WikiLeaks: US Ambassador to Honduras Correspondence

The controversy has just begun involving WikiLeaks publication of US Ambassador to Honduras’, Hugo Llorens, correspondence regarding the incidents surrounding the ouster of former president Manuel Zelaya Rosales.

Mr. Zelaya has proclaimed that the documents released prove that the United States had prior knowledge of the intended actions by Congress in June of last year.

Judge for yourself. The correspondence in question can be found in our Document Reference section (left hand panel). Click here for the .pdf file.


EXCERPT:
—————————–
The Legal Case Against Zelaya
—————————–

9. (C) Zelaya’s opponents allege that he violated the
Constitution on numerous grounds, some of which appear on
their face to be valid, others not:

— Refusing to submit a budget to the Congress: The
Constitution is unambiguous that the Executive shall submit
a proposed budget to Congress by September 15 each year
(Art. 367), that Congress shall approve the budget (Art.
366) and that no obligations or payments may be effectuated
except on the basis of an approved budget (Art. 364);

— Refusing to fund the Congress: Article 212 states that
the Treasury shall apportion quarterly the funds needed for
the operation of the Congress;

— Proposing an illegal constitutional referendum: The
Constitution may be amended only through two-thirds vote of
the Congress in two consecutive sessions (Art. 373 and
375); a constituent assembly to rewrite the constitution,
as Zelaya promoted, is therefore unconstitutional; however,
it is not clear that proposing a constituent assembly in
itself violates the constitution, only that any changes
ensuing from that assembly would be invalid;

— Defying the judgment of a competent court: Zelaya
insisted on pushing ahead with his constitutional reform
opinion poll after both a first-instance court and an
appeals court ordered him to suspend those efforts;
however, while he clearly intended to follow through with
the poll, he never actually did it;

— Proposing to reform unreformable articles: Since
Zelaya’s proposed constituent assembly would have unlimited
powers to rewrite the constitution, it violated Article
374, which makes certain articles unamendable; once again,
though, Zelaya never actually attempted to change the
so-called “carved in stone” articles; it was only assumed
he intended to;

— Dismissing the armed forces chief: The Supreme Court’s
Constitutional Hall ruled June 25 that Zelaya was in
violation of the Constitution for dismissing Defense Chief
Vasquez Velasquez; the Constitution (Art. 280) states that
the President may freely name or remove the chief of the
armed forces; but the court ruled that since Zelaya fired
him for refusing to carry out a poll the court had ruled
illegal, the firing was illegal.


One Response to "WikiLeaks: US Ambassador to Honduras Correspondence"

  1. Poolshark  December 2, 2010 at 4:32 pm

    Honduras should revoke LLorens visa and expel him from the country, as he has demonstrated himself to be woefully unprepared for his post.

You must be logged in to post a comment Login