No coup acceptable

Jul 03, 2009 Editorial

Just before the sun rose over Honduras on Sunday 28th June, some three hundred army troops surrounded the home of President Manuel Zelaya and gave him a stark choice: surrender or be shot.
He surrendered and was immediately driven to the airport, placed onboard an aircraft and exiled to Costa Rica. His fierce opponent, Speaker of the Congress Roberto Micheletti, constitutionally second in line to the presidency, was sworn in as interim President. After two decades, the army coup had returned to Honduras and Latin America.
But there was something different this time: an almost unanimous refusal by the international community to accept the old argument that because the Honduran Congress had made the decision, the new arrangement was a “constitutional succession”.
Labelling the outrage for what it always was – a coup – the OAS, the UN, individual Latin American countries, CARICOM and most interestingly President Obama, have called for the restoration of the deposed leader and refused to recognise the usurpers.
The OAS has given them a deadline until this weekend or face expulsion from the hemispheric grouping, while the US, which has suspended military co-operation, claims it will decide next week whether to cut aid.
This is a very important development for several reasons, not the least being that Honduras has long been an ally of the US, which had not only turned a blind eye to the intrusions of the military into governance but had on several occasions actually facilitated those intrusions.
There is also the matter, very central to the present contretemps, of Honduras’s membership – under the direction of Zelaya – in ALBA, the regional alliance sponsored by Venezuela’s leftist leader Hugo Chavez. Chavez, of course, has defined the US his bête noir, especially after that country’s purported role in the 2002 coup attempt against his own democratically elected regime.
Initially, Chavez attempted to implicate the US in the coup by the Honduran military but Obama’s firm denunciation, following a more ambiguous one by Secretary of State Clinton, pulled the rug from under him.
It is our hope that the US will stay the course because if it wavers, the consolidation of democratic governance in the region and indeed across the world will be severely, if not fatally, undermined.
While the US has to tread a careful path in view of criticisms of its past interventionist role in the region, it will also have to follow through with its commitment at the last Summit of the Americas to deal with and to work with fellow members as “equal” partners.
The US must give meaning to the promise of President Obama to “stand on the side of democracy, sovereignty and self-determination”.
Simply mouthing platitudes about the Honduran people resolving their own problems will not cut any ice when the army, supported and trained by the US, appoints itself as judge and jury over what is Constitutional or not.
One cannot be neutral in the face of rape – there is always a victim and a perpetrator – and the latter must be punished while the former must be given justice. And what has happened in Honduras is nothing more than a rape of democracy.
President Zelaya was elected in 2006 under a Constitution that only permits a single-term presidency – a reaction to the old fear of the military ensconcing themselves in power under “democratic” cover. He had initiated a referendum to be held on the day he was ousted to simply determine whether there was support for the idea of a multi-term presidency.
It was, in more ways than one, an opinion poll. The military, the Supreme Court and the ultra-conservative Speaker, however, were alarmed with the turn of the initially centre-right Zelaya into an ally of Chavez and in our estimation, overreacted and overreached.
We in Guyana, faced with many adventurists that are interpreting “democracy” expediently to match their aims to seize power like the Honduran military, must be in the forefront to ensure that President Zelaya is restored into office.

Latest News

No coup acceptable

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | January, 24th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Hayley Matthews and Sherfane Rutherford named in ICC ODI Teams of the...

Future of West Indies Cricket To Take Centre...

Bounty/Antonio’s Grill One Day Season Opener...

Former Upper Demerara Football Administrator and...

Statistician Charwayne Walker expresses...

BCB U15 LCSS ALUMNI Association inter zone U15...

Features/Columnists

Development requires more than oil revenues

OAS Secretary General Election and renewed OAS Consensus

Twilight of the generals

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]

No coup acceptable

Share this:

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | January, 24th, 2025

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]