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Democracy News
HONDURAS UPDATE: OAS Suspends Membership; Honduran President Ousted in Coup
By Keona Padgett
Updated July 6, 2009 |  Printer Friendly
On July 4, 2009, the Organization of American States voted to suspend Honduras’s membership. The group, which is comprised of 35 members, met in Washington, DC on Saturday and approved the suspension of Honduras with a vote of 33 to 0, according to the BBC. This is the first time the OAS has suspended a member country since Cuba in 1962. The group stopped short, however, of calling for sanctions. Tracy Wilkinson and Alex Renderos of The Los Angeles Times report that in addition to this suspension from the OAS, which means that Honduras cannot access credit lines from the Inter-American Development Bank, Honduras now faces a “pause” on the non-humanitarian aid it receives from the United States, which the Obama administration hopes will add pressure on the new government.
On Saturday, Manuel Zelaya said that he planned on returning to Honduras on Sunday: “‘I am organizing my return to Honduras…This is the return of the president elected by the sovereign will of the people.’” He also gave a warning to Roberto Micheletti and the new administration: “‘Your actions will not go unnoticed because the international courts will have to try you for the genocide that you are carrying out in our country, in suppressing rights and repressing our people.’”
On Sunday, July 5, Zelaya tried to return to Honduras, but his plane was unable to land because military vehicles were blocking the runway. In an article in The New York Times, Marc Lacey and Ginger Thompson claim that Zelaya addressed the military as his plane approached. He asked soldiers to “return their loyalty to him ‘in the name of God, in the name of the people, and in the name of justice.’” The military did not move, and The New York Times reports that he announced to his supporters over loudspeakers that “‘the runway is blocked. There is no way I can land’” but claimed that he would try again soon. The plane ended up landing in Nicaragua, where Zelaya met with President Daniel Ortega, and then went to El Salvador. In El Salvador, Zelaya is supposed to meet with the presidents of Argentina, Ecuador, and Paraguay as well as the head of the OAS. According to the BBC, many of Zelaya’s supporters were waiting for his return at the airport, and at least two were killed. After the plane was unable to land, people started to chant “We want blue helmets!”, which is a reference to UN peacekeepers.
Lacey and Thompson report that Micheletti said there were 18 arrest warrants “for treason, abuse of authority and other charges” waiting for Zelaya if he returned to Honduras. Earlier Sunday morning, Micheletti said that he was willing to negotiate with the OAS. Some Obama administration officials said that this might represent “a breakthrough.”
References:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8134699.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8135358.stm
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/06/world/americas/06honduras.html?ref=americas
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/world/americas/05honduras.html?ref=americas
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-honduras6-2009jul06,0,1801880.story
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Reporting for The New York Times, Elisabeth Malkin announced on June 28, 2009 that Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was ousted in a coup on Sunday. This marks the first coup in Central America since 1993 and comes after months of tensions over President Zelaya’s attempts to remove presidential term limits. According to Malkin, “soldiers stormed the presidential palace in the capital, Tegucigalpa, early in the morning, disarming the presidential guard, waking Mr. Zelaya, and putting him on a plane to Costa Rica.” Afterwards, the Honduran Congress voted him out of office and replaced him with Roberto Micheletti, who was serving as the president of Congress at the time of the coup. The Honduran Supreme Court issued a statement that said that “the military had acted to defend the law against ‘those who had publicly spoken out and acted against the Constitution’s provisions.’”
Zelaya has called the coup illegal and said that “‘they are creating a monster they will not be able to contain. A usurper government, that emerges by force, cannot be accepted, will not be accepted by any country.’” Many of the leaders throughout the western hemisphere have also denounced the coup. President Obama said “he was deeply concerned” and called on Honduran officials to “‘respect democratic norms, the rule of law, and the tenets of the Inter-American Democratic charter.’” According to the BBC, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez said “‘we cannot allow a return to the past. We will not permit it.’” He has also said that Venezuela will use military action if the country’s ambassador to Honduras is attacked. The Organization of American States also issued a statement in which it called for Zelaya’s return and said “it would not recognize any other government.”
The lead-up to this coup has been occurring throughout the last few months. Zelaya had hoped that a referendum, which was supposed to have occurred on Sunday, would change the Constitution’s term limit of a single four-year term for the presidency. According to Malkin, the Supreme Court declared that the referendum was unconstitutional earlier this month, and Congress agreed last week. There have been demonstrations of both supporters and opponents of Zelaya throughout the last few weeks. When the army refused to help organize the referendum, Zelaya fired General Romeo Vásquez, the commander of the armed forces.
References:
New York Times: Honduran President Is Ousted in Coup
BBC: Chavez allies back ousted Zelaya
Los Angeles Times: Honduran president ousted in coup; replacement is named
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