Its amazing how tough the United Nations has been to defend an authoritarian pushing to become president for life, but then waffles, obfuscates, or apologizes in the face of the most evil regimes on the planet.Of course Chavez has managed to be the big winner so far as our hapless government fumbles the issue.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Honduras' ousted president won overwhelming international support Tuesday as he planned a high-profile return to his chaotic country. The politicians who sent soldiers to fly him into exile in his pajamas said he will be arrested for treason if he tries.
The showdown was building to a climax as the presidents of Argentina and Ecuador signed on to accompany President Manuel Zelaya on a flight to Honduras on Thursday. Attorney General Luis Alberto Rubi said Zelaya would be seized "as soon as he sets foot on Honduran soil" and face 20 years in prison on charges that also include abuse of authority.
"I'm going back to calm people down. I'm going to try to open a dialogue and put things in order," Zelaya said at the United Nations. "When I'm back, people are going to say ... `commander, we're at your service' and the army will have to correct itself. There's no other possibility."
The U.N. General Assembly voted by acclamation to demand Zelaya's immediate restoration, and the Organization of American States was meeting to consider suspending Honduras for straying from democracy.
What will happens when he lands? As of now it appears Zeleya has backed off as the government is threatening to arrest him.
The U.N. is worthless, at best.
ReplyDeleteThis man is at best a pseudo-glorified impostor of a president! How can any government back him up is beyond me! It’s clear that the people of Honduras don’t want him back! Wake up world! How can anyone trust a close friend of Chavez and Fidel? Please!
ReplyDeleteunbelieveable, www.laprensahn.com , i come from honduras and my dad lives there now, the majority of people hated zelaya for getting so close with chavez. Congress was right to kick him out through military force, hundurans around the country are relieved. this is no military coup, this is a democracy fighting for survival from a corrupt leftist leader.
ReplyDeletei do not understand how any democracy could denounce this clearly peaceful resolution to a sure path of destruction for honduras.
How can anyone with a basic intelligence call this a coup? Only the evil doers,that's who.Just look at the Zelaya supporters: Castro,Cuba,50 years enslaving the cubans,Ortega,Nicaragua 30 years ashaming those people,Chavez,12 years killing sistematically his opponents,Correa,Ecuador,ready for the upcoming 50 years,Morales,massacring his fellow indigenous people to stay in power. Is that the famous,flashing American media and the U.S. government doesn't know anything about these criminals? And now both want to call this a "coup"? And punish Honduras? For defending his constitution,getting rid of a wanna-be dictator? Please,give me a break!If the U.S. government punishes Honduras in any way, it will be the first time that the U.S. will punish a country for defending Democracy.Obama: open your eyes,man!
ReplyDeleteIncredible....!!! we Honduran thought that US had an embassy in our country?...what was this called "embassador" doing? mabye just as a tourist in the Mayan copan ruins?
ReplyDeleteIs it possible that the US embasador to Honduras could not informed what and why this was done to Mr Zelaya?....did anybody informed the international community what Mr zelaya's intentions to change the constitution to be re-elected and stay in power for ever , just like his dear friends HUGO CHAVEZ and ALBA treaty countries?
dint anyone has seen Mr zelaya acting as will with no respect of the laws and Honduran constitution?, dint anyone tell you he has created a caous in the country with is economic politics and having in debt the country 3 times more in 6 month
we really cant belive how the world is backing this communist dictator!
How can the OEA call for the unconditional restitution of Mel Zelaya and Honduras democracy and yet they embrace Cuba’s dictatorship with open arms? Honduras is fighting to keep its democracy alive but the free world doesn’t want to help. What is wrong with everybody?
ReplyDeletehe greatest tourist attraction in Central America has always been politics. Diplomats stop by every few years, take a couple of snapshots of what's going on at the presidential palace, and then profoundly declare their opinions, devoid of context or history. This week's favorite diplotourism destination is Honduras, where the army Sunday arrested President Manuel Zelaya and booted him across the border to Costa Rica. In the Polaroid analysis, it's pretty clear what happened: ''A return to barbarism in our hemisphere,'' as Argentina's president Cristina Fernández put it.
ReplyDeleteShe had plenty of company. ''The action taken against Honduran President Mel Zelaya violates the precepts of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, and thus should be condemned by all,'' said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. ``We call on all parties in Honduras to respect the constitutional order and the rule of law.''
The OAS Permanent Council voted ''to condemn vehemently the coup d'etat staged this morning against the constitutionally established government of Honduras.'' U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon demanded ``the reinstatement of the democratically elected representatives of the country and full respect for human rights.''
Here's a question for all these new-found defenders of Honduran democracy: Where were you last week? Perhaps if some of these warnings about sticking to the constitution had been addressed to President Zelaya, the Honduran army would still be in the barracks where it belongs.
A naked power grab:
For weeks, Zelaya -- an erratic leftist who styles himself after his good pal Hugo Chávez of Venezuela -- has been engaged in a naked and illegal power grab, trying to rewrite the Honduran constitution to allow him to run for reelection in November.
First Zelaya scheduled a national vote on a constitutional convention. After the Honduran supreme court ruled that only the country's congress could call such an election, Zelaya ordered the army to help him stage it anyway. (It would be ''non-binding,'' he said.) When the head of the armed forces, acting on orders from the supreme court, refused, Zelaya fired him, then led a mob to break into a military base where the ballots were stored.
His actions have been repudiated by the country's supreme court, its congress, its attorney-general, its chief human-rights advocate, all its major churches, its main business association, his own political party (which recently began debating an inquiry into Zelaya's sanity) and most Hondurans: Recent polls have shown his approval rating down below 30 percent.
In fact, about the only people who didn't condemn Zelaya's political gangsterism were the foreign leaders and diplomats who now primly lecture Hondurans about the importance of constitutional law. They're also strangely silent about the vicious stream of threats against Honduras spewing from Chávez since Zelaya was deposed.
Warning that he's already put his military on alert, Chávez on Monday flat-out threatened war against Honduras if Roberto Micheletti, named by the country's congress as interim president until elections in November, takes office.
''If they swear him in we'll overthrow him,'' Chávez blustered. ``Mark my words. Thugetti -- as I'm going to refer to him from now on -- you better pack your bags, because you're either going to jail or you're going into exile.''
Hey, Hillary: What does the Inter-American charter say about that?
The Honduran army clearly did not act on its own when it arrested Zelaya and sent him packing. The supreme court says the generals acted on its orders, and almost every Honduran politician of any note -- regardless of party -- has voiced approval.
Long, unpleasant history:
They may come to regret their decision. Honduras had a long and unpleasant history of military government in the 20th century, and perhaps the army will not march back into Pandora's box and close the lid behind it so willingly.