The Obama administration’s actions towards Honduras continue to defy logic. On the one hand, Obama states that he is for the rule of law. Yet Obama meddles in the worst possible way in Hondurans’ attempt to protect their country from a Chavez-style tyranny. Read Fausta’s Blog for a full round-up of what Honduras was facing from this deposed dictator-in-the-making.
A Justice of the Honduran Supreme Court has released a statement confirming that the military acted on orders of the judiciary, as reported by Bloomberg:
Honduras’s military acted under judicial orders in deposing President Manuel Zelaya, Supreme Court Justice Rosalinda Cruz said, rejecting the view of President Barack Obama and other leaders that he was toppled in a coup.
“The only thing the armed forces did was carry out an arrest order,” Cruz, 55, said in a telephone interview from the capital, Tegucigalpa. “There’s no doubt he was preparing his own coup by conspiring to shut down the congress and courts.”
Cruz said the court issued a sealed arrest order for Zelaya on June 26, charging him with treason and abuse of power, among other offenses. Zelaya had repeatedly breached the constitution by pushing ahead with a vote about rewriting the nation’s charter that the court ruled illegal, and which opponents contend would have paved the way for a prohibited second term.
She compared Zelaya’s tactics, including his dismissal of the armed forces chief for obeying a court order to impound ballots to be used in the vote, with those of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
“Some say it was not Zelaya but Chavez governing,” she said.
While Obama improves relations with Venezuela, Obama has cut military ties to Honduras, is considering a cut-off of all aid, is doing nothing to stop loan suspensions by international organizations over which the U.S. has substantial influence, and is supporting international efforts to isolate Honduras.
Poor and tiny Honduras faces the full wrath of the United States, United Nations, and much of the rest of the world, while nothing is done about Iran. On Iran, Obama and the world acted with the utmost deference, and there were no efforts by the Obama administration at international action. None.
But Honduras, enforcing its own laws against a renegade wannabe President-for-life, for some reason warrants the full force of the United States government and international community. Honduras gets condemnation from Obama, while Chavez gets hugs and Ahmadinejad gets deference. Wonderful. No, horrible.
UPDATE: Must read A ‘coup’ in Honduras? Nonsense.:
Sometimes, the whole world prefers a lie to the truth. The White House, the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and much of the media have condemned the ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya this past weekend as a
coup d’état.That is nonsense. In fact, what happened here is nothing short of the triumph of the rule of law….
The Supreme Court and the attorney general ordered Zelaya’s arrest for disobeying several court orders compelling him to obey the Constitution. He was detained and taken to Costa Rica. Why? Congress needed time to convene and remove him from office. With him inside the country that would have been impossible. This decision as taken by the 123 (of the 128) members of Congress present that day.
Don’t believe the coup myth. The Honduran military acted entirely within the bounds of the Constitution. The military gained nothing but the respect of the nation by its actions.
I am extremely proud of my compatriots. Finally, we have decided to stand up and become a country of laws, not men. From now on, here in Honduras, no one will be above the law.
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Related Posts:
“Heads They Win, Tails We Lose” Diplomacy
Obama Throws Venezuelans Under The Bus
He Who Cannot Stop Talking, Is Silent On Iran
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Comments
I'm sure potential Leftist Latin American dictators everywhere are sighing with relief. Obama will make it all better for them.
Maybe Honduras needs Nukes?
Nice Instalink, "Daniel" Jacobson.
I've written several posts (indexed here) explaining the real story in Honduras. I lived there in 1989 and traveled over most of the country.
What people here don't understand is that the Honduran constitution specifies clear roles for the military in maintaining constitutional order and rule of law, including the administration of national balloting and enforcement of the strict provision of a single term for the president.
Constitutionally, the military had no choice but to refuse to administer the illegal referendum. Zelaya ordered the chief of the general staff to hold the referendum. He refused. Zelaya fired him, which was immediately ruled illegal by the supreme court. Zelaya refused to reinstate the general. Then the heads of the services promptly resigned in protest.
Last Thursday, Zelaya personally led a mob to the warehouse where the Venezuelan-supplied ballots were stored by the army. Taking them by force, Zelaya had his minions distribute them to polling places – also unconstitutional since only the military can administer polling.
Realizing a clear crisis was upon them, the court nullified Zelaya's office, as authorized by the constitution, and with the support of the entire government directed the army to remove Zelaya from office.
It has been entirely overlooked that the constitution requires the military to enforce the single-term law of the presidency.
The Honduran military has since the 1840s (just after the country's independence from Spain) been charged with enforcing civil law and order. In this sense the military forms the equivalent of the US Marshall Service and Honduran battalion commanders serve not only as strictly military commanders but as sheriffs of their districts.
It is impossible to believe that Foggy Bottom's country experts didn't know this. The real disaster of the administration's response is that they practiced ready-fire-aim, except they never actually aimed.
Another example of Obama ineptitude? I sure hope so, since the alternative is to conclude he is openly pro-fascist, as Roger Simon bluntly put it.
Hounduras should have held mass rallies declaring the US to be "The Great Satan".
That'll get more results, it seems.
FYI: http://savehondurasnow.blogspot.com
That was a great blog! I lived in Honduras for two years and have been in almost none stop contact with many of my friends down there. The majority, from what I can tell, hated Zelaya. Many of the poor, who Zelaya gave goodies in order to convince them that he was a good guy, want him back. Typical class warfare.
I don't understand why the international community has come down so negatively on something that I by doing my own research in under an hour found was perfectly legal. Don't they have any Central American experts in the State Department? Honestly! If the Obama Administration allows Zelaya to return to power history will judge him poorly for failing to stand up for democracy. And I know many Hondurans that will never forgive him.
I'm a Reagan era cold war vet,. I vividly remember the push by Castro's fans to make Latin America Warsaw Pact West, and the utter insanity of the US domestic left in rah rahing it. The dolts like Ed Asner, Martin Sheen,. they just shivered in delight when describing the glories of the wonderful peoples republic of,..
kinda like our current left,. they just adore Chavez… apparently, death squads and political prisoners only count when they belong to a dictater that isn't a marxist thug.
This whole situation you describe sickens me,.
as if, the entire thing, the whole of the sacrifices made to stop communism, radical socialism where just a great big waste of time. My generation, the Vietnam vets, the Korean vets, what was it all for?
Our current POTUS sickens me,. too clueless, too arrogant to see he's spitting on everything we served for, eveything we fought for, and some of us, died for.
Reagan believed in us,.
Obama seems to believe in that grinning retard Chavez.
He's either the most two faced man ever elected to the office, or the most completely tone deaf. Maybe at Harvard radical reds were all the rage and so cool,..
in my youthful associations,..
They were targets, two to the heart, one to the head,.. I do not will not cannot forget or just forgive communists as another choice in politics,. they murdered too many, and spilled my families blood on foreign fields.
I may respect the office,.
but I refuse to respect the man, not now, not since he's chosen to side with monsters and attack friends for nothing more than defending their nations. I met Honduran troops training here,. They don't deserve this betrayal, and that is what Obama has done, again.
Clearly a Miltary Dictrtorship with Chavez pulling the strings is what is in the best intrest of Obama granted most likely not for America.
If they arrested the pro-democracy supporters and hung them and then threatened Costa Rica with nukes, Obama would bow down to them.
Obama is bringing his friends close and pushing all his enemies away. Unfortunately for anyone who is not a Democrat, Obama's enemies are those who believe in democracy and the rule of law. Given Obama's actions vis a vis Honduras and Iran, it is not a stretch of the imagination to say that if defeated in the next election Obama will not depart. If voted out, he will use the NOI, Black Panther, and ACORN troops against the people of this country who he's diligently trying to disarm. Obama is just another dictator wannabe who's giving support to all those whom he intends to emulate.
Extremely disturbing. The left tells me Obama is the smartest president since… the last Democrat president, who was the smartest president since… the previous Democrat president… Surely his diplomats and intelligence operatives know what is going on in Honduras, and surely Obama was fully briefed before he acted. Could it be that Obama really is the Manchurian Candidate come to life?
Why is Obama acting this way? How about "Birds of a feather…"?
I have an idea that hopefully other conservative bloggers will consider promoting. It's really quite simple: BUY HONDURAN!
The new government of Honduras is under tremendous pressure from the "international community" (including our own President) to hand power back over the the communist would-be dictator Zelaya. Loans and aid are being cut off, and diplomatic and military ties have been severed. The Honduran economy will likely suffer quite a bit in the short term, which will add to the pain in these already difficult economic times. Honduras is a small, poor country, and this economic pressure will be quite painful indeed. If it gets bad enough, the new government may be forced to allow Zelaya to return – and if that happens it is a near-certainty that he will rule Honduras as President-for-life, much like Castro and Chavez.
So. What can we do to help the new government? We can attempt to offset, or at least mitigate, the economic damage by buying Honduran! Honduras exports a number of goods to the United States, including agricultural products and textiles. We should compile a list of their products that are sold here in the US, and then spread the word via blogging and social networking. If enough people participate, the Honduran economy may be able to weather the storm. We need to stand united against left-wing dictators!
I'm convinced this explains, if not everything, then part of it:
http://lgstarr.blogspot.com/2009/06/obamas-drug-czar.html
And this has made me angrier than anything else this Marxist scum has done so far:
http://lgstarr.blogspot.com/2009/06/shameful-for-first-time-in-my-life-i-am.html
(Sorry for the double links–expedience.)
This post has been linked for the HOT5 Daily 7/2/2009, at The Unreligious Right
I'm a Reagan era cold war vet,. I vividly remember the push by Castro's fans to make Latin America Warsaw Pact West, and the utter insanity of the US domestic left in rah rahing it. The dolts like Ed Asner, Martin Sheen,. they just shivered in delight when describing the glories of the wonderful peoples republic of,..
kinda like our current left,. they just adore Chavez… apparently, death squads and political prisoners only count when they belong to a dictater that isn't a marxist thug.
Uh, when Chavez starts supporting nun-raping death squads (as we did in El Salvador), openly training and arming a genocidal army (as we did in Guatemala), and using terrorist tactics to overthrow a sovereign government (as we did against Nicaragua), then your argument will begin to make some sense.
I seriously can't believe that there are people who think that the right-wing had any credibility when it comes to Central America. They spent an entire decade lying about atrocities being committed by death squads and terrorists that we supported, and now they wish to expess concern over Obama "intervening" in Honduras? Wow.
I got this from IMAO, and its pretty funny:
"So are we supposed to trust Obama on the Honduran constitution when he hasn’t even shown a working knowledge of our own constitution?"
"I seriously can't believe that there are people who think that the right-wing had any credibility when it comes to Central America."
Lets not get to high and might yourself. As I recall the left in this country were doing the same about any left wing killers in South America and Russia's involvement.
Honduras is setting an example that the Constitutional Scholar in Chief doesn't want to contemplate: a people using legitimate means and lawful political institutions to enforce their constitution and thus defend their liberties.
Btw, i would love to see a translated copy of the honduran constitution so we can judge for ourselves.
Isn't Tegucigalpa a suburb of Chicago? No? Well, it's part of Illinois, though. So, what's the problem here? Keep moving. Let's keep moving along now.
Peace is wonderful isn't it? Oh, Hope!
Btw, poliblog is claiming that the coup is unconstitutional. I tried to take them down a peg as A.W. my other nome de plume, but feel free to have at it.
http://www.poliblogger.com/?p=16166
To be blunt, i don't know who is right, but i know we don't know enough to judge. imagine someone coming from a foreign legal system and trying to make sense of our supreme court's rulings.
As Donald Sensing says, the best we can say of The Won is that he is feckless, the worst, that he is complicitly an enemy of Liberty and the Republic.
As for AJB and others, the past is just that. Who is to say what was real back then? You?
btw, this wsj article is pretty damning on the ex-presidente
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124623220955866301.html
Honduras Constitution seen here: http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Honduras/hond05.html
Of course it is in Spanish so I don't know if it will help most of you. You can find the justifaction of getting rid of Zelaya in, Title 2 Chapter 3 Article 42 & Title 5 Chapter 3 Article 239. They basically say that if President tries to amend either directly or indriectly the Constitution in order to run for re-election he will be ousted. Also, he can lose his citizenship by court order and/or be prohibitied from holding any public office for 10 years. Seems pretty obvious to me…
What we all need to remember is that there is no way to impeach the President like we have in the USA. Which is one reason the military was used to get rid of Zelaya.
AJB….
clearly, you never paid attention to Chavez's efforts to not play nice, or his attempts to derail Columbia's democracy.
—
"It is true. Chávez was very tolerant of the FARC, to such an extent that they even organized a Bolivarian Movement. One can find a common ideological identity. They fight for the 21st Century socialism. The FARC is interested in having in the hemispheric neighborhood friendly governments, such as those of Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia and Nicaragua.
Chávez meddles in the internal policy of these countries."
http://tinyurl.com/l49426
—
My God,.. you on the left are stupendously uninformed,. or just plain deliberately ignorant of what the crimes of the left are.
I suspect, you knew Chavez was dirty, despite your assertions it's all our own doing. It just fits the narrative,. so like any good leftwing apologist, you leave out anything that might suggest the right is quite correct about him.
I can argue why you're wrong all day,. but you are missing the point,. it's about Obama's deliberate act to undercut a democracy saving itself. You and Obama just hate, that we didn't get another Latin president for life till socialist utopia come….
Address why Obama was right or wrong to side with Chavez,. or just hump someone elses leg,. I keep my own council on why leftwingers are vile slavers, I don't much care why you do not see the obvious.
Reagan had the backdrop of the cold war hampering his actions, as did FDR with WWII when installing the ruling classes in his time.
So,… was FDR an imperialist too, or do you save your condemnations just for republican presidents?
Reagan won the cold war, freed millions upon millions,. and that still galls you..
don't it?
Honduran people would rather go hungry without the aid of the US before allowing Chavez tyrannical rule. The rest of the world can learn from the people of Honduras, and fight against tyranny, fight for their rights and not allow some simple minded power hungry ignorant who thinks he knows the will of the people to take a sovereign country and rule like a cacique. I bet Chavez did think his plan would back fire. I hope Zelaya learned to sleep with his work clothes and sombrero on.