On Sunday, Nov. 29 Honduras will be electing a new president. Why should you care? Well, in June the Honduran Congress and Supreme Court legally removed Manuel Zelaya from office when he attempted to hold a referendum to allow him to run for another term as president. Honduras, one of the poorest countries in Latin America, has faced sanctions and criticism for standing up for democracy and against the socialist/communist wave that has swept across other Latin American countries.
From 1963 to 1981 Honduras was run by military dictators and, when it returned to democracy, Hondurans wanted to make sure that it would not return to an authoritarian government. The Honduran constitution limits a president to one term and prohibits a sitting president from taking action to extend his rule. Zelaya, who is an ally of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, violated the constitution when trying to hold a referendum to allow him to run for a second term and Honduras’ legislator and Supreme Court stopped him and replaced him with Roberto Micheletti, who, as President of the Honduran Congress, was next in line for the presidency. Micheletti is a member of Zelaya’s party and is not running in Sunday’s election.
This all seems very straightforward and the government and people of Honduras should be applauded for standing up to a president who overstepped his constitutional authority.
Unfortunately for Honduras, this is not how the United States and most Latin American countries viewed the removal of Zelaya. It is not surprising that Zelaya’s ally Hugo Chavez, who printed and shipped the ballots for the referendum, and Cuban dictator Raul Castro would support Zelaya. It could also be expected that Chavez’ puppets and allies in Nicaragua, Bolivia and Ecuador would support Zelaya.
Journalists around the world promptly portrait Zelaya’s removal as a “military coup” and other Latin American countries bought into this storyline. The Obama administration also decided to side with Zelaya for four month until they backed out of being on the side of Hugo Chavez and Raul Castro.
Honduras is one of the poorest countries in Latin America and suffered from sanctions for the past few months for standing up to the socialist/communist forces that Hugo Chavez has unleashed across the region. Hondurans hope that Sunday’s election will put an end to the difficulties they have experienced. Hopefully, the Obama administration will support Honduras and work with democratic Latin American governments to re-establish normal relations and trade with Honduras.
The Wall Street Journal has covered this story well. Here is an article written on the eve of the election.
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