Apparently, things aren’t going Manuel Zelaya’s way in Honduras. The deposed president, holed up in the
Brazilian embassy in the country’s capital of Tegucigalpa, thinks he’s being double-crossed by the Obama Administration. When he agreed last week to leave the matter of his reinstatement in the hands of Honduras’ National Congress he believed that there was an under-the-table pact to return him to office. At the time, he announced to the press that he expected to be back as president by this Thursday. Now he’s afraid that he’ll never restored.
On Monday, this writer reported that Thomas Shannon, the U.S. Undersecretary of State for Latin America had categorically denied the existence of any side agreements to pressure the National Congress to restore Zelaya. In effect, the United States is now locked into a position that requires recognition of the new president to be elected on November 29, whether or not Zelaya is allowed to complete his term by the Honduran Congress.
This is not sitting well with the ex-president. The Associated Press reports that today he fired off a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton demanding clarification. He wants to know if the United States is no longer condemning the ‘coup’ against him. But, the AP report notes that Ambassador Shannon told the Spanish language version of CNN that the U.S. will recognize the November elections, regardless of Zelaya’s fate.
"Both leaders took a risk and put their trust in Congress but at the end of the day the accord requires that both leaders accept its decision," Shannon said.
Last week’s embrace between Ambassador Shannon and Manuel Zelaya at the Brazilian Embassy has taken the grotesque aspect of a scene from the movie The Godfather, with Mel Zelaya as the recipient of the mafia’s kiss of death.
Today, current President Roberto Micheletti was busy seeking nominations from all parties for his national unity cabinet, while the National Congress issued requests to the Supreme Court and the Attorney General for their opinions on the legality of Zelaya’s restoration. No deadlines for response were given. The Congress is in recess until after the elections and will not meet before then, unless a special session is called.
All recent developments point to an American retreat from its support for the mercurial ex-president. After finally realizing that its Latin American foreign policy was headed for yet another embarrassment, the Obama Administration has now thrown Mr. Zelaya under the bus. It’s too late, however, to wipe the egg off Obama’s face.
(Above right: Thomas Shannon embraces Manuel Zelaya at Brazil's Embassy. AP photo/Esteban Felix).
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Comments
I can't help but wonder- if Zelaya were a conservative, pro-business President and Micheletti were the leftist with close ties to Hugo Chavez, would we be so willing to support a government which removes a president at gunpoint, takes him to another country and then holds a trial in the court of public opinion. If Zelaya broke the law, fine, he should have been arrested and put on trial and allowed to answer to the charges (adversarial proceedings)- to not give him that opportunity prior to removing him from office, taints the actions of even the Honduran courts. If the Honduran constitution provides for removal of a POTUS at gun point without allowing the person to defend themselves, it's hardly a democracy regardless of what its formally called.
Well, at this late stage in the game we can all do ifs and buts until the cows come home however the fact is that Zelaya did not play by the rules. He was warned time and time again and he chose, yes he actively chose, to ignore the law, in fact he kind of dared anybody to do anything about it.
That he was unceremoniously turfed out of the country was a mistake, we all know that. That his presidency was terminated was democracy at work.
Congratulations Honduras; well done Roberto Micheletti, sir; you have the patience of Job and a fair measure of Solomon’s wisdom. Whether Zelaya gets reinstated or not he’s history, and it was his own (un) doing. I hope Honduras is able to recover at least some of the money he stole from the people.
And President Obama, and Hillary - this time you get off with a telling off, but let's not repeat that stupidity.
Thanks Blas for, yet again, a well constructed summary.
I can't help but wonder- why someone like Stacy need to make statments like hers with the obvious lack of knowledgeabout the situation. Its obvious she has never read the Hoduran constitution and thus should not be commenting on the legal aspects of what happened here. Its sad that you feel you must make your pronouncements without any real knowledge of the facts.
Stacy: Zelaya removed himself from office according to Our constitution. Ever since he came back to the Brazilian embassy he has shown the world why at that moment it was better to "send him away", his whole cry has been of inciting violence and mobs, luckily they have not been so successful because he does not have the power he would've had had he not been removed from office. And the US did NOT support us (the conservative side), they stood by the leftist side...up until now, when they have realized that we were just following and defending our Constitution. Zelaya had many chances to make ammends and follow the law but up until June 28 (YEAR OF ELECTIONS mind you) the government was operating with no budget, nobody had money but him, and noone knew what he was doing with OUR money simply because he wasn't telling (even though that is illegal). Imagine Obama just spending your money at his whim with no say fro the Congress...what would you have done?
Stacy, sounds like you need to go to the mall, do something you can do, something you know how to do well, but don't share opinions on matters that are unknown to you.
Our demented ex-president was deposed according to our constitution and God help us he's not coming back, he's just reaping what he sowed.
Viva Honduras!!!
Stacy, Zelaya was warned repeatedly by the courts to desist. When he publically stated he was going ahead with the referendum, that action terminated his presidency. Ramon Vasques, the head of the armed forces, was then tasked by the courts, with the unanimous support of Congress to arrest him. The PJ and pointing guns story is Mel’s and was gobbled up by the press. Who knows what really happened that morning. We do know he had time to find his Government Credit Card and Passport, and when he got off the plane he had his trademark cowboy hat and leather vest.
Very nice job Blas. I ran across your article last night while preparing a blog post on Honduras and I have used (and linked) your observation of Zelaya getting "thrown under the bus."
stjacquesonline.blogspot.com/2009/11/is-alice-leaving-wonderland-taking-step.html
Oh, Blas, you'll have to add the "http" + "://" to get the full url. I looked for an e-mail address for you but could not find one. StJacques
Hey Stacy, Hypothetical situations dont apply in real life. Mel broke the law and he must pay for all his other violations of the Honduras ppl and face his corruption charges. Its unfortunate that ppl like mel do exist and even worse exist in a political realm. Hes an easily corruptible man, Hugo Chavez taught us that. The sooner this clown stops whining about a his few months left as "president" the better off we will all be.
He claims to be the savior of the Honduran ppl yet hes the one causing all the trouble. If he really cared bout Honduras he should should have stepped aside along time ago and have ended the crisis that he started in the 1st place, instead he seems to be only concern about himself and his status, a leader should not be so arrogant and selfish.
I am a Honduran 39 yr old female teacher. I can tell you first hand this agreement is for the internatinal Community tos ave face, they made a HUGE mistake and they knew they had to fix it. Zelaya BETRAYED my country in the worst way and 85% of this country does not want to see him anywhere except in jail. I am SO PROUD of my country, we won the war peacefully, we stood by our righ to protect OUR laws nomatter what and now the world is FINALLy coming around !! By hte way, Brazil announced today it wants its embassy in Hon back....jejejej...I wonder were MEl is planning to go now?
Stacy, I´m a Honduran that lives in Honduras, as per our law Zelaya can´t return to the chair for the multiples criminal acts, pls read our contitution, understand our constitution, specialy 239...if you don´t live here you can not speak about what happened, you have no merits and your opinion has no balue in our crisis, do you know what he did last weekend, well let me tell you...he is an animal, he doesnot care about his family, he bit his wife broke his shoulder, she has a black eye, and jaw...broken ribs, what kind of man he is...your have no right to critized our decision without the knowledge and living experiences that we the Honduras have.
He is out and no point of returning...THX GOD...Viva Honduras and Viva Micheletti.
I agree with Amo a Honduras. Stacy, go to the mall...it's probably what you are best at. There is NO room for opinion from anyone who is not from Honduras or at least spent time there. I spent 4 years living there and left on June 27 this year (a planned departure to return to the US for work). What you read or see in the US media is nothing like the first hand accounts of those living there. Besides, what gives you the right to interpret another countries constitution? It is the job of the Honduras Supreme Court to interpret theirs, NOT Stacy's job (I don't even care if you have a PhD in international law, it's not your job!). Would you like for the Honduran people or even the Supreme Court of Honduras to come and tell you that Roe vs. Wade is unconstitutional? I doubt it. This was not an arbitrary decision to remove him nor a whim of the military. The only flaw was sending him to Costa Rica instead of jailing him and that was done hoping to prevent violence. In hind sight...bad move.
Oh, BTW Stacy, POTUS only stands for President Of The United States. It was a term that was started by the US Secret Service as an indiscreet way of commenting about the President. It is not a reference to any other president.
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