A Military Non-Coup in Honduras

"Military coup in Honduras." So proclaims our President, backed up by similar statements from our Secretary of State, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and Raul Castro of Cuba. But what a strange military coup: the removal of the current President was authorized in accordance with the Constitution of Honduras as interpreted by its Supreme Court and its Congress. That's 2 out of 3 branches of the elected and properly appointed government of Honduras. These two bodies then go on to install an interim Executive to manage things until free elections can be held this Fall. As coups go, the Honduras military seems a bit confused.

Here are the facts as reported by the Wall Street Journal: the Honduras Constitution can only be amended by a proper Constitutional Convention called pursuant to a national referendum approved by the Congress. Then President, Mel Zelaya, wanted an amendment to allow him to run for office again, with the evident intent to become one of those banana republic style Presidents for Life, like his pal Hugo Chavez. When Congress refused to act on the issue, Mr. Zelaya proceeded to try and hold a national referendum on this issue, under the pretense of his own authority as President. The Supreme Court of Honduras dutifully ruled that he had no such authority, and ordered the military to refuse cooperation with Mr. Zelaya. In the face of the ruling by Honduras' highest court, the lawfully appointed Attorney General of Honduras declared that any attempt to conduct a national referendum would be illegal and would be prosecuted by him to the fullest extent of the law. With the military refusing to perform the illegal referendum in accordance with the order of the Supreme Court, Mr. Zelaya fielded his own private army, broke into a military base, stole the referendum forms, and proceeded to distribute them. He was then arrested, and Congress, following established Honduran law, designated its own President as an interim Executive, pending national elections.

Here is a quote from the people of Honduras, taking a stand against the lawlessness of Mr. Zelaya:

"We won't go backwards," one sign said. "We want to live in peace, freedom and development."

Events in Honduras are transparently a triumph of democracy and the rule of law, not a coup. That our President and Secretary of State are blind to this and can only repeat talking points oozing out of the mouths of Chavez and Castro is an indictment of the terrible ideology that clouds our own Leaders' minds.

FREE HONDURAS!

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That's not "Free Honduras!" as in a call to action to free Honduras. That's "Free Honduras" as in a celebration of the current state of freedom in that tiny country, and a call to arms to preserve its freedom against the idiocy of our State Department.

Rick Richman of Commentary's Contentions Blog reports the current state of affairs in Honduras.

In the face of the stunning success of Honduran political institutions in preserving the rule of law of a democratic society, what is our State Department's rallying cry? Something like "Reinstall Zelaya now, to complete his remaining 2 months in office until the next election!" That's right, the Whiz Kids at State believe Freedom demands that ex-President Mel Z. be reinstated to complete his Constitutional term as President, even though he has been removed from office in accordance with that same Constitution.

Why was he removed from office? As we reported previously (click the title to this post above), because he violated the Constitution by trying to extend his term as President; and then violated lawful orders of the Supreme Court to desist from violating the Constitution; and then violated the law again by firing the head of the military for refusing to follow his illegal orders to violate the Constitution.

Honduras is, today, a free country, with a vibrant and strong Executive, Legislative and Judicial Branch who are all in agreement that Mel Zelaya is a criminal under Honduran law, a judgment agreed to by a consensus (that's more than a majority) of members of Mr. Zelaya's own political party and the major institutions of civil society as well.

Why would Mr. Zelaya want to return to power for a mere couple of months of Presidential power? Mr. Richman reports a quote from a September 4th article in the Nation, in which it states that Mr. Zelaya "has only one purpose, the transformation of Honduras, including deep structural changes."

I.e. Mr. Zelaya still seeks to overthrow the Constitutional system of Honduras through extra-Constitutional means.

In the face of this clearest of intentions by Mr. Zelaya, Phillip J. Crowley, Assistant Secretary of State, and apparently the Secretary herself, Hillary Clinton, still believe that Mr. Zelaya needs to be reinstated.

If this is not a world turned upside down where the greatest exemplar of freedom, democracy and the rule of law, America, seeks to dictate lawlessness to a tiny neighbor to our south, then I don't know what is.

Free Honduras! And while we're at it, shackle the State Department. These people have no business negotiating anything bigger than Hillary and Bill's plane tickets to Bermuda.

Hillary Clinton and the Rule of Law in Honduras

I see on Fox News tonight that Hillary Clinton, our Secretary of State, is concerned about ousted President of Honduras, Mel Zelaya, attempting to re-enter his former country. Why is she concerned?

Because she is desperately trying to restore the Rule of Law to Honduras and such confrontational actions on the part of Mr. Zelaya will be counter-productive.

Well. As we learned here, the ouster of Mr. Z was in fact an act pursuant to the Rule of Law, including the Constitution of Honduras. It was an act by the military pursuant to an order of the Supreme Court of Honduras lawfully issued and confirmed by the elected Congress of Honduras, including a sweeping majority of the members of Mr. Zelaya's own party.

You don't get much closer to the Rule of Law than that, especially among the thugs and miscreants in Latin America and Cuba that our Secretary of State is in solidarity with on this issue. Nor, come to think of it, among our own government, which thinks nothing of taking TARP money authorized for Bank Bail-outs and using it to buy government stakes in car companies, to name one among many gross violations of the Rule of Law in our own country.

So, if Ms. Clinton succeeds in forcing the re-instatement of Mel Zelaya as President, it will not be the restoration of the Rule of Law in Honduras, but instead a grotesque breach thereof.

For my money, if it comes down to a decision between Hillary Clinton, Hugo Chavez and Raul Castro versus the people of Honduras, then I will just have to stand with those wise Latinas and Latinos of tiny Honduras.

Honduras Wins!

It looks like it's face saving time for Hillary Clinton and the State Department.

The AP reports an agreement has been reached between Honduras' interim government and ousted President, Mel Zelaya. AP reports the significance:

The agreement, if it holds, could represent a much-needed foreign policy victory for the United States, which dispatched a senior team of diplomats to coax both sides back to the table.

Let's see, Afghanistan dithering, Iranians and Norks nuking up, Israel-Palestinian impasse, Russian aggression, and Allied backstabbing on missile defense in Eastern Europe, all of these are signal failures of Administration foreign policy. So, forcing an agreement on a tiny, defenseless Honduras democracy is a "much-needed foreign policy victory for the United States?" Talk about lowering the bar.

Not to mention that this is no Administration victory. Honduras has consistently maintained that Mel Zelaya was legally impeached and an interim government appropriately installed pending already scheduled elections this November. This agreement, which Madam Secretary Clinton calls "historic," impliedly affirms the Honduran position, providing that upon the installation of the new government, all sanctions will be lifted and relations normalized with the U.S. The only "concessions" Honduras had to make on Mr. Zelaya was to agree to reinstate him if such is approved by the Honduran Congress. Since Mr. Zelaya's own party repeatedly and vehemently has denounced him, there is little likelihood that he will be reinstated. The result: point, set, and match to Honduran democracy.

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The State Department started this whole fracas because of a legal opinion of top State Department lawyer Harold Koh, purportedly concluding that the actions of the Honduran military in ousting Mr. Zelaya was illegal under Honduran law. To date, the State Department has refused to release this super-persuasive legal brief.

With the manifest capitulation of State under this agreement, it is clear that Mr. Koh's legal opinion was flawed, and as a result, State "stepped in it" at the beginning of the Honduran "crisis." Thereafter, instead of wiping off their shoes as the facts became clear, they rolled around in it for a few months before finally deciding to take a bath.

Those plucky people of Honduras. You gotta love 'em.

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Honduras Leads the Way

Let's see:

Pre-election primaries held on time and without fraud, check.

National elections held on time and without fraud, check.

Score: Honduras 1, Chavez 0.

Looks like a soccer score, but the meaning is clear: Chavez, and his sycophantic Organization of American States are the big losers in their bid to oust democracy in Honduras. Fortunately, the Obama Administration came to its senses just in time to get on the band wagon of freedom in Honduras.

Now it's time to get serious about the increasing adventurism of the strongman-style governments around the world. It is no accident that every one of the trouble makers in the world today depend heavily on oil revenues to maintain their power and influence. Russia, Iran, and Venezuela all strut and preen on the world stage as if they have done something other than milk their oil revenues for world prominence.

This is easily remedied. Drill, Baby, Drill is not just a catch-phrase for the resurgence of the American economy. It is also the Achilles heel of all these faux powers. If we and the portion of the world that is still sane will flood the world with oil rather than printed money, the price of oil will plummet, leaving these paper tigers limp and gasping.

Of course, this is all a bit too simple for the best and brightest in the Obama Administration. But as Honduras has shown, free and fair elections have consequences, and our own chance at democracy-in-action is coming the fall of next year.

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Honduras

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EZ, the big question raised by your series of posts on the Honduran situation is, what on earth could the Obama Administration be thinking about in aligning itself with Hugo Chavez and his ilk against a functioning democracy in South America?

We have an answer. Apparently the President and Secretary of State are following a State Department legal brief by top State counsel Harold Koh which concludes the actions of the Honduran military were a coup in violation of Honduran law.

Mr. Koh must be some kind of persuasive, since the opinion that the military acted lawfully in accordance with the Constitution of Honduras is held and defended by leading DC lawyer and Honduras native Miguel Estrada, the Law Library of Congress, and a host of other mainstream critics and commentators, as well as the Honduran Congress, Supreme Court, Attorney General, Catholic Church and members of ousted President Zelaya's own party.

Since Mr. Koh is so persuasive, you would think the Administration would be eager to release his legal reasoning. However, you would be wrong; Mr. Koh and his legal analysis is being kept tightly under wraps, even from an inquiry by U.S. Senator Jim DeMint. Is it possible his radical background has colored his legal analysis? Most certainly, as no honest reading of the Honduran situation could find otherwise than that the military acted lawfully.

This makes the release of Mr. Koh's legal analysis even more important. It might very well highlight how easily President Obama and Madam Secretary Clinton are persuaded by leftwing analysis that can barely keeps its head above the waters of propaganda.