Council on Foreign Relations Fellow and Latin American expert Joel Hirst explains how the Honduras Truth Commission concluded that the removal of President Manuel Zelaya was a coup while at the same time concluding that Zelaya was breaking the law when he disregarded a Supreme Court ruling ordering him to cancel the referendum.
By Joel Hirst
On the 28th of June, 2009, then-President of Honduras Manuel “Mel” Zelaya was awakened from his slumber and unceremoniously sent into exile in San Jose, Costa Rica. His crime: attempting to change the country’s constitution to allow for a Presidential re-election. Come to find out – for those with the discipline to read the actual Honduran constitution of 1982 – this is indeed an offense, in fact a wrongdoing that is tantamount to treason.
This simple, clear fact has – for the last two years – been resolutely overlooked. In the immediate aftermath of the Honduran situation, the State Department, the Organization of American States (OAS), and the Bolivarian Alliance of the Americas (ALBA) all joined forces to condemn what they considered a “coup d’état” in Honduras. Even the much respected Oscar Arias – then President of Costa Rica – joined in the international symphony. Seldom have Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro and an American President taken their cues from the same song-sheet…continue article from the Latin American Herald here.
