Coup coup ga joob.
Posted: July 19th, 2009 | Author: mberg | Filed under: International | 1 Comment »Interesting headlines this weekend, at least in Spanish: “Several computers containing the results of the referendum Zelaya wanted to conduct are seized at the Presidential Palace”.
As reported in the Catalan paper Europa Press a number of computers have been seized from the Presidential Palace in Hondurus. Additional articles in the Honduran news service La Tribuna and in Nicaragua Hoy.
Meanwhile the English language press reports only on Zelaya’s ultimatum threatening to take “other measures” if the interim government refuses to reinstate him. It should be interesting to see how international opinion shifts in light of the new allegations, and whether suggestions of destroyed evidence will be seen to justify the shift and drastic action by the Honduran courts and military.
I am an American that has lived in Honduras since 1977. I have seen this country when it was run by the mlatiiry. I saw it form the constitution on which it currently stands. I saw the civilian police force be reformed and watch the judicial system grow and come into its own. I have watched the maturing of Honduras into a grounded solid representational democracy.Venezuela and Ecuador are run by left wing dictators. Venezuela in particular was supporting a move by the president of Honduras to basically take over the country. This has resulted in a crisis pitting the executive branch against the congress and the Supreme Court. The president was attempting to place himself in a position where by he could force a rewriting of the constitution to remove the clause on term limits there by allowing him to remain in office indefinitely. The illegal move toward the “cuarta urna” had created massive unrest across the country and Honduras was heading toward a confrontation which puts at risk the representational democracy on which this country stands. Contrary to news reports this was neither mlatiiry coup nor conspiracy. This was two branches of government (Supreme Court and Congress) moving to oust a president that was abusing his power and flaunting the law. Honduras correctly identified the president’s actions as an overt, aggressive and illegal attempt to install a Chavez style dictatorship in Honduras and rejected that attempt in a lawful constitutional manner that resulted in the president’s removal from office. The president of Honduras is a democratically elected official but so also is the congress and the Supreme Court. The division of powers in a representational democracy exists precisely so that one of the branches will not be allowed to abuse power and also allows for the removal of that representative if the law is broken. This is what has happened to president Zelaya. Hugo Chavez is an ego maniac that has attempted to spread his socialist/dictatorship philosophy to many countries. He thought that he had obtained a foothold in Central America by way of Honduras. He was wrong. The events of the last few weeks have shown me that my faith in Honduras and its people is not in vain. Honduras, you should be very proud of yourselves.