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NRO: Contrary To What Marxist Dictator Obama Says, Honduran Coup Was Actually Counter-Coup Protecting Democracy



Jun 30, 2009 12 Comments ›› Pat Dollard

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National Review Online:

At first blush, the news from Honduras sounds like a sad return to Latin America’s past: A democratically elected president has been exiled by the military. But make no mistake: The Honduran soldiers who escorted Pres. Manuel Zelaya from his home on Sunday were acting to protect their country’s democracy, not to trample it. Moreover, they had the full support of the Honduran Supreme Court, which had rejected Zelaya’s bid to hold a referendum on “constitutional reform.”

The proposed referendum, illegal without an act of Congress, aimed to launch a “constituent assembly” that would draft an entirely new constitution. Zelaya’s ultimate goal was to extend or abolish presidential term limits, mimicking the example of Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chávez and other Latin American populists. Hondurans rightly feared that such a maneuver would set their country on the path to Chávez-style authoritarianism. When the Supreme Court rebuffed him, Zelaya defied its ruling and sought to proceed with the referendum anyway. Along with a large group of followers, he ransacked a military post and seized millions of referendum ballots.

The Supreme Court says that it ordered the armed forces to detain Zelaya, who was then shipped off to Costa Rica. The Honduran Congress, which had refused to endorse Zelaya’s referendum, quickly named a successor. While it is always unnerving to see gun-toting officers arrest a president, the move against Zelaya was not a conventional “military coup.” It was an affirmation of democracy and the rule of law, both of which the president had flouted. If anything, it was a counter-coup, the real coup having been attempted by Zelaya.

Officials across Latin America have condemned his exile, as has the Obama administration. Chávez is apoplectic. No surprise there: Under Zelaya, Honduras became a member of the Venezuelan-led “Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas,” a trade bloc established to counter U.S. influence in the region. Immediately after being flown to Costa Rica, Zelaya headed to Managua, where he was warmly received by a leftist coterie that included Chávez and Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega.

Thus far, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has expressed serious concerns about Zelaya’s exile but neglected the events that preceded it. (“Meddling” in Honduras is apparently more acceptable than meddling in Iran.) Yesterday she declared that the political turmoil in Honduras had “evolved into a coup.” But we must remember that the military acted to preserve democratic institutions rather than to squash them. “It’s important that we stand for the rule of law,” Clinton said. But the armed forces were standing for the rule of law when they arrested Zelaya, who had shown brazen disregard for the Honduran constitution. Not only did the president defy a Supreme Court ruling, he also fired the top Honduran military official, Gen. Romeo Vásquez, for refusing to help carry out his referendum. This was a blatant attempt to hijack Honduran politics.

By contrast, the Honduran Supreme Court, Congress, and military have all worked to safeguard the constitution. The Congress issued a decree charging Zelaya with endangering both the rule of law and the broader “governability” of Honduras, and it voted (per the constitution) to replace with him congressional leader Roberto Micheletti. The new Honduran president says that presidential and parliamentary elections will go ahead as planned in November.

Despite its fidelity to constitutional procedures, Honduras has come under intense fire from abroad and may be forced to reinstall Zelaya as president. That would be a deplorable outcome. Zelaya’s exile was not about trashing the constitutional order; it was about defending that order. Why should Honduras be compelled to restore a president who showed utter contempt for the democratic process, and whose removal was backed by the judiciary and confirmed by the legislature?

Unfortunately, the reality is that if Honduras does not return Zelaya to the presidency the rest of Latin America may treat it like a pariah. In the event that Zelaya’s return is unavoidable, which it may be, he should be forced to publicly state his commitment to the current Honduran constitution and disavow his illegal referendum. As the negotiations proceed, President Obama and Secretary Clinton should tone down their criticism of Zelaya’s ouster. Honduran officials have maintained the integrity of their democratic institutions while resisting a naked assault on them. They should not be condemned.


  • politicalfish

    This is the only remaining answer to our situation. In light of the current administration, state of media and academic Marxism, total lack of political opposition (in that the Republican party offers no true conservative alternative) there is no political solution. We have only the Honduran remedy, that is, military intervention. First, I call upon our Supreme Court to stand up for our Republic and declare the administration, and Congress in contempt of the Constitution. Secondly, I call on the remaining patriots within our military leadership to take action NOW to remove B. Hussein Obama, and his administration from the office of the Executive.

  • http://www.jihadwatch.org LCpl. Alexander

    Its funny how fast obama comes out against the situation in Honduras and how long it takes him to formulate an opinion on Iranian protests. Obama is our enemy, not our president.

  • BobUSMC

    The Hondurans should be greatly exalted, not condemned, for their reasoned and heroic actions in preserving their constitutional rule of law.

    If anything, it’s a crime that The Obama Marxist is calling their actions “illegal”.

  • Xavier

    “Its funny how fast obama comes out against the situation in Honduras and how long it takes him to formulate an opinion on Iranian protests. Obama is our enemy, not our president.”

    Actions speak louder than words. :evil:

  • Pete

    To Marxist authoritarians, “the rule of law” means the rule of the elite in power. Has nothing to do with the law.

  • Sully

    Constitution Monstitution.
    Our own SCOTUS hasn’t got the balls to ask for a REAL birth certificate let alone demand the arrest of a POSer like Barry.
    Whatcha gonna do when they come for you SCOTUS?

    And for those of you demanding REAL news… the pedophile is still dead and fortunately been cut open a second and (hopefully) third time. YEE-HAA!!!

  • Jeff

    Why was Obama so quick to condemn this action but not the actions in Iran? What is ironic is the government voted to remove Zelaya to prevent him from changing the constitution. It’s not like the military was acting alone, it was the governments vote that set them in action. Yet Obama says it is illegal because it is un-democratic. But the government voted on it. It was in essence an impeachment. Some difference yes but basically the same.

  • http://earthlink nomee 1

    the coup was a good thing, and their general a smart man. he will control that country for 4 years and then turn it back to their people. good show :beer:

  • http://alcove-one.blogspot.com/ Rob

    It is a gift that Honduras and Iran are happening in the same week. For those AWAKE, it shows the true colors of Obama. When people think of coup, they think of mass killing, mass arrests, disappearnces of the opposition. This is not happening in Hondurous. This IS happening in Iran but we are told by the left that it is none of our business.

  • prestonbrooks

    :lol: I’d like to see Kenyatta forced by the US Army onto a C-130 for a long, 1-way flight to Africa. They give him a parachute to get off the plane, and when he pulls the cord, hundreds of copies of the fake Hawaiian COLB come flying out of the pack instead of a chute! :lol: :razz:

  • william ayres

    Hey will someone e-mail me and let me know when this is going to happen here… :gun: :gun:

  • johnF

    When you look at those who are opposing what the Honduran military did, you get a sense of the bigger picture. Chavez, Castro, Ortega, Clinton, Obama, The EU, The OAS, These forces of the Left, of one-world government, are calling what happened there, a “military coup”. This is clearly a misnomer. When you look at who opposes Zelaya, the picture becomes even more clear, The Honduran supreme court, his attorney general, his chief of defense (who Zelaya fired when he refused to illegally run a vote that the supreme court had already ruled illegal). According to the Honduran constitution, their congress has the authority to change the constitution, not the president, but the president led a mob to seize the ballots with the intent to hold a referendum. His own political party was trying to have him ruled mentally unfit! His vice-president (from his own party) has become president. This is not a coup d’etat, this was the military enforcing a supreme court order to have a mentally unfit, would-be dictator removed from power. The military is not stepping in to run the country, the opposition party is not seizing power. The only thing that the Honduran government should have done differently, is that they should have imprisoned the president and tried him for treason and subverting the constitution. The scary thing in all of this is the international response, especially the US response. The US has traditionally been a hedge against socialist imperialism, dictatorships, and unlawful acts. Instead, we are siding with the immoral, the tyrants, the dictators, the leftist revolutionaries. Why is Honduras so important to the global leftists? Why is Latin America moving more and more towards international socialism? What game is the US playing? What is their next move, and like the evil chess players that they are, what is their endgame?