Posted on 06/28/2009 3:12:29 PM PDT by La Lydia
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- Soldiers stormed the house of leftist President Manuel Zelaya in a predawn raid Sunday, arresting him and removing him from power amid a growing crisis over Mr. Zelaya's plans to try to get re-elected. Mr. Zelaya called the action a kidnapping, and said he was still president of Honduras...
The Honduran Congress named its leader, Roberto Micheletti, to replace Zelaya following his military ouster and forced exile in Costa Rica. A resolution read on the floor of Congress accuses Mr. Zelaya of "manifest irregular conduct" and "putting in present danger the state of law," a reference to his refusal to obey a Supreme Court ruling against holding a constitutional referendum.
...Congress voted Sunday to remove Mr. Zelaya, and appointed Mr. Micheletti as the new chief executive, as is mandated by the constitution....In Honduras, television stations were off the air, and electricity was out in parts of the capital..
Reaction to the apparent coup was swift. U.S. President Barack Obama said he was "deeply concerned" and called on all political actors in Honduras to "respect democratic norms, the rule of law and the tenets of the Inter-American Democratic Charter. Any existing tensions and disputes must be resolved peacefully through dialogue free from any outside interference," he said.
The Obama administration worked in recent days to prevent President Zelaya's ouster, a senior U.S. official said. The State Department, in particular, communicated to Honduran officials on the ground that President Obama wouldn't support any non-democratic transfer of power in the Central American country....
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
As far as I can tell, the president tried to illegally void part of their constitution on term limits - and tried to install himself again over the ruling of their supreme court to NOT do that.
IMO they done real good. 0 is scared.
That crazy Prez seemed to have stepped over the line since the Honduran Court ordered him out of power.
And the Wall Stree Journal calls it a coup.
Seems to me that it really stretches the definition of the word. The man went against the Honduran constitution, supreme court, and congress to ignore and break the law. Sounds to me like the military is only enforcing existing law.
Best thing to happen in Honduras in some time. Hang the Cavez wannabee.
There you go... I'm not at all certain why Barack is so "concerned" about this...
This is democracy in action... the Congress and Supreme Court acted together to have the military remove the President from power.
I agree. It is evident this was not a military coup. Univision provided live coverage this afternoon of the congressional proceedings, and you could see the congress voting. I am hoping they have a news special on it tonight.
They won't support any non democratic transfer of power except for an illegal and unconstitutional transfer of power by this Zelaya. He has broken the law of their land and been relieved of duty. Nothing undemocratic about it. The illegal part was all on the side of their President.
I think you just explained why 0beezlebub is concerned. Someone enforced the Constitution in Honduras. That’s not a trend an industry napping thugocrat wants spreading.
PS, they should shoot the b****** while they have the chance.
SO they dumped Obammunism ... How cool is that.
Historically, in Central or South America, any transfer of power where the former ruler does not have his bloody corpse dragged through the streets is a peaceful transition.
The Prez was ousted by the military. It’s not right for Zero to impose our values on these people by commenting in such a negative way.
As a precedent, this means Obama may have to consider having the 22nd Amendment nullified before 2016.
The article says it’s a coup but also says he was voted out by his Congress. If they were following their constitution in removing him I fail to see how that qualifies as a coup. In fact, the Army would be following it’s constitutional mandate from their Congress.
As far as I can tell, that is the plan here. Prayers that our military has the same reaction........in re.......
As far as I can tell, the president tried to illegally void part of their constitution on term limits - and tried to install himself again over the ruling of their supreme court to NOT do that.
That’s the point. He was NOT ousted by the military. The Congress voted to remove him from office, the military (under civilian control) carried out the will of the Congress (just the way it would happen here were any President to defy Congress and the Supreme Court.) Until recently, this was almost unheard of in Central America. He has gone into exile in Costa Rica, in perfect health, and is not strung up by his heels in Tegucigalpa.
Yes well the WSJ has taken a turn left, one of their editors, Thomas Franks calls Ayers and Dorhn his friends.
Needless to say I am switching to Investors Business Daily shortly.
Since this is a leftist who was removed, I must de facto applaud the actions of the Honduran military.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.