Most Latin American Leaders Are Wrong on Honduras

Latin American leaders pressed for the return to office of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya in their U.N. General Assembly speeches on Wednesday, as the deposed leader remained in Brazil’s embassy in Tegucigalpa.

The ouster of the Honduran president in June came as a result of Manuel Zelaya trying to break the Honduran Constitution and the following decision by the Supreme Court of Honduras.

Unfortunately, the ouster of Zelaya was condemned by all other member countries of the Organization of American States, or OAS (in Spanish OEA, Organización de Estados Americanos.)

U.N. General Assembly policy statements by several Latin American leaders on Wednesday made clear that diplomatic support for Mr. Zelaya had not diminished.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose country by tradition opens the annual General Assembly debate, warned that unless international support for Mr. Zelaya is able to force his return to office, Latin America could see a return to an era when military coups were commonplace.

In his U.N. speech, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva demanded protection for his country’s “mission” in Honduras. Lula da Silva ignores that what took Manuel Zelaya out of power was not a coup but rather the law after his attempt to break the Constitution.

The left-leaning Mr. Zelaya was arrested and deported by the Honduran military on June 28, as he sought to arrange a referendum that could have kept him in office beyond the end of his term in January.

Zelaya was closely following the tradition of presidents such as Hugo Chávez in Venezuela. Fearing that Honduras could become another Venezuela, Zelaya´s ouster and replacement by interim President Roberto Micheletti was carried out in accordance with the country’s laws.

In their U.N. messages, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet and Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez demanded Mr. Zelaya’s immediate restoration to power, with the Chilean leader saying Honduras’ planned November elections should go forward only with, in her words, the country’s “constitutional president leading this process.”

Another leftist-leaning politician, Argentine President Cristina Kirchner protested water and power cutoffs this week to the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa and a local television station that reported Mr. Zelaya’s return as well as a crackdown on his supporters.

Ms. Kirchner warned that if multi-lateral political action fails to return democracy to Honduras, it would set “a very serious precedent” in a region where in past decades military regimes killed thousands of opponents and exiled many others.

The U.S. State Department said Wednesday that Brazil has asked the U.N. Security Council to meet to discuss the safety and security of Mr. Zelaya and Brazilian facilities in Honduras, and that the United States, holder of the council’s rotating presidency, is working on that request.

Fortunately, there are still countries in Latin America, like Colombia and Panama with politicians in power who are making the right decision in this area: allow the Hondurans make their decision and vote for a new president. Roberto Micheletti will not be on the ballot. Meanwhile, Zelaya continues to make calls for the civilians to revolt.

President Zelaya is clearly trying to stoke from his temporary quarters inside the Brazilian embassy the stunt of his sneaking into Honduras (as with his earlier antics of flying over the capital threatening to land and his two-step over the Nicaraguan/Honduran border) are unfortunate efforts to energize his supporters, keep himself in the news and provoke clashes.

Once violence or victims are reported within Zelaya´s supporters, as seems to be the case now, he will be able to present to the public that Micheletti is the one to blame. Unfortunately, the U.N and most of the Latin American leaders seem blind to the original situation: Zelaya intended to break the Honduran Constitution and following the rule of law and the Supreme Court, he was rightly ousted.

More on Zelaya, click here.

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