Morning Brief: Honduran coup rocks Americas

Mon, 06/29/2009 - 8:06am
Top story: Leaders from Latin America and around the world are debating how to respond after Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was ousted in a coup ahead of a controversial referendum on Sunday. A non-binding vote was to have taken place yesterday over whether to ammend the constitution to allow the leftist president to run for a second (corrected) term, a move opposed by the opposition, military, and even some of his own party.

Zelaya was taken from his home by the military in a predawn raid and put on a plane to Costa Rica. Congressional Leader Roberto Micheletti was sworn in as president and the secretary of congress  read out a resignation letter allegedly written by Zelaya, which the former president says is false. "I am the president of Honduras," Zelaya said angrily during a press conference in Costa Rica.

Latin American leaders widely condemned the coup, with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez -- a close ally of Zelaya -- not surprisingly taking center stage, condemning "oligarchies" for breaking the rules of democracy, placing his country's military on high alert, and accusing the U.S. of helping to orchestrate the coup.

Despite Chavez's accusations, the Obama administration has publicly sided with Zelaya, contacting the former president and calling for him to be returned to power.

Stat of the day: Thanks to the credit crunch, the International Energy Agency expects demand for oil to grow by only 0.6 percent in 2008-2014.

Middle East

  • Iran began a recount of some of the ballots in this month's disputed presidential election. About 5,000 opposition supporters marched on Sunday, the first demonstration authorities have permitted in days. 
  • Israel will build 50 new homes as part of a settlement expansion plan in the West Bank. 
  • The U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. Ray Odierno, says Iraqi forces are ready to take over when U.S. troops withdraw from Iraqi cities on Tuesday. 

Asia

Africa

  • Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change is considering withdrawing from its coalition with President Robert Mugabe. 
  • Former Congolese president Jean-Pierre Bemba is due to appear before the International Criminal Court on war crimes charges today. 
  • Guinea-Bissau, where the last president and one of the candidates were both assassinated, finally held presidential elections.

Europe

  • Albania's parliamentary elections were reportedly free of incident. The ballots are still being counted. 
  • Nato and Russia agreed to resume military ties, which were suspended after last August's war with Georgia.  
  • Swiss officials say they are being unfairly targeted in the global crackdown on tax havens.

Americas

  • Argentina's Peronist party suffered losses in this weekend's parliamentary elections, a major setback for the country's ruling couple, the Kirchners. 
  • Mexico has arrested 93 police officers for suspected ties to the Gulf drug cartel. 
  • Colombian President Alvaro Uribe will visit the White House today, where he is likely to be questioned about his country's human rights record. 
AFP/Getty Images
Joshua Keating | Permalink | | Comments? Login or register
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Your sentence on the non-binding vote is incorrect. Why?

by sketchley on Mon, 06/29/2009 - 9:50am

You state that the non-binding democratic referendum which was aborted by the coup was "to ammend the constitution to allow the leftist president to run for a third term"

This is complete BS and does your credibility little favours.

Firstly, the non-binding vote as you call it was to merely ask the Honduran citizens a question: whether they should place a fourth urn in the elections of November to convene a Comstituents Assembly. The actual question was this: “¿Está usted de acuerdo que en las elecciones generales de noviembre de 2009 se instale una cuarta urna para decidir sobre la convocatoria a una Asamblea Nacional Constituyente que apruebe una nueva Constitución política?” The poll was NOT to amend the constitution.

At no point was there any mention of allowing the 'leftist' president to 'run for a third term'.

Also, the Honduran constitution only allows the President one term, so how could it possibly allow him to run for a "third term"?

Further, according to the Honduran Ley Constitutiva de las Fuerzas Armadas of 2001, the President as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces has full powers to appoint or remove freely (libremente) the Chief of Staff, which means that the Honduran Supreme Court exceeded its authority in ordering his re-instatement.

Is It Really a Coup?

by RufusJSquirrel on Mon, 06/29/2009 - 9:44am

There seems to be a lot of debate as to whether the Honduran situation really amount to a "coup". The military has the backing of the Congress and the Supreme Court. I imagine that Foreign Policy will address this later in the day, but I would be quite interested in some analysis.

Also, he was trying to amend the constitution to get a second term, not a third.