[UPDATE]: Welcome, Instapundit readers – but really, this story’s been covered by Fausta better than by myself.
(Background here)
They had a court order. Fausta updated:
1:50PM
Indeed, Honduras’ La Prensa states that (My translation: If you use this, please credit me and link to this post)An official statement of the Supreme Court of Justice explained that the Armed Forces acted under lawful grounds when detaining the President of the Republic, and by decommissioning the materials to be used on the illegal poll which aimed to bring forth Executive Power against a judicial order.Other sources verified that the president of the Congress, Roberto Micheletti, will assume the presidency of the republic in a few hours.
…
Honduran president Manuel Zelaya was detained this morning by the military in compliance with an order of the courts of law.
Meanwhile, the foreign policy experts over at State and the White House* have gone into, bluntly, full Ugly American mode: they’re currently declining to recognize the right of the Hondurans to remove their own head of state on constitutional grounds. Apparently, when it’s a choice between a chief executive on the one hand and said chief executive’s country’s judiciary, legislature, military, and own political party on the other… well, it all apparently depends on what Hugo Chavez thinks.
Let’s just hope that they don’t ask Chavez what he thinks about the Jews.
Moe Lane
PS: Let me expand on that just a little. I don’t think that this administration is slavishly following Chavez’s lead: I think that they care so little about South American affairs that accommodating their stance to that of a darling of the radical Left seems to them to be a no-brainer. If the White House is worried about getting the answer to this wrong, it’s not immediately obvious.
*H/T: Gateway Pundit, Hot Air.
Crossposted to RedState.
It sends a signal, Mr. Lane and it’s not one of apathy it’s one of urgency. Barack Obama is telling the dirty socialist left to get busy already and make hay while the sun shines. We got their back. There’s still a lot of icky economic freedom and individual liberty out there in the wide wide world and damn it the American people voted for change.
Nah, I really do think that they just don’t give a tinker’s dam. The hate mail for this one’s got that special whine that I typically associate with people determined to ignore that He’s Just Not That Into Them.
A prequel to US election 2016?
I agree with Moe. The Missus is from Nicaragua, and she gave a big woop this morning when I read the news, and laughed.
Wish Nicaragu had the cojones to throw the illegitimate Ortega out of office (see last November’s fraudulent elections)
I think this is O’s 1) shout out to the Latin Left Loonies, and 2) his preening over something he may not have even been adequately briefed about–this has happened before . . .
This is not some ’80’s Latin coup; this is a poor Latin country getting its act together. Buena Suerte, Honduras!
The response from State and the WH is because they cannot think due to the screaming in their own heads: ” Oh no! they might think we wanted this! Like Chile! pleasedontmentionAllendepleasedontmentionAllendepleasedontmentionAllendepleasedontmentionAllendepleasedontmentionAllendepleasedontmentionAllendepleasedontmentionAllende”
Yay Honduras!! The processes and mechanisms of Democracy functioned perfectly and peacefully – and a thuggish lackey of Chavez and would-be tyrant was removed by Court and Congressional order.
Great to see a country that actually follows its constitution. How can the media, and the Obama administration actually call this a coup?
I AM A HONDURAN! I LIVE IN HONDURAS! I AM AWARE OF ALL THE CORRUPTION THIS PAST GOVERNMENT DID! MANUEL ZELAYA IS A THIEF, CORRUPT, DRUG DEALER AND I CAN GO ON AND ON! WE WILL NOT TOLERATE AN IGNORANT AS A PRESIDENT! WE WILL NOT SURRENDER BEFORE HIM OR CHAVEZ! NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO INVADE OR CONDEMN OUR COUNTRY FOR DEFENDING OURSELVES! I CAN TRANSLATE THE CONSTITUTION IF YOU ALL NEED IT! EVERYTHING THAT WAS DONE, WAS UNDER THE FRAME OF OUR LAWS! IF ALL THE OTHER COUNTRIES AND ORGANIZATIONS DEFEND THAT PRICK, THEN KEEP HIM! WE DONT WANT HIM HERE! THEY CAN ALL HAVE HIM! WE WILL NOT TOLERATE HIS LEFTISM ANYMORE!