Police shot a pro-democracy demonstrator in the head yesterday. The U.S. has defined the military-backed seizure of power last month as an illegal action and violation of democratic principles, suspended military and development aid, (more details here on U.S. military aid to Honduras) and revoked the U.S. visas of four top coup officials. Wikiepdia has a useful run-down on the crisis here. Honduran immigrants in Massachusetts have protested the coup. The NYT reports:
Several people were wounded and more than 100 were arrested Thursday during clashes between the police and supporters of the ousted president, Manuel Zelaya, in at least four locations. The most intense violence occurred on the northern edge of Tegucigalpa, the capital, where one person was shot in the head. Leaders of the demonstrations accused the police of firing tear gas and live ammunition on peaceful protesters. Television footage showed some protesters armed with long sticks and pickaxes.
Meanwhile, former top Clinton aide Lanny Davis is lobbying for coup government, some Senate Republicans have demanded an explanation of U.S. policy toward the coup, whatever that means, and Canada continues to provide military assistance.
The coup appears to have been sparked by President Zelaya’s decision to increase the national minimum wage by 60 percent, (Honduras is the second-poorest country in the western hemisphere, with 50 percent of the population below the poverty line, per Wikipedia) propose other social reforms, and schedule a non-binding referendum on whether or not to convene a constitutional assembly. Interesting commentary here from Marifeli Pérez-Stable, a vice president for democratic governance at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, D.C., and a professor at Florida International University.
What do you think of U.S. policy so far?
christopher says
…I believe that the US should back a democratically elected regime. Unfortunately we have failed in that regard in recent decades, notably in Iran and Chile. I was originally going to note that there are legitimate issues on both sides with the President defying an order of the Supreme Court. My current thinking is that it is not for the military to take the law into their own hands and the proper redress is impeachment, assuming there is such a process in the Honduran Constitution. If there isn’t such a provision then it proves the truth of Ben Franklin’s comment when this was debated in Philadelphia: “The President much be impeachable or else he risks being assassinated.”
amberpaw says
Just saying….
christopher says
..that impeachment was a guarantee against deranged individuals.
amberpaw says
Lincoln’s assasination was more than a “deranged individual”, unfortunately, though at least in your opinion and mine, the act was “deranged”.
christopher says
Yes there was a conspiracy and Booth saw himself as Brutus assassinating Caesar for the good of the republic. I suppose Charles Gaiteau and Leon Czolgocz (also Squeeky Frome and John Hinckley, Jr. even if unsuccessful) fit more in the deranged category; Oswald, of course, just opens more cans of worms.
sabutai says
Micheletti and Zelaya are agreed on one thing: Zelaya should not return to face impeachment proceedings as designed in the Honduan Constitution. Unfortunately, that is precisely what should happen. Zelaya knows he will almost definitely lose so he’s not interested, Micheletti knows Zelaya could win, so he’s not interested.
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p>Instead, the world is forced to choose between somebody who now controls Honduras unconstitutionally, or somebody who would return to Honduras with intention of keeping control unconstitutionally.
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p>Frankly, they both belong in jail.
bob-neer says
HuffPo:
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p>Given that, there really doesn’t seem to be any credible reason to deny him his elected office insofar as the referendum was the ostensible reason for the coup.
sabutai says
The Congress has the right to indict him no matter what he says at the United Nations. Our president was impeached over a blow job, for goodness’ sake. I don’t think anything Zelaya says at NYC is going to keep the Congress from impeaching him anyway. Besides, the ol’ “I only tried to trample the Constitution” defense isn’t a very strong one.
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p>If Zelaya returns, gets impeached immediately per the constitution — not in four years — do you think he’ll step down?
bob-neer says
If he gets impeached, is convicted, and then is supposed to step down under their Constitution, he should do that.
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p>The point is that we shouldn’t tolerate guys with guns forcing an elected president onto an airplane in the middle of the night — especially in a neighboring country where we have a lot of influence: bad for the long-term stability of the region, and bad for our efforts to promote democracy in other parts of the world.
bostonshepherd says
I though Zelaya specifically violated terms of the Honduran Constitution prohibiting anyone from conducting a referendum besides whatever non-partisan government body is authorized to do so. The language in the constitution is very specific.
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p>Referendum ballots were confiscated by the authorities, but Zelaya led a mob onto the military installation where they were held to retrieve them.
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p>The Supreme Court then authorized the military to arrest Zelaya. This isn’t really a “coup” as you suggest, sparked by social reforms.
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p>The bogus referendum method is preferred by Latino leftist dictators everywhere, like Hugo Chaves. Try linking to other viewpoints, other than Castro’s, especially acting president Micheletti’s explanation.
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p>Zelaya is essentially a fugitive with no popular support. He should be impeached in absentia.
christopher says
You might not like it, but Hugo Chavez has been ELECTED President of Venezuela in contested elections. I don’t know where the Castro reference came from since he cannot claim to have ruled by free and fair elections, but it does remind me of a line Jay Leno had shortly after George W. Bush first took office thanks to Florida, our Electoral College system, and the SCOTUS:
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p>LENO: “Today President Bush said he would not consider normalizing relations with Cuba until Castro stepped down and subjected himself to a real election by popular vote, to which Castro said, ‘OK – you first!'”
bob-neer says
“The U.S. has defined the military-backed seizure of power last month as an illegal action and violation of democratic principles.”
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p>As to impeachment, I agree with you that that sounds like it would have been the legal non-coup approach to this problem. But guys with guns hustling the elected president onto an airplane in the middle of the night is a coup.
sabutai says
If these guys had waited a few months for the process to play out, they’d have gotten what they wanted, and not become hemispheric pariahs for it.
dhammer says
This is not what happened. Under the “Civil Participation Act” of 2006, public officials can go directly to the people for advice on policy issues using a non-binding resolution. This is the mechanism Zelaya was using. Yes, the Supreme Court ruled it was illegal, but he was using a mechanism separate from that in the constitution and on the face of it, a legal mechanism to change the constitution.
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p>He was asking whether the people wanted to elect an assembly to write a new constitution, a constitution that might serve the poor better by allowing the head of state to serve more than one term (like the US, UK, Canada, Japan, Mexico, France, Germany and much of the rest of the industrialized world does).
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We used this rationale to wage a war to change our government in 1776, Zelaya was using it to put a question on the ballot, a reasonable action given the next sentence which urges caution in attacking governments. Disagree with his tactics, but what he was doing was within his rights, his removal was a coup.
gp2b3a says
Profiles in courage award to COngressman Bill Delhunt for aiding and abetting Hugo Chavez closing of 33 radio stations. I Hugho didnt like what was being said on the airwaves. I am sure Bill will be making his trip to kiss Hugo arse for some cheap oil for mass residents fairly soon. Who cares where your cheap oil coems from as long as its cheap.
somervilletom says
Will this interfere with my supply of affordable top-quality Honduran cigars? Can’t we at least wait until we do away with the embargo against Cuba?