The Obama administration has not had many foreign policy victories. But it just consummated a long hoped-for victory in Honduras with the return of former President Manuel Zelaya, a close ally of Hugo Chavez.
Zelaya was forced into exile after Zelaya tried to extend his term as President in violation of the Honduran constitution. Zelaya was deposed by the military acting on orders of the Honduran Supreme Court and the Honduran Congress.
Throughout 2009 the U.S. orchestrated intense pressure on Honduras, including facilitating the exclusion of Honduras from the Organization of American States, threatened sanctions, and disruption of the ability of Honduran officials to travel to the United States. The fact that Honduras was acting in accordance with its own law as interpreted by its own Supreme Court in order to prevent a Chavez-style President-for-Life debacle meant nothing to the Obama administration.
For those of you who want some history, see my prior posts:
- Hands Off Honduras
- I Hope Obama Fails In Honduras
- CNN Falls For The Honduran Fauxtester
- Thank You, Honduras
In order to ease the pressure, Honduras finally agreed that Zelaya could return, and he did so this weekend, as reported at Fausta’s Blog and La Gringa’s Blogicito.
Zelaya returned on a Venezuelan plane accompanied by Daniel Ortega and a top Chavez assistant, and has pledged to reenter politics:
Expect trouble, as Zelaya will waste no time in spiking the football with anti-American and pro-Chavez agitation.
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Comments
As an Argentine immigrant, it has frustrated me to see this administration put no pressure on quasi-totalitarian leftist regimes in Latin America. Instead, it is appeasing to incredibly foolish anti-Western sentiments in places like my home country. Long gone are the days when we pushed free trade and democracy. It seems like this administration's policy toward Latin America is, inexplicably, to assure them that they are, rather than part of the Western world, at odds with Western interests.
Is there no end to the dishonor we share by the craven actions of our President?
A truly disgusting development and another Obama dagger in the heart of constitutional democratic allies. If Obama is not a commie symp, you certainly could fool alot of people given his undermining of our allies and the support of our enemies.
This seems to have drawn little attention and it should draw a great deal. An entirely constitutional procedure deals with someone who overtly wanted to run Honduras on a Chavez-like basis–and the president of the United States presses Honduras to let him stay in office and then let him back in.
If he's not genuinely sympathetic to left-wing thugs and dictators, there should be another explanation. Any ideas?
I'm sure the White House is going to love this article today in The Independent:
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/who-cares-in-the-middle-east-what-obama-says-2290761.html
One-man global catastrophe.
Of course President Obama is going to try to get Zelaya returned. Yes, Zelaya tried to extend his term as President in violation of the Honduran constitution. But, you have to remember Obama's point of view on Constitutions: They are LIVING DOCUMENTS meant to be REINTERPRETED in view of changed situations, and (sarcasm) this was OBVIOUSLY a changed situation.
It's a complete ignorance of history or definition of the term "Constitution" on Obama's part, but what can we expect from a "Constitutional Law Lecturer" and not a professor.
P.S.- I'm eagerly awaiting the upcoming Presidential race, for that key moment when the Republican candidate says to President Obama:
"Well, you never wrote any articles as a 'Harvard Law Review Editor,' you were never a professor as Chicago Law, you were merely a lecturer, and you got that only because of your political connections. What gives you any more authority to tell us how the Constitution should be interpreted than anybody else with a Juris Doctor Degree?"
It will be CLASSIC.