Coup In Honduras
 

First successful coup in Latin America in the post-Cold War era

Left wing President defies the Honduran Supreme Court and the Supreme Court authorizes the military to whisk the President to Costa Rica.

Discuss.

aol is still around?

There are some nice comments in the comments section from some right wingers about how the military here ought to do this to Obama.

I'm not sure this is the standard military coup though, based on what I read this morning.

I mean, you've got the military, the supreme court, the congress, and the guy's own party pretty much in agreement that he overstepped his bounds so far that he had to be removed from office. That seems more than a bit more of a consensus that I associate with typical third world coups.

They may be a bit spotty on the letter of their own law about what they did with him once he was removed, but in & of itself I really don't see this in the same light as, say, the 70's coups at all.

interesting

Agreed. I don't think there is too much uproar about this in Honduras. Most of the yapping is coming from Cuba and Venezuela. Doesn't sound like this Pelaya guy would've had much chance anyway if he were allowed to run for reelection.

If the military is simply facilitating somebody else finishing his term (less than one year) and elections being held on schedule, it's really no big deal.

lungs, you never fail to crack me up with your wording of things. I have this mental image of the President of Honduras sitting in his office, having the ceiling open up, seeing a big metal claw dropping onto him, clutching him, lifting him to Costa Rica, and dropping him on a big pile of hay.

Yeah, I was an only child.

Somebody could afford to play the claw game in honduras?

ooh look! lurker-alert!!! lurker-alert!!! :D

It's how farmers talk :)

Wow. I am shocked. Just shocked I say.

I don't know enough about the Honduran political situation to offer a really educated opinion, but it sounds like on a brief read that despite the fact that there are constitutional term limits in place this President was trying to get a referendum from the people to overturn them?

If so, even if he would have been defeated in that attempt (sounds like he would have been), I have surprisingly little problem with the military and the Supreme Court acting to protect democracy. As long as they (which they did here it seems) turn it right over to someone appointed by the Congress and the new elections are held on schedule.

I can almost guarantee you none of those people give two shits about democracy. They're acting to protect their own turf/fiefdoms and removing any threat as best they can. If this means physically removing the President, so be it.

The exact same thing happens in the US and every other country in the world. Democracy is just a fancy word for pretend everyone has a say.

You're most likely correct. Like I said, I don't really know enough about Honduran politics to offer a truly informed opinion. I am ASSUMING (yes, huge assumption) that even if the motives are significantly more grey than they appear initially that at least the outcome will be positive.

...until the next coup.

The new president ended his, I dunno, inaugural address with "Long Live Democracy"

Ya gotta love that.

Personally...I don't see anything to get too excited over. Yes...it is "green" I suppose...but the Boxster will absolutely shred it.

This is what Obama and Hillary Clinton are calling a military coup. Obama and Clinton are claiming that Zelaya is still the president:

O'Grady: Honduras Defends Its Democracy - WSJ.com

Following is an excerpt that explains what was done in a fairly straight forward manner. Mel Zelaya is the guy removed.


If the information in the linked article is true, it is hardly a coup. Maybe Obama and Clinton have information that is not being shared, who knows.