The President of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, was arrested at his home and put on a plane to Costa Rica. He’s now in exile. What did Zelaya do?
First, let’s ask who he is. He’s a friend of dictators Raul Castro and Hugo Chavez and models himself on them, right down to the pontificating anti-US rhetoric. None of that is an indictable offence. It’s his right as a statesman to form alliances as he sees fit. But his buddies aren’t democratically elected, they have dictatorships and rule by fiat.
What Zelaya- whose standing in the opinion polls had slumped to below 30 percent – wanted to do, was hold a referendum to tear up the constitution and abolish presidential term limits. That looks at face value like a grap for total power, Zimbabwe style. There’s a great deal of trust invested in democratically elected leaders. one of the things we trust them to do is not use their power to dismantle the democracy that put them there in the first place. We trust our leaders not to climb into the treehouse then kick the ladder away but that seems to be what he’s done.
The chief of the armed forces, General Velasquz, acted on orders from the country’s high court. In effect, the institutions of governance went into high gear to stop their own demise. Velasquez has a clear conscience:
“We did it out of duty and for love of country because democracy was at risk,” he said.
At any rate, Zelaya is now in Costa Rica, where perhaps he should kill some time by enrolling at the University for Peace.
The United Nations is outraged.
update: Jennifer Rubin says much the same thing: Obama is wrong, wrong, wrong about Honduras
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