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Caribbean-Latin America
Clinton: Honduras has 'evolved into a coup'
2009-06-29
WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday the United States believes the unrest in Honduras "has evolved into a coup," but the U.S. is not demanding that deposed President Manuel Zelaya be restored to office. She also said the military coup has not triggered an automatic cutoff of U.S. aid to Honduras.

Clinton told reporters at the State Department that a delegation from the Organization of American States will be heading to Honduras as early as Tuesday "to begin working with the parties" on the restoration of constitutional order.

She stopped short of saying the Obama administration would demand the return to power of the deposed president, who was forcibly removed from the country on Sunday morning by the Honduran military.
Obama didn't stop short ...
A reporter asked whether the administration would insist that Zelaya be restored to power.

"We haven't laid out any demands that we're insisting on, because we're working with others on behalf of our ultimate objectives, which are shared broadly," Clinton replied. "So we think that the arrest and expulsion of a president is certainly cause for concern that has to be addressed. And it's not just with respect to whether our aid continues, but whether democracy in Honduras continues."
"You expect the United States to intervene in a Latin American coup?"
Clinton cited a "fast-moving set of circumstances" in Honduras that require close monitoring. "Our immediate priority is to restore full democratic and constitutional order in that country," Clinton said at her first news conference since breaking her right elbow in a fall at the State Department June 17.

"As we move forward, all parties have a responsibility to address the underlying problems that led to yesterday's events in a way that enhances democracy and the rule of law in Honduras," she added.
Seems like the Honduran president was proposing a referendum that would have dumped on the rule of law there. Their Supreme Court told him not to do it but he was doing it anyway. How does that fit the 'rule of law'?
While stating that circumstances in Honduras had "evolved into a coup," Clinton added that it was a fast-moving situation with an uncertain outcome. "So we are withholding any formal legal determination. But I think the reality is that having expelled the president, we have a lot of work to do to try to help the Hondurans get back on the democratic path that they've been on for a number of years now," Clinton said.

She said the United States is looking at its aid program for the country and considering the implications of the forced removal of Zelaya for continued American assistance.
Posted by:Steve White

#3  She said the United States is looking at its aid program for the country and considering the implications of the forced removal of Zelaya for continued American assistance.

In finest traditions of Chicagoland "pay to play." Of course the upside.... Aid dividends harvested from an illegal coup could be redirected to Hamas for education and school lunch programs.
Posted by: Besoeker   2009-06-29 17:59  

#2  What happens if it devolves into an impeachment? Anybody have experience with those? What if a competent judicial authority finds that a competent military authority properly refused to obey an unlawful order? What if nobody is killed during the entire affair? What if neighboring, and near neighboring states exert overt and covert pressure on domestic authorities? Who is to judge that? What if the OAS demands a return to "democratic" norms? What if Honduras asks for a definition of that, along the lines of Cuban and Venezuelan examples?

The list of questions goes on and on.
Posted by: Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division   2009-06-29 17:51  

#1  Uh, with a President like Reagan Honduras had the confidence to enter a democratic path.

Now, with the current one, the best they apparently feel they can hope for is a dictatorship they control instead of Hugo.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain   2009-06-29 16:52  

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