Web Letters: Democracy Derailed in Honduras

First of all, I would like to mention a critical point in all this mess that is often overlooked. The constitution of Honduras does not say that the president must be removed by force and exiled from his country if he violates the constitution, but neither does it say that he must stand trial. The Honduran constitution contains no prodecure for the court or anyone else to follow if a president needs to be impeached. None. Now, I consider it a grave error in the constitution that needs to be fixed, but you cannot judge the current government for choosing to follow the events as they have as illegal, because technically it is not.

Furthermore, though the image of the military intervening in Latin American affairs recalls sour memories, we must admit that this "coup" is like no other coup in history. None of the other democratic institutions have been taken, the military is not in power, protesters are allowed to march as long as they do so peacefully, and it was done to defend democracy, not to undermine it. So even though history has taught us to view military intervention as something evil, we cannot judge current events based on the past but must instead examine each event individually. Do I think the current government handled/is handling everything perfectly? No. Do I think Zelaya should return? Absolutely not!

If you have not heard of Zelaya and Honduras prior to Sunday, you cannot understand the threat this man is to my country. He is arrogant and stubborn, intent on doing something even his own political party told him was illegal. Furthermore--and again something critical that is hardly ever mentioned--Zelaya was threatening members of the press with violence for speaking up against him and his illegal referendum. One reporter was assassinated, and at least three more were kidnapped. That is not democractic! If you want to read the full story (and if you know Spanish), go via this link to one of the Honduran newspapers, which has quotes from angered and worried members of various Honduran media

I would like to give a link in English, but no one is talking about this obvious violation of human rights and freedom of the press.

Paola Estrada

Houston, TX

We must bear in mind that the military have not taken power in Honduras. There is no military junta, the new president is not a marionette of the military and the constitution is still in force. The writer gives the impression that it was a simple and innocent question of "whether or not" an hypothetical committee should be set up to write a new constitution (allowing re-election!). In fact, the averted exercise was not going to be monitored or supervised by any institution whatsoever, and the outcome was a foregone conclusion: a resounding "Yes" in the style of the former Soviet Union elections! There was talk of 1 million votes. This was going to end with Zelaya staying in power until he dies, just as Chávez.

Unfortunately, the way Zelaya was overthrown was illegal and without regard to the constitution. He should have been summoned to the congress for impeachment... but that was a risky thing to do, most likely doomed to fail.

The international community should take a look at the violations to the constitution made by Zelaya himself, his total disregard for the rule of law and of judiciary decisions. While in power, he did what he wanted, for example, like not submitting the annual budget to congress, delaying funds to the other branches in order to operate or dismissing the army chief of staff for refusing to follow an illegal order!

The only solution is to call for early elections (September instead of November) and draw good lessons.

Tony Gomez

Tegucigalpa, Honduras

Cry for Honduras. Surely our military/CIA was involved in the overthrow. Why do I say so? The current president was a Chávez sort of person--i.e., left. Our country, media, etc. don't like left. Enough said.

Howard Kaplan

Belmont, MA

This ousted president is just not the best spokesman for democracy as he attempted to change the constitution of his nation to allow another term. He should not have been militarily removed, but he should have been impeached. He is the lesser of fools, but a fool.

Sunil Misra

Columbia, MD

As usual, the right-wing dictator apologists are first off the mark in the letters columns. That doesn't turn their lies into truth.

The vote the coup plotters stopped was a non-binding one meant to gauge the level of support Zelaya and his proposed reforms have in the country. If Zelaya is as unpopular as the talking-points-stuffed right-wingers haunting these threads say, then why not allow the polling to happen?

For translations of Honduran videos and honest news accounts, go to www.narconews.com and turn off the network gasbags.

Tamara Baker

St. Paul, MN

The congress and the supreme court of Honduras stood up for the law and fairness for the people and stopped a would-be despot from mucking over their constitution and setting up a totally different government.

Stop playing along with the phony charade that calls itself ALBA or something else. Hondurans did not need outsiders meddling around telling them how to run their government.

There must be checks and balances, even for presidents, and the US and UN are wrong to stand like doofuses and lament about democracy with eyes looking away from the threat to democracy that was being carried out by Zelaya. The Honduran congress and Honduran supreme court should be applauded, and I stand behind their actions 1,000 percent.

Zelaya simply was caught "changing horses in midstream," so to speak, and luckily got away with a soaking. I cannot repeat it enough, I am so proud of the congress and the supreme court of Honduras and the military in Honduras, who have carried out their duties most carefully and professionally. I salute you in the name of the future of what is best for Honduras.

CHARLES CHASSAING

Tampa, FL

I am a university professor and political activist and a big fan of The Nation, which I read all the time because it is one of the most critical, serious and professional news magazines online; however, this time I found something quite disturbing. This piece mentioned Kevin Casas's opinion about the coup in Honduras.

It is absolutely important for this audience to know who Kevin Casas is. Kevin Casas, former vice president of Costa Rica, wrote the "Memorandum del Miedo" (Fear's Memorandum) along with congressman Fernando Sánchez (Partido Liberación Nacional), which was a plan carefully designed for assuring popular support for CAFTA (there was a referendum to decide if Costa Rica should have become part of CAFTA or not, and it was binding), based on creating fear to the movement against the approval of CAFTA, through false statements assuring that Cháves, Ortega, Morales and Castro were behind that movement.

In other words, it was all lies and fallacies. The main objective the authors of the memorandum had was to relate every person or organization opposing CAFTA to some sort of extreme-left conspiracy that had financial and political backing from Venezuela's president. The other part of "Fear's Memorandum" was carried out through the factories and other enterprises where employees were told that if Costa Rica did not approve CAFTA (whatever the terms of negotiation were) many people would have to be laid off.

Finally the "Memorandum" was discovered by a group of journalists who work at the Semanario Universidad. They published the investigation and this situation created a scandal in Costa Rica so significant that it finally ended with Casas's resignation. That is why he is a former vice president, because his appointment would have ended in May 2010. People in Costa Rica are still suffering the consequences of such antidemocratic, power-abusing and dishonest actions, but most of all we have lost confidence in our democratic system and in the referendum process.

It does not matter if he is now working at the Brookings Institution, that is never going to erase what he did, and history will not absolve him.

Gabriela Arguedas
Partido Acción Ciudadana

San José, Costa Rica

It's incredible how the left has no idea what democracy or rule of law even mean. Zelaya was removed constitutionally because he was trying to undermine that constitution by trying to have a referendum on his continuing in office after his legal term had expired. This was just another leftist thug grabbing for power using the same techniques Chávez and the other Marxist dictators in SA have used.

That you don't see that the rule of law is what the congress and supreme court were trying to uphold shows just how corrupt the left in this country has become. I fear my kids are going to inherit yet another failure of a Marxist experiment that will have ruined our country beyond repair.

John M. Williams

Frisco, TX

Last night on the ABC Evening News a representative of the neoconservative think tank the American Enterprise Institute spun his analysis in favor of the coup. Peter Jennings would not have allowed any spin doctor on the Evening News. However, as with Iraq, we can expect the mainstream media and the politicians to roll over for this propaganda, because they, literally, follow the money.

We therefore have to make them change their policy toward Honduras and Latin America. While this may seem a little ambitious, Honduras must become the poster child for combating economic imperialism. Beside this useful magazine, Congress.org is a good way to contact all your elected representatives at once, and it has a "publishing" button that makes you comments available to other users. Everybody reads their mail. I believe we should advocate enforcing the treaty obligations mentioned in this article by demanding US troops be pulled out of that country and ending military aid programs. While I wasn't aware of the treaty or the airbase, I have already commented about removing our military from Honduras and investigating the School for the Americas.

This coup has attracted the interest of the UN, along with the OAS, and it is a good time to attack the economic policies that encourages regime change of democratically elected governments.

Pervis James Casey

Riverside, CA