The American Spectator : Subverting Democracy

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Subverting Democracy

By Daniel Mandel on 10.19.09 @ 6:07AM

The Obamaistas continue to insist on an Ortega-Chavez-Morales ending to the Honduran crisis.

It is extraordinary to see the Obama Administration -- backed by establishment liberal papers like the Washington Post and New York Times -- urging democratic Honduras to accept at least the temporary reinstatement of ousted president Manuel Zelaya.

Hondurans should ignore this advice.

Zelaya was ousted because he sought to alter the Honduran Constitution in order to enable him to run for a further term as president. This was illegal, because Article 4 of the Constitution limits the president to one four-year term. Article 4 in turn is subject to a constitutional prohibition on its alteration contained in Article 239, which states that "whoever changes or attempts to change" it "will be immediately removed from public office."

It was precisely this constitutional prohibition that Zelaya violated last May when he tried to initiate a referendum to change Article 4. Article 42, Section 5 says that anyone who is found to "incite, promote, or aid in the continuation or re-election of the President" faces loss of citizenship. Under the Constitution, therefore, Zelaya appears entitled to neither the presidency nor even Honduran citizenship.

Zelaya's illegal attempt to stay in power defied not only the Constitution but also the Honduran Congress, his own ruling Liberal Party, the country's Supreme Electoral Tribunal and the unanimous opinion of the country's 15-member Supreme Court (eight of whose members are Liberal Party appointees). The military had no role in his ouster beyond carrying out the instructions of the civilian authorities to arrest and deport him.

Thus, only when Zelaya had illegally distributed ballots illicitly imported from Hugo Chavez's Venezuela for holding his prohibited referendum, did the Supreme Court duly authorize his removal from office for contravening Article 239 and his own attorney-general call for his arrest.

As prescribed in the Constitution, his place was taken by the president of Congress, Roberto Micheletti. Micheletti -- maligned as a "coup leader" by Zelaya apologists -- has confirmed that the elections due in November will be held.

Yet the Obama Administration still regards Zelaya as president, and stigmatizes his removal from office as a "military coup" and "illegal" when it was neither.

So upon what grounds can the Obama Administration urge even the temporary return of Zelaya to office? We don't know -- the legal opinion on Zelaya's ouster prepared by the top State Department lawyer, Harold Koh, has not been released, according to Republican senator Jim DeMint, who fruitlessly requested to peruse it already prior to visiting Honduras earlier this month. But we do know that the legal opinion prepared by the Directorate for Legal Research at the Law Library of Congress fully supports the legality and constitutionality of Zelaya's removal from office.

Accordingly, how would violation of Article 239, as effectively demanded by the Obama Administration, help, in Obama's words, to "support democratic traditions"?

Admittedly, Zelaya's deportation (as distinct from his deposition) was legally controversial if not illegal. Yet, by itself, that fact provides no legal or moral foundation for his reinstatement as president. The most that can be reasonably argued is that he should be allowed to return to the country, which Zelaya in any case did by stealth last month. (He is currently in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, holed up in the Brazilian embassy). Moreover, his deportation could perhaps be justified by a paramount concern to preserve the country from constitutional dismemberment coupled with Chavez-style orchestrated unrest.

Fears of such unrest are not groundless. In 2003, orchestrated unrest in Bolivia by Chavez allies like Evo Morales succeeded in tipping out a lawful (and law-abiding) president, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada. Today, Morales sits in his place. Chavez himself was clever enough to consolidate political forces in the Venezuelan Congress before seeking (and receiving) enhanced and extended power. He also prudently stacked the courts and purged the military before making his move. Zelaya did not -- but the Chavistas and the Obama Administration are doing their best to make up for his carelessness.

Meanwhile, Zelaya surrogates are negotiating with Honduran presidential aspirants (of whom Micheletti is not one) on ending the crisis. This "Guaymuras Dialogue," as it has been termed, involves proposed constitutional and economic concessions to Zelaya in return for his "renunciation" of the presidency. But "renunciation" concedes an entitlement on Zelaya's part to an office from which he is now legally debarred and whose powers he no longer exercises.

To make such concessions to Zelaya in return for his renouncing his former office smacks of the Nicaraguan piñata, whereby Daniel Ortega and the Sandinistas plundered literally billions of dollars worth of private property and state assets before relinquishing power after electoral defeat in 1990. As Ortega himself said, it permitted him to continue "ruling from below."

Nicaragua allowed that and Ortega is now back in office. Honduras should avoid a similar experience. Who knows what legal and other devices would be put in place by Zelaya if he were reinstated to serve out the remainder of his presidential term in January?

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topics:
Honduras, Manuel Zelaya

About the Author

Daniel Mandel is a Fellow in History at Melbourne University and author of H. V. Evatt and the Establishment of Israel: The Undercover Zionist (Routledge, London, 2004). His blog can be found on the History News Network.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (26) | Leave a comment

Mattled| 10.19.09 @ 7:34AM

Since the heinous ObamaStalin admin has abandoned the Hondurans, can we start a fund to support this Republic?

Alan Brooks| 10.19.09 @ 9:27AM

Latin American Marxism is like gum on your shoe-- you can't wipe it off.

Henry Lorenzana| 10.19.09 @ 6:57PM

Please please please do. There are many prestigious organizations helping poor communities (medical brigades from CapeCares, AmeriCares or water and sanitation programmes from CARE). We desperately need help.

media101| 5.24.10 @ 8:41PM

HENRY A. LORENZANA is a big scammer!on ebay and on the phils.. BEWARE!

ebay member| 6.18.10 @ 4:13AM

this person is a big time scammer. he even use his father na may sakit daw. i hope he will be in jail.

ian| 10.6.10 @ 10:06PM

i was also a victim. may i know if he suggested meet ups with you? where? or has he given you an address.? thanks much

jim| 10.19.09 @ 10:53AM

Would the Obamaistas be supporting the unlawful return of Zelaya to power because they have similar plans of their own in the near future??

Son Of Sam| 10.19.09 @ 1:30PM

Its amazing how a small country like Honduras standing up to the ObamaNazis down in Washington are somehow NOT "speaking truth to power". If this was Venezuela, and the President was George Bush or Ronald Reagan, that would be the phrase you'd hear trotted out over and over in the dinosaur media.

But then again, we should remember that dissent is only patriotism when the traitors are NOT in power

stand strong until freedom dawns
Son Of Sam
http://www.samadamssos.bravehost.com/

Dustinsc| 10.19.09 @ 2:56PM

Although I agree with a good deal of what you say, there are some inaccuracies in the comments. The Obama administration has been careful not to call the incident a "military coup," instead simply calling it a "coup." It's a semantics issue that allows the administration to keep talking to the de facto government and continue giving certain kinds of aid.

davelnaf| 10.19.09 @ 6:35PM

What is the sum total of the different ways that Obama can make a fool of himself? Answer: It depends on whether he sidelined in 2010 or 2012. Obama is the conservatives’ gift that keeps on giving.

Richard Baker| 10.19.09 @ 7:22PM

Zelaya needs .308 justice. Sat Cong.

Big J| 10.19.09 @ 9:53PM

Surely it is not surprising that this administration's silence was deafening during the "election" in Iran, yet they boldly interfere with a country following their constitution to the letter.

I fear jim may be onto something. I wonder what tricks Rahmbo and Axelrod have up their sleeves for our Constitution?

I have an idea: SEIU, ACORN and the New Black Panthers will surely be involved.

How ironic: my AR15 is made by Panther Firearms. Coincidence? I think not.

Rick Z| 10.20.09 @ 4:53PM

Zelaya is not looking for a consolation prize, in seeking to serve out the remainder of his original term, though the end of January, 2o1o.

He wants to change institutions, raid the treasury, imprison opponents and sign treaties with Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia. Close and disassemble opposition press and broadcast. Seize private property.

And, who knows if he will REALLY relinquish power at the end of January ? A "national emergency", along with a vote on a new constitution might change all that.

Giving ANY power to Zelaya is putting your hand into the lion's cage.

Rick Z| 10.20.09 @ 4:53PM

Zelaya is not looking for a consolation prize, in seeking to serve out the remainder of his original term, though the end of January, 2o1o.

He wants to change institutions, raid the treasury, imprison opponents and sign treaties with Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia. Close and disassemble opposition press and broadcast. Seize private property.

And, who knows if he will REALLY relinquish power at the end of January ? A "national emergency", along with a vote on a new constitution might change all that.

Giving ANY power to Zelaya is putting your hand into the lion's cage.

Ronny Diaz| 1.7.10 @ 2:09PM

Wow, this was a really quality post. In theory I'd like to write like this too - taking time and real effort to make a good article... but what can I say... I procrastinate a lot and never seem to get something done.

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subtle| 5.8.10 @ 3:05AM

Representative democracy is a form of government founded on the principle of elected individuals representing the people, as opposed to either autocracy or direct democracy.

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