Honduras's Deposed President: A White House Favorite?

Hugo Chávez's coalition-building efforts suffered a setback yesterday when the Honduran military sent its president packing for abusing the nation's constitution...It seems that President Mel Zelaya miscalculated when he tried to emulate the success of his good friend Hugo in reshaping the Honduran Constitution to his liking...But Honduras is not out of the Venezuelan woods yet. Yesterday the Central American country was being pressured to restore the authoritarian Mr. Zelaya by the likes of Fidel Castro, Daniel Ortega, Hillary Clinton and, of course, Hugo himself. The Organization of American States, having ignored Mr. Zelaya's abuses, also wants him back in power. It will be a miracle if Honduran patriots can hold their ground...The Supreme Court ruled his referendum unconstitutional, and it instructed the military not to carry out the logistics of the vote as it normally would do....Honduras Defends Its Democracy, Mary Anastasia O'Grady, The Wall Street Journal, 6/29/2009

Read this article instead of paying serious attention to the cries from the White House, Secretary of State Clinton, Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez about democracy betrayed. President Zelaya refused to heed a Constitutional restriction on changing Honduras's supreme law, which allows only a constituent assembly to carry out this task. Instead, like a familiar in Washington, he simply decreed that his own way of doing it was correct. The military, under instructions of Honduras's Supreme Court, removed him from office, as they were supposed to do to protect constitutional government.

Lies about a coup d'etat, whether from the State Department or Fidel Castro, really shouldn't be listened to. Nor should lies about any president's right to overturn established law on his own be listened to.

Don't be fooled.

Luther