Honduras one month from the elections



In one month Honduras will hold regular general elections. This in the middle of a political crisis that started on June 25 when the then president Manuel Zelaya issued a decree to hold a poll in defiance of a direct order from the Supreme Court of Justice, upon which the latter issued an order to arrest him to the military, which they did on June 28. Unfortunately they exiled him, and since he claimed that his arrest was a coup, the world community came to the assistance of the failed coupster Zelaya.

President Micheletti has today relinquished the command over the military and the police. The command passes to the election authority, in accordance with the constitution.

The U.S. has today sent a high official, sub-secretary of state Shannon, to Honduras to facilitate the negotiations. According to Shannon, there is an agreement on the table but no political will to sign it.

While the international community would like to see an agreement signed by Micheletti and Zelaya, one must ask, however, what authority those two gentlemen have for making such an agreement. Neither one is a sovereign ruler of Honduras. The sitting president cannot go beyond the powers that the constitution gives him, and the other one has no authority whatsoever apart from those of a regular citizen – and probably less, since he is wanted by the law. It would seem to yours truly that the real power to deal with this, in an institutional democracy such as Honduras, rests with the Supreme Court of Justice, and perhaps with the National Congress depending on how the constitution is written in each country.

Since both of those institutions agreed to replace Zelaya with Micheletti it is hard to envision any legal process by which to alter the facts inside the country. The question thus becomes, can the situation outside the country be changed?

Again, the political views being locked, one of the few things that can have a chance to change the perception of reality is if a court has to evaluate the events around June 25th, and declares that deposing Zelaya was legal and constitutional. The Honduran government is not stupid – they know this. Perhaps that is why the country has taken at least two cases to international courts, in which the legality of the succession has to be evaluated. The latest case is a complaint against Brazil filed at the International Court of Justice, a court that handles cases between nations. The complaint alleges that Brazil violated international law and treaties when allowing Zelaya to call for an uprising, thus instigating violence in Honduras, from the sanctity of Brazil’s embassy. Micheletti does not rule out demanding compensation from Brazil for the damages.

5 thoughts on “Honduras one month from the elections”

  1. La corte internacional ni siquiera le dara entrada a esta demanda en contra de Brasil, ya que este es un organismo de las Naciones Unidas , y el Gob de facto de Honduras no es reconocido por la comunidad internacional ni por la Corte internacional

    La sustitucion de Zelaya es un caso politico, y los juristas dicen “todo entuerto(“error muy grande”) se deshace de la misma forma que se hizo”
    A Zelaya lo destituyo el Congreso a traves de un decreto, ahora el congreso debe hacer otro decreto restituyendolo, Zelaya a la Presidencia y Michelleti de vuelta al Congreso, y Saavedra de vuelta como secretario del Congreso.

    El gran problema en Honduras es que los poderes realmente no son independientes, TODAS los organismos e instituciones que actualmente estan contra el Presidente ZELAYA son nombrados directamente por el congreso nacional: la corte suprema, la fiscalia, el tribunal de cuentas, los generales del ejercito son asendidos por el congreso en fin , el congreso y el ejercito son realmente el poder en Honduras.

    El acuerdo para solucionar la crisis esta muy cerca, a los politicos y empresarios les interesa sobremanera esto por las elecciones, ya que si no hay acuerdo estas no son reconocidas por la comunidad internacional el pais entrara en bancarrota y sus negocios tambien.

    Segun Shannon ellos vinieron de parte de la secretaria Clinnton y el presidente Obama a llevar el acuerdo firmado, de hecho se quedaran mas dias en Honduras para conseguir su proposito.
    LA OTRA SEMANA LO VEREMOS

    El que no sabe lo que busca, nunca entiende lo que encuentra.

    1. You avoid the issues in your comment:
      1. The Supreme Court forbade Zelaya from holding a poll on this issue.
      2. Zelaya violated the prohibition and thus the Supreme Court, a co-equal branch of government.
      Given this chain of events, the Supreme Court and Congress had only two alternatives:
      A. Remove Zelaya from office.
      B. Cease to exist as independent branches of government, effectively making Zelaya a dictator.
      The power-play of Zelaya has been carried out countless times in history, and it almost always succeeds. Honduras is a rare example where the democratic institutions actually defend themselves.
      You wrote that Congress really is the power in Honduras. Good! The parliament is the people’s representatives, much more so than the president is. It is exactly as it should be in a democracy that the parliament can depose of the president when the latter oversteps his authority, as Zelaya did.
      It is unfortunate that there is a lack of public order in Honduras, but you have to admit that if you view the present president as the legal one, then you have to acknowledge that he has not just the right, but the obligation, to uphold public order by disrupting illegal demonstrations, riots, vandalism, etc. If you view Micheletti as the legal president, then the “resistencia” are effectively revolutionaries, and some of them are violent at that. Even worse, I was told tonight that there are assassins in the country now, paid by Chavez, with a hit list of prominent people. This appears to me as a violent, communist revolution similar to that carried out on Cuba. Regardless of how one views the events of June 25th and after, I think we can both agree that the use of violence and of illegal acts can never be acceptable.

  2. I am surprised that the agreement was signed. Why would the government of Honduras agree to re-instate a Chavez puppet dictator? It seems to be a huge blow to democracy in Honduras.

    On the flip side, the administration has totally ignored the real coup in Nicaragua. I hope the people of Nicaragua follow the example of Honduras, and throw out the dictator.

    Viva Honduras! Viva 15-0!

    1. Who said he is going to be re-instated? Have faith in the congress 🙂

  3. El día de brujas se acerca (HOY), apoyo la propuesta que circula en internet de otorgarle a Micheletti el premio por el mejor disfraz, ya que siendo diputado, estuvo disfrazado de presidente por 120 días. Si bien creo, el disfraz siempre le quedó grande.

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