I have no way to check, but I’m guessing Ronald Reagan was President of the U.S the last time the word “Honduras” was on the front page of the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, on the same day and “above the fold.” But events over the weekend have caught the attention of the world press. In case you missed it, Honduras’ president, Mel Zelaya, was removed over the weekend in a dispute about his desire to amend the Honduran constitution to remove presidential term limits in the constitution. The Honduran Supreme Court judged his actions to be illegal, and with the support of the Honduran Congress, ordered the military to remove him from office. Unfortunately, almost all of the press coverage outside Honduras has portrayed these events as a “military coup” of the kind that was common in the 20th-century history of Latin America.
Press accounts have paid little heed to the fact that every important democratic institution in Honduras, including Congress, the Supreme Court, and Mel Zelaya’s own party, regards the military as having acted with restraint and only after legal authorization by the other branches of the Honduran government. The Honduran press and the vast majority of the population seem very supportive of Zelaya’s removal.
Here is an excellent article that offers a view more consistent with what I’m reading on blogs from Honduran nationals and American expats living there.
Zelaya has previously aligned himself ideologically and politically with the Chavez/Castro wing of Latin American nations, so it’s no surprise he has found support with them. But I am surprised that the leaders of more centrist countries like Costa Rica and Colombia, who ought to know better, haven’t been more supportive. For years now Zelaya has been cozying up to Hugo Chavez and blustering against the U.S., so I can’t imagine why U.S. diplomats would have felt a need to head this off and keep him in power. Honduras’ Congress, Supreme Court, and interim President will need to do a better job of getting the full story out, or else world opinion will force Zelaya’s reinstatement, at least until the fall elections.
Filed under: General
