Honduras Wikileak
From Wikileaks, here is a July 24, 2009 cable from Ambassador Hugo Llorens in Honduras to Washington with an outline of the developing coup. I think it is a good analysis, looking at both sides and concluding without a doubt that Mel Zelaya's removal was both illegitimate and illegal. (I wonder, though, why it took almost a month to write the report--why not just read my blog?)
No matter what the merits of the case against Zelaya, his forced removal by the military was clearly illegal, and Micheletti's ascendance as "interim president" was totally illegitimate.
This only reinforces what we already knew. The Obama administration believed there was a coup and it was totally illegitimate, but chose not to press the issue too hard and to remain publicly vague about its interpretation of the facts.
2 comments:
Greg,
While I agree that the coup may have been unconstitutional, I can't help but support the intentions of the government institutions of Honduras who all wanted him out. Zelaya had clearly violated the Constitution.
Having said that, do you have a perspective as to why the coup plotters did not follow the constitutional route of charging Zelaya formally in the judicial branch? The judicial branch, after all, was solidly against Zelaya. I would think that a conviction would have been pretty certain.
It seems that the coup plotters may have thought that the more sure legal route would have been messy. Much easier just to do what the Honduran military has done in the past -- expel the President from the country.
Reports at the time were that Zelaya already had marked ballots done up for his phony "reelection" and that he had already instructed
his guys about winning by 70%.
Illegal? Maybe. But what if they hadn't kicked him out? Results would have been far worse.
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