“Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out, Zelaya.” He’s not decamping to Mexico after all. A great pity: the sooner he fades away, the sooner we can all start trying to forget that with regard to Honduras this administration not only first stepped in it, but dropped and rolled for good measure.
So what’s Spanish for “Get on with it, Zelaya?”
Via Instapundit.
Moe Lane
Can this be done, now?
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, 02 December, 2009 – With a vote of 111 in favor and 14 against, the National Congress of Honduras today overwhelmingly rejected the restitution of Mr. José Manuel Zelaya Rosales to the presidency of the Republic. Also, Congress passed a motion supporting the succession leading to the constitutional presidency of Mr. Roberto Micheletti Bain. Members in turn strongly and affirmatively expressed of the permanence of President Micheletti in office until January 2010, confirming Decree 141-2009, with 111 votes for and 14 against. The president-elect of the Republic, Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo will take office on January 27, when the new President of Congress will place the presidential sash.
Via Fausta.
Look, it’s over, all right? The deposed President of Honduras tried to Chavez his way into keeping power. His own political party, in conjunction with the military and judiciary, removed him from office. We jumped the gun on condemning the action, and have been regretting it ever since. They have had a legitimate election where the opposition party won. The current government is loudly declaring how ecstatic they are over the idea of handing power over to the winners of that election. And now their legislature has declared that they are not going to put Zelaya back in power – and a position from which to do mischief – until January.
So let’s just make an example of some scapegoat from the State Department and Move. On.
Moe Lane
Crossposted to RedState.
[UPDATE]: This was just sent to me by a staffer in the UN DPA:
Statement attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General
The United Nations wishes to clarify that its position, regarding the legality of the removal of President Zelaya in Honduras has been clearly articulated by the General Assembly Resolution 63/301 adopted on 1 July 2009. This resolution “condemns the coup d’etat in the Republic of Honduras that has interrupted the democratic and constitutional order and the legitimate exercise of power in Honduras.”
A recent Honduran media report appears to refer to an analysis submitted by a consultant as representing the views of the Department of Political Affairs This is highly misleading. The Department of Political Affairs routinely receives reports and analyses of this type from consultants, academics and other experts. But its views are strictly in line with that outlined in the General Assembly Resolution.
The Secretary-General urges the parties in Honduras to avoid distractions at this critical moment in the negotiations and remain focused on arriving at a consensual agreement to end the crisis in Honduras through dialogue.
He continues to strongly support OAS-led efforts to assist the parties in reaching a solution.
Bolding mine.
_____
This report (see Fausta for a roundup and translation links) that the United Nations Department of Political Affairs found that the Honduran government acted constitutionally could be explosive, if true. Emphasis on ‘if:’ the UNDPA has not yet put up a statement or a report verifying the editorial. I tracked down somebody in that office, and I got the impression that something will be up on the subject; when they let me know what it is, I’ll update this post.
Crossposted to RedState.
(Via Dan Collins of POWIP) Senator Jim DeMint (R, SC) is back from Honduras – despite the best efforts of the Democrats to stop him from going – and he’s unkind about what has been pretty obviously an attempt by the American government to admit that we made a mistake and picked the wrong side of the Honduras issue:
[American policy re: the Zelaya ouster] was set in a snap decision the day Mr. Zelaya was removed from office, without a full assessment of either the facts or reliable legal analysis of the constitutional provisions at issue. Three months later, it remains in force, despite mounting evidence of its moral and legal incoherence.
[snip]
In a day packed with meetings, we met only one person in Honduras who opposed Mr. Zelaya’s ouster, who wishes his return, and who mystifyingly rejects the legitimacy of the November elections: U.S. Ambassador Hugo Llorens.
When I asked Ambassador Llorens why the U.S. government insists on labeling what appears to the entire country to be the constitutional removal of Mr. Zelaya a “coup,” he urged me to read the legal opinion drafted by the State Department’s top lawyer, Harold Koh. As it happens, I have asked to see Mr. Koh’s report before and since my trip, but all requests to publicly disclose it have been denied.
Continue reading The Honduras article Sen. Kerry (D, MA) didn’t want you to see.
(H/T: AoSHQ) Not to mention Brazil’s public and increasingly outrageous assistance to Zelaya. So it’s going to have to stop:
Honduras is accusing Brazil’s government of instigating an insurrection within its borders, and gave the Brazilian Embassy 10 days to decide the status of ousted Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya, who has taken refuge there.
[snip]
The statement said Honduras would be forced to take measures against Brazil if Brazil did not define its position on Zelaya. It did not specify what those measures would be.
Well, according to Zelaya himself it’ll mean more hallucinogenic Jewish gas – no, really: that’s what he thinks – although it’d more likely that the Hondurans will just PNGing the entire Brazilian embassy and refusing to credential more until Zelaya is either in a Honduran jail, or is both de jure and de facto out of Honduran territory. Given the general lack of a popular uprising to ‘rescue’ the ousted former president from his durance vile, that would be a reasonably face-saving way to end the confrontation.
Mind you, the way that this administration seems determined to play Ugly American, we might not be so lucky.
Moe Lane
Crossposted to RedState.
(Via @jeffemanuel) One wonders whether something got lost in translation.
They’re torturing me, Honduras’ Zelaya claims
Honduras’ fallen leader told The Miami Herald he is being subjected to mind-altering gas and radiation — and that `Israeli mercenaries’ are planning to assassinate him.
TEGUCIGALPA — It’s been 89 days since Manuel Zelaya was booted from power. He’s sleeping on chairs, and he claims his throat is sore from toxic gases and “Israeli mercenaries” are torturing him with high-frequency radiation.
On the other hand, when it comes to this sort of thing eventually somebody decides to blame it all on the Jews. Apparently, in this case Zeleya’s got “Israeli mercenaries” going after him with sonic weapons and radiation! Spying on him with rays! Can somebody explain why we’re backing this lunatic, again? Oh, right: because the administration got caught unprepared by events, went off half-cocked, and guessed wrong: and God forbid that this administration ever admit that it’s capable of error.
I swear, it’s like the President is deliberately trying to be a caricature of all the Left-wing fantasies about President Bush.
Moe Lane
PS: Ed Morrissey has an extremely apt song in mind.
*Sarcasm. At least on my part.
Crossposted to RedState.
[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.
Via Fausta’s Blog:
Soldiers arrest Honduran president: AP+
MECIXO CITY, June 28 (AP) – (Kyodo)—Soldiers on Sunday arrested the Honduran president and took him to an air force base just before voting was to begin on a disputed constitutional election, according to the Associated Press.
President Manuel Zelaya’s private secretary told the AP that Zelaya was arrested and brought to a base on the outskirts of the capital, Tegucigalpa.
[snip]
Zelaya had pledged to go forward with a referendum on constitutional reform despite the opposition of the Supreme Court, the military, Congress and members of his own party.
Fausta has background here: if you don’t have time to read it, note that proto-dictator Hugo Chavez (and whoever’s channeling Fidel Castro this week) is spitting nails on this. Given that, as the Wall Street Journal notes, this entire thing got started over President Zelaya’s attempt to set up a referendum* in opposition to pretty much the opposition of the rest of the Honduran government, civilian and military… well. A man is known by his friends, and I wish I knew what the equivalent Spanish idiom is.
Moe Lane
*One that would allow him to run for re-election. The Honduras Constitution forbids that; given of what I know of South American history, this isn’t exactly surprising.
Crossposted to RedState.
