Ken Berwitz

Congratulations to the Obama administration for leading the charge and overturning Honduras' demonstration of how a democracy is supposed to work.

From the Times of London:

From Times Online

October 30, 2009

Manuel Zelaya to return as Honduras President

 

The interim government of Honduras has yielded to international pressure and agreed to allow the return to power of Manuel Zelaya, the ousted President who was toppled in a military coup four months ago.

 

The breakthrough came after renewed pressure from senior US officials who travelled to Honduras this week for a last-ditch effort to end the crisis.

 

"It is a triumph for Honduran democracy," said Mr Zelaya after the rival sides agreed to a deal under which he may be reinstated as President within days.

 

Roberto Micheletti, the president of the interim government that took power after the coup on June 28, announced that he had agreed to reinstate his political rival.

 

"I am pleased to announce that a few minutes ago my negotiating team signed an agreement that marks the beginning of the end" of the four-month stand-off, Mr Micheletti said in a statement from the presidential palace.

 

Mr Zelaya was sent into exile at gunpoint on June 28 but returned secretly to Honduras last month where he has taken refuge in the Brazilian embassy.

 

Mr Micheletti said that Mr Zelaya could return to office after a vote in Congress that would be authorised by the country's Supreme Court. He said that the deal would require both sides to recognise the result of a presidential election due to take place on November 29 and would transfer control of the army to the top electoral court.

 

The United States, the European Union and Latin American leaders had all demanded that Mr Zelaya be allowed to finish his presidential term, which ends in January. They had said that they might not recognise the winner of the November election unless democracy was first restored.

 

A US team led by Assistant Secretary of State Tom Shannon and Dan Restrepo, Washington's special assistant for Western Hemisphere affairs, sat in on talks earlier in the day and warned that time was running out to reach a deal.

Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, praised the agreement.

 

"We were very clearly on the side of the restoration of the constitutional order, and that includes the elections," Mrs Clinton told reporters during a visit to Pakistan.

 

Mr Zelaya had angered many in Honduras by becoming an ally of the socialist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Critics also alleged that he was seeking backing to extend presidential term limits, a claim he denies.

 

Human rights groups have documented major abuses by the de facto government and say that free and fair elections would be impossible after Mr Micheletti curbed civil liberties and temporarily shut down pro-Zelaya news organisations.

 

US President Barack Obama cut some aid to Honduras after the coup but had been criticised by some Latin American countries for not doing more to force the de facto government to back down.

 

The collapse of talks last week prompted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to dispatch the US delegation to push again for a negotiated settlement.

manuel zelaya was removed from office because he ignored the Honduran constitution and illegally tried to run a referendum that would enable him to stay President.  Honduras' supreme court voted unanimously to remove him as President and was supported by the country's congress.  He was replaced by the next in line, Roberto Micheletti - a member of zelaya's own party.

That is not a "coup" as media insist on calling it.  That is democracy in action.

The obama administration immediately sided with zelaya - who, by the way, is an implacable enemy of the United States, and something of a protege of hugo chavez - another USA hater.  Obama & Co. led the charge to overturn the removal of zelaya, thus subvert Honduras' democratic process.

And what is the payoff of this great "victory" for a rogue would-be dictator?  The elections will be held on November 29, so in less than a month he will be a lame duck. And for the 3-4 weeks he is reinstated, he will be powerless because a) the congress, which agreed to oust him in the first place, will turn their backs on him and b) the reinstatement agreement disallows him from controlling the army.

Brilliant.  Just brilliant.

This is what the USA gets for electing a Chicago machine politician with no qualifications for the presidency, and a hard-left background. 

We deserve this.  We voted him into office, didn't we?  And we gave him a lopsided majority in both houses of congress to back up just about anything he wants to do.

The 2010 elections cannot come soon enough.