Why is there absolutely no English-language news on this? According to the Spanish-Language papers, the "President" of Honduras has fired the Defense Secretary, taken the resignations of the army, navy, and air force, invaded the Air Force headquarters to seize equipment, and welcomed an unofficial landing by the Venezuelan air force into the Tegucigalpa airport, kicking out the international OAS assembly, all in advance of a vote to give the president the power to change the constitution at will, removing his term limit in favor of putting himself in power indefinitely. Oh yea, and military forces are just roaming around the cities now. Sorry if that was a bit of a run-on, but it's basically what Hugo Chavez did, most likely on the advice of Chavez himself.
Update: The Honduran president was arrested this morning and sent to Costa Rica. The government of Honduras says that his arrest was brought about by the increasing presence of Nicaraguans and Venezuelans entering the country.
That's called a military coup. I hope our government's reaction to this coup is better that our reaction to Latin American coups of the past.
You mean those coups we supported? It wasn't a question of "bad reactions." In fact, the government reacted to those in the only ways they could have.
Today's events are actually a good thing. You can verify this by the reactions of Venezuela and Bolivia.
Link Quick overview from a conservative perspective. I agree that power needs to get back in the hands of the people as soon as possible.
If you're going to push democracy you have to accept the results of democracy whether you like them or not. That American Thinker article is despicable. They say it's a good thing for the region when a military coup topples a democratic government because it will stop the march of leftists winning elections in the region. They're winning elections! That should tell you something about the peoples' desires in those countries. This little constitutional squabble in Honduras is just an excuse to take out someone these institutions never liked, hence the American Thinker article applauding the wider implications. If these coup leaders are so concerned about following the Constitution, where in the Constitution does it authorize a coup d'tat? That would be a strange constitution indeed. To the original poster, where did you get the news that the Venezuelan air force landed in the capital and kicked out the OAS? You can cite Spanish-language newspapers, many of us can read Spanish.
CottonEyedHorn, come on, you can't really respect that. They talk about the constitution and democracy then forcibly remove the democratically elected President from the country? He was elected for four years that would have expired..next year. He is still the legitimate leader of Honduras and the country should respect that, even if he is very unpopular.
HornsintheHouse, You really ought to see the whole perspective before dismissing an entire country for the sake of one president who was removed by not only the military of a country, but also by its supreme court, its congress, several rounds of appeals, the rule of law from 27 years of democracy, and thousands of protestors. He was attempting to make himself into a defacto dictator by changing the constitution to remove term limits, SPECIFICALLY put in to prevent dictators that have ruled the country in the past. He tried to force it through Congress, they refused. He tried to force it through the Courts, they refused. He finally tried to force it through with the military, and they refused. This would be considered treason in most countries, and yet, all he was punished with was a trip to Costa Rica. He should be so lucky.
Yeah, certainly no expert of Honduran politics or their constitutional structure, but it sounds as if Zelaya was attempting to subvert the constitutional term limits placed on the executive branch and become an indefinite dictator ala Chavez in Venezuela. If that's the case then its not a coup -- the legislature and the military are defending their constitution against a potential authoritarian. Again, perhaps we're not getting the whole story -- but if that's the case....what's disturbing aren't the actions of the military and the legislature in Honduras. If an American President (R or D) tried to ignore the 22nd Amendment at the end of his second term, all hell would break loose here. What's disturbing is the American and international fourth estate's depiction of the events....as well as the response from the White House and the U.S. State Department. Especially after the Administration stood by in virtual silence as the Iranian regime crushed the pro-reform movement in the streets of Tehran, it seems like a particularly bizarre time to denounce a legislature for standing up to a wanna-be dictator whose closest geopolitical ally is Hugo Chavez.
So if President was trying to subvert the rule of law there why was it wrong for the other elements of the government to prevent it? After he fired all other government leaders what could he have done?
WSJ weighs in with a summary of events Of course....our State Dept is outraged at the chain of events.
Well, you might care because Zelaya is considered a puppet for Hugo Chavez within the country (they call Chavez his Papi), and this strengthens Chavez' position with Latin America as the leader of populist democracy.
I would hope that if our president built enough of an internal constituency to attempt something like this, that this country would have the backbone to remove him from office as well. I don't really get why this is being criticized.
