The Obama administration continues its inexplicable campaign against Honduras. Today, the WSJ astute columnist, Mary Anastasia O’Grady, tries to make some sense of the policy.
The Congressional Research Service has analyzed Obama’s claims that the Honduran Supreme Court was part of a “coup d’etat” in removing lame duck president Zelaya.
“The Supreme Court of Honduras has constitutional and statutory authority to hear cases against the President of the Republic and many other high officers of the State, to adjudicate and enforce judgments, and to request the assistance of the public forces to enforce its rulings.”
—Congressional Research Service, August 2009
No help there for Obama.
Ever since Manuel Zelaya was removed from the Honduran presidency by that country’s Supreme Court and Congress on June 28 for violations of the constitution, the Obama administration has insisted, without any legal basis, that the incident amounts to a “coup d’état” and must be reversed. President Obama has dealt harshly with Honduras, and Americans have been asked to trust their president’s proclamations.
Now a report filed at the Library of Congress by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) provides what the administration has not offered, a serious legal review of the facts. “Available sources indicate that the judicial and legislative branches applied constitutional and statutory law in the case against President Zelaya in a manner that was judged by the Honduran authorities from both branches of the government to be in accordance with the Honduran legal system,” writes CRS senior foreign law specialist Norma C. Gutierrez in her report.
Do the facts matter? Fat chance. The administration is standing by its “coup” charge and 10 days ago, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton went so far as to sanction the country’s independent judiciary. The U.S. won’t say why, but its clear the court’s sin is rejecting a U.S.-backed proposal to restore Mr. Zelaya to power.
Why is Obama doing this? Is Hugo Chavez that close an ally ? The Hondurans know they do not want to live in another Venezuela.
But it may be that Americans should be even more concerned about the heavy-handedness, without legal justification, emanating from the executive branch in Washington. What does it say about Mr. Obama’s respect for the separation of powers that he would instruct Mrs. Clinton to punish an independent court because it did not issue the ruling he wanted?
Since June 28, the U.S. has been pressuring Honduras to put Mr. Zelaya back in the presidency. But neither Mrs. Clinton’s spurious “rule of law” claims or the tire iron handed her by Mr. Obama to use against this little country have been effective in convincing the Honduran judiciary that it ought to abandon its constitution.
It seems that Mrs. Clinton is peeved with the court because it ruled that restoring Mr. Zelaya to power under a proposal drafted by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias is unconstitutional. Thus, the State Department decided that in defense of the rule of law it would penalize the members of the Supreme Court for their interpretation of their constitution. Fourteen justices had their U.S. visas pulled.
Now, Obama’s own Congressional Research Service denies he legal basis for his action. There are ways to show Honduras that we support them and that our national government does not represent the opinion of the people. Zelaya is now claiming to be back in the country, perhaps hiding in the Brazilian embassy.
Mr. Zelaya, a close ally of Venezuela’s populist President Hugo Chávez, was ordered arrested by Honduras’s Supreme Court in June after he pushed an illegal constitutional rewrite that critics worried would have allowed him to stay beyond his term. But the soldiers sent to arrest him feared his detention would spur bloodshed and instead put him on a plane to exile, also violating the country’s constitution.
Mr. Chávez on Monday hailed Mr. Zelaya’s return and said his oil-rich country stood ready to help him return to power. “Now let’s do what we have to do,” Mr. Chávez told Venezuelan TV.
In Washington, the Organization of American States, which suspended Honduras shortly after Mr. Zelaya’s ouster, said it was holding an emergency session to deal with the ousted president’s surprise return.
In Tegucigalpa, people were nevous but calm, said Moises Starkman, an adviser to the interim government. Others said they didn’t believe Mr. Zelaya’s words about having come in peace. Now, we are siding with leftist dictators.
Here is a blog with links to organizations in Honduras.
Here is a list of organizations that will get help to the people of Honduras.
UPDATE: More pro-Honduras sites.
I don’t know what is the matter with Obama. He seems more comfortable with ACORN than democracy. He grants visas to Burma’s dictators but not to elected representatives of Honduras. It’s almost like he doesn’t like democracy.
There is more here about Zelaya and his media campaign.
Tags: Central America, Obama