Jun
After a day of family fun on Sunday I come home to find out Honduras, the democratic republic in Central America, has collapsed due to a military coup that lead to President Manuel Zelaya seeking political asylum in Costa Rica.
From the initial news publications I’ve read it appears this coup may be due to constitutional changes Mr. Manuel Zelaya was attempting to make in order to keep in power longer than his one-term limit. As there is (well, as of this writing) no acting president in office, congressional leader Roberto Micheletti was taking over the position until Mr. Zelaya’s official term comes to an end. What I have been unable to determine, however; is who was behind the coup and how is started. Even though the congressional leader is from the same party as the ousted President, all signs in the press seem to point to his behind the action.
The rest of the Americas appear to be reacting negatively to the action. The U.S., Venezuelan and Ecuadorean presidents all issued statements – from threats of military action to restore Zelaya to office (Hugo Chavez) to strong disapproval related to the ignoring of the democratic process (Barack Obama) – it is apparent this action is causing concern.
All this being said, I again ask the question what is the motivation for this coup. If Roberto Micheletti is behind the action, as it appears to be, it would be foolish for him to believe the would will accept him as the leader of Honduras. He skirted the democratic process. He would also be highly aware that Mr. Zelaya is on good terms with the leftists Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (who, ironically failed at a coup attempt during the early 90’s). So what is his goal?
Good chess players often think out many moves – if not play entire games in their head – before a game is played out. While I’m not saying Roberto Micheletti is a master chess player, I hope that he has some goal – some plan – in place in anticipation of events to come. If not, it can turn out very poorly for himself and the 7.5M people who live in Honduras could become victims to his actions.
But according to this video, it looks like Roberto Micheletti may not be the next president:
After reaching out to a friend of mine for more info, it sounds likePresident Manuel Zelaya broke the law and wanted to modify the constitution his own way, by his own rules, imitating Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, in hopes of being able to say within office for one term. What happened after this point is still up in the air.