Ah, news from Honduras. Can't get enough of it! No, literally.
This sounds bad. Censoring the press? Bad! US President says coups are bad, too!
Only, hm. This Wikipedia entry gives one pause. And here's a WaPo (those notorious kowtowers to the right) columnist limning some subtle details like the fact that the Honduran supreme court ordered Zelaya's removal from office after he tried to pursue an already-ruled-illegal plebiscite by force, and was replaced by a member of his own party.
I will now bait certain friends of mine by noting in passing that both of these later columns mention Hugo Chavez' key role in supporting the Zelaya plebiscite (they printed the ballots for him, nttawwt) and in calling for his return to power, something that, basically, the judicial branch and the legislative branch have already spoken against, and for what appear to be very very good reasons.
But you know, he was kicked out of the country (some say he agreed to leave), so that's a coup.
Comments
WaPo
That you think WaPo /isn't/ right-wing indicates you haven't been paying attention, Ryan.
Dude!
Seriously?
This is beginning to make me think you're falling deeply into the tradition of "no enemies to the left of us, no friends to the right of us."
I'm 100% serious. Come on,
I'm 100% serious. Come on, they just fired one of their truly lefty guys (Froomkin), and this is the paper that still publishes Krauthammer, hired a moron like Ben Domenech, made excuses for warrantless wiretapping, torture, etc.
Watergate was a lifetime ago.
Not that Froomkin is a lefty
Not that Froomkin is a lefty like, say, Kos is. But in America, opposing unlimited executive power has somehow defaulted to a position only the left supports. Froomkin is considered 'left' mostly because in the US, that's the only side with sane positions.
(and if you think I'm being hyperbolic there, then you really just haven't been paying attention to US politics.)
One more thing - this
One more thing - this discussion about the WaPo has reminded me that it frequently frequently makes an appearance in Brad DeLong's ongoing series "Why oh why can't we have a better press corps?" ... and while he is center-left (by US standards), he is like the canonical example of the inverse of your snarky phrase - anyone to his left he mocks / does not take seriously, while he often grants right wing pundits the benefit of the doubt.
BTW
the right-wing pundits have recognized that this isn't _quite) democracy as normal, which is why the greatest euphemism of the last month came up in this situation: "military impeachment". ( http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/coup-coup-by-digby-i-know-im-soun... )
BTW, the right-wing fringe who have tried to cast Chavez as the new global Bad Guy haven't managed to explain to me how a right-winger like Mexico's Calderon has staked out a strong position against the coup.
http://www.miamiherald.com/15
http://www.miamiherald.com/1506/story/1125872.html -
"In an interview with The Miami Herald and El Salvador's elfaro.net, army attorney Col. Herberth Bayardo Inestroza acknowledged that top military brass made the call to forcibly remove Zelaya -- and they circumvented laws when they did it.
It was the first time any participant in Sunday's overthrow admitted committing an offense and the first time a Honduran authority revealed who made the decision that has been denounced worldwide. "
... BTW, I fail to see why a nonbinding referendum should so enrage the courts and Congress of the Honduras.
Excellent update
The Miami Herald article is interesting throughout, as are some of the comments.
As for your failure to see, I'd say again, read some of the comments, which admittedly, are just rumors at this point.
The short version is that Zelaya, by holding a referendum (by which he was apparently trying to get a mandate to create a constitutional assembly; I am no expert in Honduran constitutional law, but that sounds like meddling and I can't bring myself to call it a plebiscite) was trying to create a situation in which he could claim a popular mandate for an unconstitutional act.
The normative holders of those constitutional powers might be expected to be unusually miffed.
The admission of guilt by your Honduran military lawyer there is compelling, as is his desire to avoid creating piles of bodies outside a jail. Self-serving? Sure. But the Honduran military has a pretty good reputation in Honduras for NOT intervening politically, and Zelaya's normal constitutional successor took power, not the military.
As coups go, I don't see a lot of Hondurans, especially the holders of constitutional power, getting very worked up about this one.
But yeah, ok, do-over: bring Zelaya back to Honduras so the military can legally and properly jail him instead of exiling him. That will make everyone happier.
OK, so... 1) when a
OK, so...
1) when a political leader supposedly violates election laws, he should be jailed? What about Harper calling an election a year ahead of his own legally set schedule? (It was not a legal violation technically, in that they left a giant loophole for the Governor-General to do it instead of the PM, but a more oppositionally minded legislature and SC could probably have Zelayaed Harper for it. Is that the kind of system you advocate, really?)
2) Seriously, if Zelaya hadn't been described as a Chavez stooge to you, would you really think someone trying to engineer an extra term requires /jailing/? (BTW, Rudy Giuliani as mayor tried this in NYC, and people were so sick of him that even after 9/11, when he tried to stay on 'just a few more months', he was roundly opposed by everyone.)
3) wait, you can't call it a plebiscite now? You just did, yesterday, in the post we're all commenting on right here.
looks more and more like a regular kind of coup.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090706/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_honduras_coup
Ousted President Manuel Zelaya was kept from landing at the main Honduras airport Sunday because the runway was blocked by military vehicles and groups of soldiers, some of them clashing with a crowd of thousands outside.
[...]
But interim President Roberto Micheletti insisted on keeping him out, and said he won't negotiate until "things return to normal."
"We will be here until the country calms down," Micheletti said. "We are the authentic representatives of the people."
[...]
Critics feared Zelaya might try to extend his rule and cement presidential power in ways similar to what his ally Hugo Chavez has done in Venezuela.
But instead of prosecuting him or trying to defeat him at the ballot box, his political opponents sent masked soldiers to fly Zelaya out of the country at gunpoint, and Congress installed Micheletti in his place.
[...]
The military solution drew condemnation at the United Nations, and Honduras was suspended by the OAS. Many called it a huge step backward for democracy, and no nation has recognized the new government.
Near as I can tell, it's only the knee-jerk anti-Chavez crowd that wants to recognize the junta...
But sure, go ahead and call me the radical one.
Post new comment