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| Caribbean-Latin America | ||
| Honduran | ||
| 2009-07-01 | ||
| Honduras' interim leader warned that the only way his predecessor will return to office is through a foreign invasion -- though a potential showdown was postponed Wednesday when the ousted president delayed plans to return. A defiant Roberto Micheletti said in an interview with The Associated Press late Tuesday that "no one can make me resign," defying the United Nations, the OAS, the Obama administration and other leaders that have condemned the military coup that overthrew President Manuel Zelaya. The U.N. General Assembly voted by acclamation Tuesday to demand Zelaya's immediate restoration, and the Organization of American States said Wednesday that coup leaders have three days to restore Zelaya to power before Honduras risks being suspended from the group. That period for negotiation prompted Zelaya to announce he was putting off his plans to return home on Thursday until the weekend. Micheletti vowed Zelaya would be arrested if he returns, even though the presidents of Argentina and Ecuador have signed on to accompany him along with the heads of the Organization of American States and the U.N. General Assembly. Zelaya "has already committed crimes against the constitution and the law," said Micheletti, a member of Zelaya's Liberal Party who was named interim leader by Congress following the coup. "He can no longer return to the presidency of the republic unless a president from another Latin American country comes and imposes him using guns." One of several clauses that cannot be legally altered in the Honduran constitution limits presidents to a single, 4-year term. Congress claims Zelaya, whose term ends in January, modified the ballot question at the last minute to help him eventually try to seek re-election. Chavez has used referendums in Venezuela to win the right to run repeatedly. "I'm not going to hold a constitutional assembly," Zelaya said. "And if I'm offered the chance to stay in power, I won't. I'm going to serve my four years."
France and Spain announced Wednesday they are recalling their ambassadors from Honduras as part of international efforts to reinstate Zelaya. Zelaya's popularity has sagged at home in recent years, but his criticism of the wealthy and policies such as raising the minimum wage have earned him the loyalty of many poor Hondurans, and thousands have rallied to demand his return. Thousands of others rallied in favor of Micheletti on Tuesday, accusing Zelaya of trying to bring Venezuelan-style socialism to Honduras. Yet beyond the demonstrations at the presidential palace and the capital's central square, there has been little sign of major disruption to daily life. Micheletti said he would not resign no matter how intense the international pressure becomes. He insisted Honduras would be ready to defend itself against any invasion. He did not name any specific countries, but Chavez has vowed to "overthrow" Micheletti and said earlier Tuesday that any aggression against Zelaya by Micheletti's government should prompt military intervention by the United Nations. "No one can make me resign if I do not violate the laws of the country," Micheletti said. "If there is any invasion against our country, 7.5 million Hondurans will be ready to defend our territory and our laws and our homeland and our government." Micheletti said it was too late for Zelaya to avoid arrest. His foreign minister, Enrique Ortez, threw a wild card onto the table, telling CNN en Espanol that Zelaya had been letting drug traffickers ship U.S.-bound cocaine from Venezuela through Honduras. Ortez said the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration was aware of Zelaya's ties to organized crime. DEA spokesman Rusty Payne could neither confirm nor deny a DEA investigation. The U.S. government stood firmly by Zelaya, however. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Washington saw no acceptable solution other than Zelaya's return to power. He said the United States was considering cutting off aid to Honduras, which includes $215 million over four years from the U.S.-funded Millennium Challenge Corporation. Micheletti said he had no contact with any U.S. official since assuming the presidency. The interim leader, who now occupies the same office in the colonial-style presidential palace that Zelaya did, insisted he was getting on with the business of governing. He and his newly appointed Cabinet ministers were settling in, even as soldiers wandered the ornate hallways and manned barricades outside to keep Zelaya's supporters away. Micheletti, who promised he would step down in January and had no plans to ever run for president, said a key goal of his short term in office would be fixing the nation's finances. Zelaya never submitted the budget to Congress that was due last September, raising questions about what he was spending state money on.
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| Posted by:ed |
| #8 In the bad old days of the Soviet Union Cuba intervened in Southern Africa. Could Venezuelan-Cuban forces threaten Honduras from Nicaragua? Would US assistance (short of an actual military conflict) for such forces make a difference? |
| Posted by: Chunky Omath4079 2009-07-01 17:42 |
| #7 Mitch, I believe she was relating what the locals told her. She knows Venezuela does not have a border with Honduras but the locals there are really afraid Hugo and Ortega will conduct military operations to restore Zelaya. And it looks like The One is willing to go along. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2009-07-01 15:27 |
| #6 Deacon, is your letter-writer confused, or did he mean that Ortega is threatening to invade from Nicaragua? Venezuela not having any more of a common border with Honduras than we do with El Salvador.... |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2009-07-01 13:40 |
| #5 Per local reports, anti Zelaya demos of 10,000 plus have been taking place today. Much bigger than the pro Zelaya demos. Let's see whether this gets covered in tomorrows WaPo and NYTimes. Also, a compromise is possible to let Zelaya serve as President while being essentially under house arrest and having no authority. |
| Posted by: Lord garth 2009-07-01 13:04 |
| #4 Ummm…was Micheletti actually the “leader” of the so-called coup or was it the folks that make up the Honduran Supreme Court that placed him? |
| Posted by: DepotGuy 2009-07-01 12:54 |
| #3 I don't think this will end well for the Hondurans. For some strange reason all the usual suspects (and others) are determined to assist Chavez in this case. My prediction: Zelaya will return (mainly due to pressure by the Obama administration, maybe an intervention.), and the Honduran people will feel his wrath (and that of Chavez, the Castros, and Obama.) For some strange reason it is beyond the pale to impose basic norms of Western Civilization on the Afghans (who attacked NATO on 911), while it seems to be perfectly acceptable to impose Communism on the Hondurans (who have done no harm to any NATO country.) |
| Posted by: Omeagum Ulomosing9137 2009-07-01 12:42 |
| #2 Stand your ground, Honduras. You did the right thing. Screw the US lawmakers. We may be learning from your example soon. |
| Posted by: newc 2009-07-01 12:15 |
| #1 I just got this email from a friend who lives in Birmingham, Alabama and does a lot of mission work. Hi family and friends! Well, my life is occasionally boring, but not the past few days. I just returned, along with my youngest son and 64 other people from a mission trip to Honduras. Yep! We were in the middle of the political uprising. We arrived last Friday in Tagucigalpa, the capital of the country and drove about 3 hours north to a ranch. We had planned to stay until this coming Sunday. We got in a very good days work in the surrounding towns on Saturday, then went to church on Sunday with a local congregation, got in some horse back riding and planned to start again on Monday with the labor. We were laying a brick wall at the church..I discovered I can sling mortar with the best of them, delivered food and clothes to needy families, helped get a good start on a water system for a village that had been entirely displaced due to floods and planned to deliver about a 1,000 pairs of shoes we took down to school kids. If you can get shoes on their feet, you can stop a lot of the illnesses they experience. Then the world got the idea that there had been a military coup..not quite accurate according to the locals. The way it works there is the people vote and the military implements. The people voted to remove the president because he was trying to change the constitution to become more socialist. The military escorted him out of the country because that is their job. But our president did not help when he said it was military coup and Chavez took that as an invitation, thinking that America would not step in to protect Honduras. So he mounted his troops on the boarder and was threatening to invade last night. That did not happen, not yet anyway, but because we had so many young people with us, we decided to get out while we still could. The very real possibility existed that the airports could have been closed for weeks. A curfew had been implemented and demonstrations were taking place in the streets. So we got out yesterday morning. We had at least 8 check points where either the local police or the military stopped our bus and vans to see who were were. We never felt like we were in danger, really making it all the more difficult to leave. We spent the night in Houston, and flew out on different flights all day today. Please pray for the beautiful people and for their country. They are defenseless as no one but the military are supposed to own guns. May we never give up that right to be able to protect ourselves. I plan to return next year and hopefully get to stay the entire time. |
| Posted by: Deacon Blues 2009-07-01 11:09 |