The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) in a 300-page legal report published March 9th blasts the Organization for American States (OAS) for having lit the fuse that led to the deposing of Manuel Zelaya in Honduras on June 28th last year.
This statement is in perfect agreement with the position taken by the democratic institutions and the civil society of Honduras: If it hadn’t been for the OAS legitimizing Zelaya’s coup d’état with their unprecedented ‘Mission of Accompaniment’ to Honduras, the court and congress could have handled the matter with calm and let things play themselves out.
However, the act by OAS secretary general Insulza to send this mission to legitimize an unconstitutional referendum, already forbidden as illegal by the highest judicial authority in Honduras, was nothing short of a foreign illegal and hostile interference in a sovereign state. It was, in my opinion, an act of Cold War by Insulza against one of the member states of OAS.
HRF rightly calls for the resignation of Insulza. I would also like to see him brought to the International Criminal Court, and face justice, because his illegal actions has caused the death of a number of people in Honduras.
As regards HRF calling it a coup, that is subject to debate. They seem to fail to look at the overall picture, the purpose of the democratic constitution. It is as if in Sweden a court would rule on the letter of the law without looking at the preparatory works (förarbetena). I guess one could say that they are reading the law-book as the devil reads the Bible. However, that does not detract from the main conclusion: HRF has clearly given Honduras a big victory in its fight for international recognition of its democracy and rule of law.
Meanwhile, others continue with the same old, same old rhetoric on the alleged “coup” in Honduras, although as we know (if you have read my blog) that it really was an anti-coup.