Honduran church leaders, and 17 U.S. Senators, are now opposing outside pressure on Honduras to reinstate the corrupt president that it ousted last Sunday for seeking to eliminate constitutional term limits and become a dictator. The Obama Administration has joined Cuban dictator Castro, the anti-American Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, and the Organization of American States in demanding that Honduras put ex-president Mel Zelaya back in power.
“Óscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga, the Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, and a Cardinal, strongly warned against Zelaya’s return to Honduras, which could lead to a ‘blood bath.’ Rodriguez, in a televised speech on July 4, asked the Organization of American States (OAS), which has demanded Zelaya’s restoration, to examine the ‘illegal deeds’ under Zelaya’s regime:’” “‘The Honduras people are also asking why the warlike threats against our country have not been condemned,’ he continued, by implication referring to invasion threats by Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez."
Speaking on behalf of Honduras’s bishops, he criticized international sanctions and threatened trade blockades against Honduras: “‘We declare the right we have to define our own destiny without unilateral pressure of any sort, seeking solutions which promote the good of all,’ said Cardinal Rodriguez in his July 4 broadcast, reading from the bishops’ statement. ‘We reject threats of force or blockades of any sort which only make the poorest suffer.’”
“Implicitly defending Zelaya’s ouster by the Supreme Court and Congress, Cardinal Rodriguez said: ‘Each and every one of the documents which have come into our hands show that the institutions of the Honduran democratic state are valid and that what it has executed in juridical-legal matters has been rooted in law.’ Rodriguez noted that the Honduran constitution asserts that ‘whoever proposes’ to change the constitution’s prohibition against presidential reelection ‘immediately ceases to hold his post and remains disqualified for ten years for any public function.’ The Cardinal concluded: ‘Therefore, the person sought, when he was captured, no longer held the position of President of the Republic.’ The Supreme Court had authorized an arrest warrant for the President, he noted.” In short, the removal of Zelaya was valid under Article 239 of the Honduras Constitution, as the Honduran-American lawyer Miguel Estrada, the Honduran lawyer Octavio Sanchez, and a former assistant secretary of state, have noted.
Cardinal Rodriguez did, however, criticize the military for exiling Zelaya after removing him from office, taking him in his pajamas to the nearby country of Costa Rica, “when he observed that the constitution prohibits expatriation to a ‘foreign State,’” referring to Article 81 of the Honduran Constitution.
(The military’s role in removing Zelaya from office was valid under Article 272 of the Honduras Constitution. Moreover, it acted on orders of the Honduran Supreme Court, and the president was replaced by the Congressional speaker, Roberto Micheletti, who was duly selected by an almost unanimous vote of Honduras’s Congress. Given the country’s civilian leadership, the oft-repeated claim that Honduras had a “military coup” or is controlled by a “military junta” is simply false).
Obama and the State Department have argued that Zelaya’s removal from office was an “illegal” “coup,” but they have not explained how his removal could violate Honduran law if it was approved by the Honduran Supreme Court and carried out in accord with Articles 239 and 272 of the Constitution. That has puzzled many in the Senate.
On July 8, 17 senators sent Secretary of State Clinton a letter calling on the Administration to stop pressuring Honduras to accept the return of its would-be dictator, and asking the Administration to explain how it can possibly call the removal illegal when it was carried on orders of the Honduran courts and approved by the Honduran Congress. They noted that “the removal of Mr. Zelaya was legal and legitimate” pursuant to the Honduran Constitution’s “system of checks and balances.” Accusing the Administration of “disregarding Honduran law,” they argued that “U.S. assistance should not be interrupted to Honduras” based on the false assumption that it has experienced a military “coup d’etat.”
(To argue that Honduras acted illegally, the Obama Administration has made some pretty radical, and unfounded, legal claims, such as suggesting, contrary to the U.S. and Honduran Constitutions, that corrupt government officials can’t be removed from office without elaborate “judicial process,” and that there is a “universal principle” that allows elected presidents to stay in office, even, apparently, if they violate the law or constitutional checks and balances.).
The Episcopal Bishop of Honduras has also criticized ousted president Zelaya, noting that he had defied the Supreme Court and Congress when he “led a group of protesters to an air force installation and seized the ballot boxes, which the procurator’s office and the electoral tribunal had ordered confiscated.”
The democratically-elected president of Panama is now telling other American leaders not to meddle in Honduras’s affairs by forcing Zelaya’s return.
Comments
OK, but everybody else supports Zelaya!
Even Hillary Clinton who would not meet with just anybody.
The public opinion polls in Honduras earlier this year showed that the public didn't like Zelaya. He was as unpopular as George Bush at the end of his rule.
He has a base of support in the cities (and among government employees), but the rural people, and educated people hate him.
Still, many Hondurans seem ticked off by the sudden nature of his removal, and the fact that he was summarily kicked out of the country afterwards. The new government isn't popular, either.
Interestingly, the Honduran Constitution of 1982 does provide for loss of citizenship for those who “incite, promote or aid in the continuation or re-election of the President” (article 42):
ARTICULO 42.- La calidad de ciudadano se pierde: 5. Por incitar, promover o apoyar el continuismo o la reelección del Presidente de la República.
Further, Article 239 indicates that anyone who has held the office of chief executive cannot be president or vice president and anyone who proposes reform to that prohibition can be barred from holding public office for ten years: ARTICULO 239.- El ciudadano que haya desempeñado la titularidad del Poder Ejecutivo no podrá ser Presidente o Vicepresidente de la República. El que quebrante esta disposición o proponga su reforma, así como aquellos que lo apoyen directa o indirectamente, cesarán de inmediato en el desempeño de sus respectivos cargos y quedarán inhabilitados por diez años.
First of all, BRAVO Mr.Bader.
Our Honduran Constitution removed the Chavez wanna be Mel Zelaya bye DeFacto. His persistant violations of our Constitution and law institutions removed him from power, not anyone else. Why can´t the world open their eyes to the events before the morning of June 28? Think what is the motivation to see only the soapbox opera presentation of "poor" Mr. Zelaya in his pijamas. No Honduran jail could hold or resist a mob like the ones we have seen orchestrated bye this elected president who calls for democracy when he needs it but has no shame to spit on it, when the same people who elected him decided that we had ENOUGH of his clownish and irresponsable behaviour.
Last, just judge his attitude on the Sunday he tried to return to Honduras, even after being warned by the Catholic Church, the Canadian F.M. and the Costa Rican F.M. that his return will bring blood shed to his own supporters. He persisted with his theater and the first and only death was produced
We put up with Bush and let him finish his term (although more than half of the U.S. would have liked to kick him out), and there's even a question whether Bush was legitimately elected. Unfortunately, a coup is illegal and this is not the way a democracy works. Zelaya was legitimately elected and should finish his term. If the people of Honduras don't support Zelaya (just like we didn't want any more Bush types), replace him like we did!
I'm not Honduran, so it's not my business who runs Honduras (nor is it Obama's, although that hasn't stop him from meddling in Honduras), but Sophie's argument would have kept Richard Nixon in office after his crimes, since he resigned only because his removal through impeachment was imminent:
Lori in Honduras was probably right when she said in an earlier comment thread:
"Thanks for drawing the parallel to (former U.S. president)Richard Nixon, which I have not so far seen in any other forum. What Obama and the rest seem to be saying is that, once a president is "democratically elected" he must be allowed to complete his term no matter WHAT crimes he commits up to and including attempting to overturn the country's constitution. (I believe there are currently 19 criminal charges pending in Honduras against Sr. Zelaya) If this is the case, the U.S. owes Nixon an apology."
Sophie
If you dont know about the Honduras Law. Please dont make any comments. The congres gave the order to arrest Zelaya. The only mistake was that he was taken out of the country. But the military never took control of the Goverment. The same people that where in goverment with Zelaya are the same that are in cotrol of Honduras today. Did you know that Zelaya was goin to change the law so he can stay in power like Fidel Castro and Hugo Chaves. Did you know that 4 to 6 airplanes where comming from Venezuela with Drugs to Honduras every week with the aproval of Zelaya. Did you know that Zelaya is a Drug runner and also his son. Did you know that for the elections when he won. They had buses goin all over Honduras paying the poor people 500 lempiras for there votes. And do you know that only 15% of the Honduran people support Zelaya. The people you see on TV supporting Zelaya are been pay to go there and the others are from Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua that Chaves have send.
Millions of us from Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Ecuador, etc. wish we could have done what Hondurans are doing before the Marxist thugs working for Castro and Chavez enslaved our countries, like Zelaya was planning to enslave Honduras.
It's despicable that, rather than defending the human rights of Hondurans and Latin Americans, the Obama administration is siding with the Marxist thugs who are trampling on human rights and working with drug cartels and Islamic terrorist to destroy the U.S!
I guess it was to be expected from Obama. As his parents, relatives, friends and mentors, Obama is a Marxist who hates the U.S. As such, he sides with Marxist dictators and would-be dictators who seek to enslave their countries and destroy the U.S.
Fortunately for Hondurans, Zelaya was not yet in control of their Legislative and Judicial bodies. Unfortunately for us, Obama is increasingly in control of our Legislative and Judicial bodies.
There seems to be a pattern in Obama's support, if unspoken, for dictators as opposed to the people and law.
I am a dyed in the wool liberal and voted for Obama in the last election, but Obama is now making me feel like a conservative. Real liberals believe in the rule of law. Conservatives support each other lock step, no matter what they do, whereas real liberals will questions something stupid no matter who says it. But I am starting to feel like the last 'real liberal' on earth. Supporting Chavez simply because he claims to be a leftist is not a liberal position, it is just plain stupid. Every evil dictator who has ever walked the face of the Earth, from Julius Caesar to Stalin has always claimed to be taking power 'for the people'. A real liberal does not see someone doing this and support them. A real liberal looks at it and says 'oh crap, here we go again'. I guess there is no room for real liberals in Barry's America. You’re either a socialist or not. I pray the Repugs can do better than Palin next time around, or we are all screwed.
you are a shameless and amoral character.
you are just a little sucker on the tentacles of imperialist juggernaut trying to suffocate resurgent human rights mevements of peoples of latin america. you will fail. peoples united all around the region will defeat you oligarch scums they will not surrender their rights.
Lanny Davis, Hillary and support for the Coup in Honduras.
www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/7/27/758360/-Lanny-Davis,-Hillary-and-support-for-the-Coup-in-Honduras
this place is an hilarious kabuki theater with make believe "journalist" write BS propaganda for the oligarchs, and another set of phony "commentators" spewing more of the same idiotic BS trying to fool a few innocent visitors into believing their SCAM.
You are right, Alton. Castro, Chavez, Ortega, Morales, Correa and the rest of the Marxist thugs who are destroying Latin America all claimed they wanted to "help the poor" against the "rich" and the "oligarchs." In fact, they have only USED the poor and the ignorant to enslave everyone and multiply poverty, while further enriching and empowering themselves. That's what Obama is doing in the U.S.
Fortunately for the cause of truth, REAL democracy and freedom, not all U.S. leaders are Marxists like Obama or lemmings brainwashed by the propaganda from Castro/Chavez. We must do all we can to support those Senators and the cause of freedom.
It's despicable for the U.S. to be forcing democratic Hondurans to drink the Chavez/Zelaya's poison of Marxism, and to be used by Chavez and Zelaya in drug trafficking and other activities to destroy the U.S.
AntonioSosa you idiotic MONKEY. you are the thugs you gangster oligarch criminals will go down in flames the peoples of the latin america will see to that the empire will no be able to save you CRIMINALS any longer the empire is going down in flames people of latin america have risen up and you LOWLIFE MONKEYS will get your just answer soon.
more propaganda BS from hansbader another nazi oligarch's sh!tmonkey.
The world may support Mel Zelaya but Honduras dont. Dont let him come back, help us!
THESE F#@KTARDS CRIMINALS ARE KILLING TEACHERS NOW WHILE THEIR SH!TMONKEY BABOONS HERE FLINGING EXCREMENT BY PLAYING CHEAP TRICKS AT DISTRACTION THEIR PAYMASTERS THERE BY BADMOUTHING CHAVEZ AND OTHERS.
YOU MONKEYS HAVE ARE WORLD RECORD HOLDERS IN BEING SCUMS AND LOWLIVES.
Elvia Maria help us! help us keep our dictator oligarchy around! help us!
F#CK YOU Elvia Maria sh!t monkey AHOLE.
I pray before this is over we see ALL U.S. Senators and Congressmen come together for Honduras just as we have in the past. Honduran press refer to the U.S. being against Honduras. Everything we have seen so far from Clinton and Obama is not a reflection of U.S. It's a reflection of Clinton and Obama. There is no way the U.S. citizens would be for crippling Honduras. The people of the U.S. have and always will be there for Honduras in mission work and dollar donations despite Obama and Clinton.
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