Monday, June 29, 2009

Honduras: a victory for Constitutional Democracy

Just in case you are still thinking that a military coup was staged in Honduras over the weekend, ending in the exile of the president, you ought to read Mary Anastasia O'Grady's article in today's WSJ: "Honduras Defends Its Democracy." The military threw out the president because he had repeatedly and unconstitutionally violated orders from the Supreme Court.

This will be something to worry about only if our government sides with Chavez against the Honduran patriots.

UPDATE: Start worrying. According to Reuters, "U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday the coup that ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was illegal and would set a 'terrible precedent' of transition by military force unless it was reversed."

Here's a good way to understand just what Zelaya did and why the government of Honduras was within its right to exile him.

6 comments:

Paul said...

It appears Obama has already sided with Chavez on this one.

Scott Grannis said...

I have only been able to find comments that he made shortly after the event. He could have been misinformed, so I am willing to give him a pass. I will withhold judgment until he makes a more formal announcement.

Donny Baseball said...

Scott-
Good to see a strong dose of good sense from the Argentine electorate this Sunday, no?

Scott Grannis said...

It's ironic that the U.S. is moving closer to Venezuela at a time when Argentina is finally beginning to move away. It was good to see the Argentine election result. But the Kirchner's are anything if not resourceful--they have two years in which to commit more nefarious deeds. I would not underestimate the amount of damage they can do.

Brian H said...

At what point does a democratically elected president, or congress for that matter, no longer represent a nation's constitution? Do orders issued by such a person or congress hold up to the standard of being "lawful" orders?

Scott Grannis said...

Honduras is trying to figure this out it seems. From what I gather, the former president had repeatedly ignored both the supreme court and congress, and was acting in violation of the constitution. They had no choice but to remove him from office.