diplomats said they are trying to ensure Zelaya’s safety and get him restored as president. Clinton signalled, however, the U.S. wasn’t siding fully with Zelaya, who had rejected several Supreme Court decisions before being overthrown.

“There are certain concerns about orders by independent judicial officials that should be followed,” Clinton said. “But the extraordinary step taken of arresting and expelling the president is our first and foremost concern right now.”

She indicated the State Department has not formally declared Zelaya’s ouster to be a coup because U.S. laws would then require cutting aid to the impoverished country.

“We’re considering the implications of it,” she said.

The Organization of American States called for Zelaya’s return and summoned a meeting of foreign ministers on Tuesday that could make Honduras the first nation suspended from the organization under a 2001 charter banning “the unconstitutional interruption of democratic order.”

Chavez cast the dispute as an attempt by a wealthy elite to suppress the poor.

“If the oligarchies break the rules of the game as they have done, the people have the right to resistance and combat, and we are with them,” Chavez said.

Conservative Latin American governments also denounced the takeover. Mexico announced it was giving diplomatic protection to Zelaya’s foreign minister, Patricia Rodas, who fled to Mexico City.

Zelaya was arrested and flown to Costa Rica hours before a rogue referendum he had called in defiance of Honduras’ courts and Congress. His opponents claimed the vote was an attempt to remain in power after his term ends Jan. 27.

Micheletti said he would serve only until the end of Zelaya’s term.

“We respect everybody and we ask only that they respect us and leave us in peace because the country is headed toward free and transparent general elections in November,” Micheletti said.

His designated foreign minister, Enrique Ortez Colindres, told HRN that no coup had occurred. Ortez said the military had merely upheld the constitution “that the earlier government wanted to reform without any basis and in an illegal way.”

Troops with riot shields surrounded the presidential palace and armored military vehicles were parked in front, but soldiers made no attempt to clear away about 200 pro-Zelaya protesters who were burning tires and other debris, as well as blocking streets with downed trees and billboards.

“We want our elected and democratic president, not this other one that the world doesn’t recognize,” said Marco Gallo, a 50-year-old retired teacher.

Most people in the capital went about business as normal. Nearly all businesses were open and traffic flowed normally aside from a small part of downtown Tegucigalpa.

The Honduran constitution limits presidents to a single four-year term and forbids any modification of that limit. Zelaya’s opponents feared the referendum was part of an attempt to try to run again, just as other Latin American leaders have removed constitutional clauses designed to prevent strongmen from extending their rule.

The president of Latin America’s largest nation, Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, said on his weekly radio program that his country will not recognize any Honduran government that doesn’t have Zelaya as president “because he was directly elected by the vote, complying with the rules of democracy.”

He also said Honduras risks isolation from the rest of the hemisphere.

“We in Latin America can no longer accept someone trying to resolve his problem through the means of a coup,” Silva said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the Rio Group, which comprises 23 nations from the hemisphere, also condemned the coup and called for Zelaya’s return.

Zelaya said soldiers seized him in his pajamas at gunpoint in what he called a “kidnapping.”

“I want to return to my country. I am president of Honduras,” he said in Costa Rica before traveling to Managua on one of Chavez’s planes for regional meetings of Central American leaders and Chavez’s leftist alliance of nations, known as ALBA.

Coups were common in Central America until the 1980s, but Sunday’s ouster was the first military power grab in Latin America since a brief, failed 2002 coup against Chavez.

It was the first military ouster of a Central American president since 1993, when Guatemalan military officials refused to accept President Jorge Serrano’s attempt to seize absolute power and removed him.