Obama Says Coup in Honduras Would Set a "Terrible Precedent"

the honduran goverment did nothing wrong just following proper orders and procedures in their own laws. this small country is a a great example of democracy the u.s and the e.u should be ashamed for betraying one of its closest allies in the region just to please the left leaning goverments of the area. obama needs to simply stay out of affairs from other democratic nations.

Your article is half true half linacuracies This was not a coup, this was the substitution of President Zelaya because he was acting out of the law. Do you remember Water Gate when President Nixon was removed from office? This was something similar. I don’t remember the International community requesting that Nixon be returned to power. Do you? Let the Hondurans decide what is best for them.

For those of you who don't know what has happened...
President Mel illegally called for a public vote to support a constitutional referendum removing limits on his term. This can only be done by the Honduran Congress. The Supreme Court ruled Mel's referendum was unconstitutional and instructed the military not to carry out the logistics of the vote as it normally would have done. Next, President Z used his supporters to break into the military base, stole the ballots and promptly distributed them himself. The attorney general of Honduras, backed by the Supreme Court and the Congress, has made it clear he would prosecute anyone trying to carry out the vote and, consequently, Pres Z was arrested.
It was not a coup but merely Honduras defending it's constitution and carrying out the rule of law.
Lastly, I am ashamed of our president and for American media for not portraying what this really is and not taking a prime opportunity to defend democracy.

Talk means nothing. The US usually condemns the coups it sponsors. If they cut military aid, then they mean it. Bet they don't.

Danita,

How long have you been an expert on the Honduran Constituion? Just because some liberal reporter writes that the removal of Zelaya was illegal doesn't make it so.

These reporters have no more knowledge of Honduran law than you do. You need to quit quoting articles and go research it for yourself. Because you don't know what you are talking about and neither do 90% of the people reporting on it and it will all come out in the following days.

The OAS has suspended their demand of reinstating Zelaya withing 72 hours and are sending representatives to Honduras to investigate the legality of what was done and to look at overwhelming evidence of the crimes that Zelaya has been committing.

The more you defend this action the dumber you are going to look when it is all said and done.

gosh-these left wingers and their crazy support of Zelaya- never mind that he attempted to violate and ignore the constitution. Zelaya is Chavez buddy and Chavez is thisclose to being a dictator for life (like Ahmadinejad, kim Jong II and Castro) and Zelaya wants to be like Chavez. so it would make sense that Obama and his left wingers to support Zelaya they support violating and ignoring the constitution, plus being a dictator for life must be appealing for Obama.

Major labor unions in Honduras have launched a general strike protesting the military overthrow of the constitutional President Jose Manuel Zelaya.

The main trade unions, farmers, youth and social organizations in Honduras are on the second day of a strike against the dictatorial government in the country.

“We don't recognize this new government imposed by the oligarchy," declared Oscar Garcia, vice president of the Honduran water workers union, adding that such resistance campaign will persist until President Zelaya is restored to power. "It will be an indefinite strike."

"A defiant Roberto Micheletti said in an interview with The Associated Press late Tuesday that “no one can make me resign.”

That's the way people put in place after a military coup talk.

"Honduras’ interim leader warned that the only way his predecessor will return to office is through a foreign invasion, setting up a dramatic showdown with the ousted president who is preparing to come home accompanied by world leaders.

"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 Organization of American States, the Obama administration and other leaders that have condemned the military coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya.

"Micheletti vowed Zelaya would be arrested if he followed through with plans to return to Honduras on Thursday, 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."

AP July 1, 2009

Soooo Barry.....If you trample the Bill of Rights' and Constitution, you think you can do as you please?
WAKE UP!!!
Thank GOD for our 2nd Amendment Right to keep and bear arms.
This and only this is the reason we, as a nation have not been overrun by despots and tyrants.......yet!!
I do see in the near future a try by this regime to try and abolish our rights to be able to hold tyrants at bay.
Obama has lied again and again!! He is no friend to Freedom and personal Liberties!

The Organization of American States is an international organization whose members are all of the thirty-five independent states of the Americas.

WASHINGTON — Honduran coup leaders have three days to restore deposed President Manuel Zelaya to power, the Organization of American States said Wednesday, before Honduras risks being suspended from the group.

OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza delivered what he called "an ultimatum" as OAS talks regarding the crisis dragged into the early-morning hours. The talks began Tuesday afternoon.

In a sharply worded resolution, the OAS said it vehemently condemned the coup and "the arbitrary detention and expulsion" of Zelaya.

The coup, the resolution said, has produced an "unconstitutional alteration of the democratic order." The envoys demanded Zelaya's immediate and safe return to power.

Calling Zelaya's overthrow an "old-fashioned coup," Insulza said: "We need to show clearly that military coups will not be accepted. We thought we were in an era when military coups were no longer possible in this hemisphere."

Obama is so on the wrong side of this Honduran thing. The president was clearly trying for a Marxist coup. He wanted to change the constitution so he could be president for life like Castro and chavez et al. The supreme court said no. He went ahead anyway with his referendum. By the way, he only won office by 4% and he has a lot less support from his leftist party now. BO should have sat this one out. One wonders if OB will try the same thing. Acorn is probably going to do the census.

I wonder what will the American People do if their president acts over the law and the Constitution of the United States? and with the interference of Hugo Chavez, Raul Castro, Rafael Correa, Cristina Kirchner, Daniel Ortega, and Evo Morales?
We Hondurans may be poor but we still have dignity and want to live in peace and democracy.

Danita,

You don't have the slightest idea what you are talking about. If a case goes before the Supreme Court and something is declared illegal then it is illegal.

I don't want to lower myself to hurling insults around, but I'm starting to get frustrated with all this talk of what the Honduran government did to protect their constitution as being illegal. You are not an expert on Honduran constitutional law, and you apparently don't know the facts of what has happened, and is happening down there.

So you should really look into the facts because you sound like an idiot when you keep repeating the same tired arguments to people who are much more knowledgeable than you about what happened.

If you care to know, since Zelaya was removed the government has been investigating his bank accounts and his records and so far found that he was allowing Venezuelan planes filled with cocaine to refuel in Honduras on their way to the US. 60 million dollars was found in one of his homes yesterday, that doesn't really sound like a simple farmer to me. The government also has evidence that he was selling Mayan artifacts the most precious national treasures of Honduras on the black market, for his own personal profit.

So tell me, if all of this is true do you still support leaving Zelaya in office?

I await your response.

"The left has their own stupid wing. With a larger following and more prominent names promoting it. You know, the one where heat doesn't melt steel?"

Oh yes the troofers are in a stupid class all their own.

Terry - that is your view that he was legally replaced . .. the military coup has been almost universally condemned. I found the following newspaper report informative.

"President Manuel Zelaya, rousted out of bed in his pyjamas Sunday and briskly bundled over the border to Costa Rica, was himself not exactly burdened by respect for the constitution, as his recent actions show. Although his public support was shown in polling to be down near 30 per cent, Zelaya had decided he needed to change the constitution to allow himself to seek a second term in office, in elections this November. So he proposed a "constituent assembly" to rewrite the constitution.

When Congress and the country's highest court rejected that, Zelaya decided he would hold a non-binding referendum to show support for the idea. He ordered the army to distribute ballot papers; when forces chief Romeo Vásquez Velázquez refused, Zelaya led a mob of supporters to an air force base and confiscated the ballots. He also fired the army chiefs - who decided to oust him, instead. A leading congressman from Zelaya's party, Roberto Micheletti, was sworn in as acting president.

So it's not easy to identify any good guys in this squabble. But Zelaya's actions were within the law, though only barely. The coup was not, and international condemnation has been swift and full-throated. The new government will have few friends, in Central America or elsewhere. It doesn't deserve any."

Interesting take on the entire scene. Could it possibly be 'truthful and objective'?

The left has their own stupid wing. With a larger following and more prominent names promoting it. You know, the one where heat doesn't melt steel?

===Posted by: Terry | Jun 30, 2009 3:32:13 PM===

While I agree with you that our press did a poor job of vetting him, I am not on board the he isn't eligible wagon. I was just responding to your hypothetical, which is an interesting question. What would happen if a president was impeached and refused to leave office?

People need to remember that the Military in Honduras is responsible for a lot of things since they don't have as coordinated of a civilian government as we do. The army handles elections etc... This guy was legally replaced by a member of his own party who was next in line. Who are we to force a government on a nation? This isn't even Saddam "I kill people" Hussein. This is 2 branches of a democratic government removing the president for solid legal reasons.