Macon.com – Who cares about Honduras?:
The Hondurans are so concerned about potential despots, that Article 239 of their constitution states that any president who proposes extending his term in office is automatically removed from office. Article 313 of the Honduran constitution allows its Supreme Court to deputize the Honduran military to carry out its orders, including removing politicians from office who seek to extend a president’s term.
Ignoring the constitution, President Manuel Zelaya, a man less popular in Honduras than George Bush was when he left office in this country, ordered a “non-binding” referendum be put to the voters on extending his stay in office.
Glenn Garvin wrote in the Miami Herald, “After the Honduran supreme court ruled that only the country’s congress could call such an election, Zelaya ordered the army to help him stage it anyway. … When the head of the armed forces, acting on orders from the supreme court, refused, Zelaya fired him, then led a mob to break into a military base where the ballots were stored.”
The Honduran Supreme Court, congress, attorney general and members of Zelaya’s cabinet opposed his move as unconstitutional. The supreme court ordered the military to remove Zelaya from office. Honduras has no impeachment process as we know it.
Yet Obama, who felt he couldn’t meddle in the affairs of another country when the Iranian mullahs stole an election, is calling for Zelaya’s return, has broken off military relations with Honduras, and is part of an effort to have Honduras ejected from the Organization of American States.
Better still, compare the description of events in Honduras above with NPR’s coverage:
She explains that in this case a civilian government took power, as opposed to a military government, and plans elections. Nunez adds Zelaya was an unpopular leader anyway. She charges he had violated the constitution by planning a referendum that would have been a first step toward extending his rule. She says he had to be stopped.
American diplomats told NPR that the United States strongly disagrees with that interpretation. So much so, that the ousted president’s wife and son are staying in the ambassador’s residence in Tegucigalpa.
The U.S. says the non-binding referendum would have posed little threat to the constitutional order. And those diplomats say there’s little evidence that Zelaya had violated the constitution.
The Honduran supreme court found that Zelaya’s move violated the constitution. You would scarcely know that from the NPR piece, since it’s stated as a mere claim by one person, rather than as a factual matter of public record. Yet there’s “little evidence” he violated his country’s constitution, according to the U.S. diplomats NPR quoted in the story. NPR is supporting Obama’s narrative by ignoring the facts.
Hat tip to Instapundit for the Macon.com link.
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