Honduran “Coup”: Blame Zelaya, Not Congress

You couldn’t make this stuff up.  Currently, deposed Honduran president Manuel Zelaya is holed up in the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa after a harrowing overland escape into his own country.  He is attempting to stir up anti-democratic populism to overthrow the current government.  His supporters are clashing with police all around the embassy and the reports of what is going on are unreliable.  According to the Washington Post yesterday, Zelaya supporters claim six died on Tuesday; the government claims there was only one critical injury and no fatalities.

The current Honduran constitutional crisis reads like a Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel.  The issue is so emotionally charged that no one seems to be looking at the facts.  Mary O’Grady wrote an excellent article in the Wall Street Journal on September 21^st arguing that an objective, reasonable observer would conclude that the Honduran government was correct to have deposed Zelaya.

And yet, the United States won’t budge from it’s stance that what took place on June 28^th was a “coup.”  The Organization of American States, who voted last spring to allow Cuba (the least democratic country in the western hemisphere) to join it’s ranks, is standing on principle that “the rule of law” must prevail.

What is going on? Doesn’t anyone care that it was Zelaya who violated the Honduran Constitution?  Doesn’t anyone know that the Honduran Constitution does not have an impeachment clause, and that removal by force of arms was the only option left to the Supreme Court and Congress of Honduras? Doesn’t anyone care to know that even if Zelaya were to be restored to power, he would only be there for a measly 66 days before the November 29^th elections?  What is everybody so worked up about?

Every argument made in support of imposing sanctions on the current government to restore Zelaya to power is speculative. The assumption is that this Honduran crisis will bring back the dark days of golpes and guerrillas in all of Latin America; that this will set a precedent of military intervention and that democracy will be lost again in the region.  The domino theory seems to have reared it’s ugly head.

These are poor assumptions.  The facts of this crisis are fundamentally different than the coups of the 1960s and 70s.  For starters, the Cold War is over.  “Democratic” populism now poses more of a threat to true democratic integrity than military muscle does.  Most importantly, this supposed “coup” was bloodless, and a unanimous Honduran Congress and Supreme Court supported the military action.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Obama administration, the Organization of American States, the Brazilian Embassy and the United Nations are all wrong on this issue.  It is unfortunate that none of these organizations seem to have the integrity to stand up for the facts of this case.