Today, We Are All Hondurans

by John T. Simpson

You all know the story to date. Former Honduran president Manuel Zelaya was given the bum’s rush out of Tegucigalpa to Costa Rica by Honduras’ military on June 25th. In the days since, this apparent brutal seizure of power has received worldwide condemnation, most particularly by the Organization of American States, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, Nicaragua president Daniel Ortega, the Castro brothers of Cuba and President Obama. Ya, I know. Bear with me. That’s just the setup.


Manuel Zelaya

July Fourth, the OAS ejected Honduras from its membership for refusing to reinstate Zelaya, but too late. The defiant interim Honduran government, now led by Roberto Micheletti, had already said in so many words, “you can’t fire me! I quit!” In short, the mouse gave the eagle the finger. I can appreciate that. At present, the possibility of sanctions is very real, a fact that could hurt the already hardscrabble nation very deeply, especially if the coffee trade is affected.

From the blustering we’re hearing from Chavez, Ortega and even President Obama himself, you’d think it would only be a matter of time before armies are lined up at the Honduran border, ready to reinstate democracy at the point of a gun. Yet who are the real democrats here? For that, you need to know the backstory. Let’s face it, you can’t properly review a movie unless you know all the plot intricacies. There are enough here for a Hitchcock film.

Let’s take a trip in the Wayback Machine to June 25th. Supposedly, the supremely democractic elected leader of Honduras, President Manuel Zelaya, was rousted in his pajamas and tossed into the cargo hold of a Costa Rica-bound fruit plane by a power-grabbing military junta, going by major news media reporting. Wrong. He was allowed to dress. I guess there’s a different kind of Pajamas Media out there now. You know. The good one’s evil twin. What else is new?

But much more important, it appears that President Zelaya was actively engaged in violating the Honduran Constitution by pushing an illegal ballot referendum to extend his term in office that had been vehemently opposed by the Honduran Supreme Court, the attorney general, the Congress and even Zelaya’s own party. On June 25th, in violation of Supreme Court order, President Zelaya ordered the commander of Honduras’ armed forces, Gen. Romeo Vasquez, to distribute the illegal ballots which, curiously, had just arrived from Venezuela courtesy of Hugo Chavez.

Gen. Vasquez refused. Zelaya fired him. The senior Honduran military command resigned in protest, and also refused to carry out Zelaya’s illegal order. The Supreme Court ruled Zelaya’s firing of Gen. Vasquez illegal on a 5-0 vote and ordered Zelaya to reinstate him. Zelaya refused, and continued with his attempt to impose the illegal ballot referendum on the Honduran people.

It was at this point the Honduran government had had enough of Manuel Zelaya and booted him out of the country. Some news reports indicate Zelaya was given the choice of resignation or imprisonment on charges of treason. If so, Zelaya had a lot more to gain flying out of the country ‘in his pajamas’ and whining to all his Leftist Socialist friends around the world, of which there is no shortage these days. The State Run Media, of course (ours, not Honduras), played out the Zelaya sob story to perfection, with all those messy Honduran Constitutional details somehow unreported.

All except for the Wall Street Journal, which titled their opinion piece on the subject, “Honduras Defends Its Democracy.” It’s a must-read, especially given all the blatantly pro-Zelaya coverage in the Vein Stream Media. The Honduran-based Fausta’s Blog has been covering these events for months. Gateway Pundit also has some incredible coverage of events in Honduras that you just won’t see anywhere else.

Was it a military coup? Look at how events proceeded and you tell me. The president of the Honduran Congress, Roberto Micheletti, also a member of Zelaya’s Liberal Party, was appointed Zelaya’s interim successor as called for in the Honduras Constitution. The Army went back to their barracks. The senior military officers were reinstated along with Gen. Vasquez.

Now, we all know what military coups look like. We’ve seen them in Thailand, Myanmar, all over the world. Yet never in any previous hardline coup by a ruthless military junta did I see tens of thousands of ordinary citizens swarming to the streets in support of it, even celebrating. You’d have thought it was the Fourth of July in Tegucigalpa! Oh yeah, it was.

There are certainly plenty of Zelaya supporters protesting, but compare the crowd sizes at the Gateway Pundit site linked above. It’s an eye-opening demonstration of how the news media can totally distort public perception by focusing on the dozens and ignoring the tens of thousands.

I have also not heard one condemnation by either the press, President Obama or any other government about Hugo Chavez’ threats to invade Honduras, a sovereign nation, in order to get his illegal ballot investment back. By the way, the same OAS that belatedly ejected Honduras for anti-democratic activities has just now welcomed Cuba, the 7th-happiest nation on earth, as a full member in good standing.

The ironies here could not be blacker. All branches of the Honduran government, legislative, executive and judicial, which appear to have exercised Constitutional jurisprudence in this matter, while Maneul Zelaya has done anything but, are the objects of righteous wrath and perhaps even sanctions by the Obama Administration in the form of aid cutoff and other punitive economic measures. Military cooperation has already been suspended.

Yet the real coup and bloodshed of innocents in Iran is met by Obama with reluctantly withdrawn Fourth of July BBQ invites to Iranian diplomats, and not much else. President Obama is even opposing financial sanctions on Iran at the upcoming G8 meeting, and is working overtime to undermine their implementation. All the other G8 members but Russia favor them. Might as well say “Happy Fourth of July, Honduras and Iran! Viva Zelaya! Signed, President Obama. PS Sorry about the BBQ disinvites, Iran. Too much bad press.” And I thought Jimmy Carter was pathetic.

I for one stand with Honduran people. The evidence seems quite clear to me that the Honduran government acted in Constitutional fashion, and President Zelaya did not. I say BUY HONDURAN! Contact the Honduran embassy at embassy@hondurasemb.org and let them know that REAL Americans stand for freedom and democracy, and against tinpot wannabe dictators-for-life like Zelaya and Chavez in full measure. Feel free to let the White House and State hear it, too.

Our President does not speak for us. He certainly doesn’t for me. But as one blog commenter summed it up beautifully, “NOTE TO PRESIDENT: If you find yourself on the same side of any issue as Chavez, Ortega and the Castro brothers, it’s time rethink your position.” What he said.

Lastly, I would much rather be screenwriting, and will again after this oped. At least until the next outrage. But who else is even covering this issue the way it demands to be? You know, people, it’s bad enough when the Obama press corps kneels at the altar in humiliating fashion. Quite another when that same media plays up an apparent democratic overthrow into a ruthless military coup for political purposes. It gets into scary Eastasia-Eurasia territory, and I really don’t like it.

And when I REALLY don’t like it, that’s when you’ll see me here. Some things are just way more important than film. Like standing with the Honduran people, in the face of a Leftist propaganda and political onslaught that threatens their democracy a hell of a lot more than Manuel Zelaya ever could.


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Posted Jul 7th 2009 at 9:03 am in Politics | 178 Comments