Well it's starting to look like everything that the Congress, the military, and the supreme court did was legal. In fact the only attempt to ignore their constitution was done by Zelaya.
George Landau former U.S. ambassador to Chile, Paraguay, and Venezuela wrote:
This was not a military coup. The military blocked an attempted civilian coup by Manuel Zelaya, as he defied Honduras’s Supreme Court, its Congress, and his own political party. Instead of calling for his reinstatement in office, we should congratulate the Honduran government on removing the president peacefully.
What happened in Honduras was not a standard coup. The Supreme Court ordered the army to remove Zelaya from office. The Congress, albeit after his detention and exile, voted unanimously for his removal and confirmed his constitutionally mandated successor to fill the remainder of his term in office.
Prior to his exile, Zelaya had insisted on a referendum to allow for his reelection in direct violation of the Honduran constitution. In other words, he set out to perpetuate himself in office. Roger Noriega, a former Bush administration official and a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, puts it clearly: “Zelaya brushed aside every other institution of the state in insisting on a referendum that would benefit his selfish interests.”
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NT … BlODI2YTg=The ballots for Sunday’s suspended referendum were actually prepared in Venezuela. On Saturday, Zelaya made an abortive effort to storm and steal the ballots from the Honduran military base where they were stored.
This is an important note since the state of Honduras had declared the ballots illegal and would not prepare them themselves.
Honduras had legitimate reason to remove Zelaya from office, even if arguably they used illegitimate means to do so (approving the exile after it was done). Zelaya repeatedly violated the constitution of Honduras, first by attempting to hold the referendum, and second by illegally firing the chief of the Army, who reports to both the president and the legislature in Honduras.
There was no military coup, the military was the tool of government and there was a peaceful transition of government. CNN and other news outlets were quick to describe the action as a grasp for power, which is a story that fits the picture that many hold when they think of Latin American governments. This was anything but that. This was a government, all parties and branches working together, trying to prevent a tyrannical ruler from running roughshod over the constitution for his own purposes -- trying to prevent a ruler from taking the country down the Venezuela road. This issue is so important to the nation of Honduras that for the first time in its history
In accordance with the laws of Honduras as understood by the legislature and the Supreme Court, the Honduran military followed lawful civilian orders to exile President Zelaya to Costa Rica.There was no military coup, the military was the tool of government and there was a peaceful transition of government. CNN and other news outlets were quick to describe the action as a grasp for power, which is a story that fits the picture that many hold when they think of Latin American governments. This was anything but that. This was a government, all parties and branches working together, trying to prevent a tyrannical ruler from running roughshod over the constitution for his own purposes -- trying to prevent a ruler from taking the country down the Venezuela road. This issue is so important to the nation of Honduras that for the first time in its history both major parties and other minor parties were galvanized in support of this necessary change. In a country of over 7 million people with 4.5 million voters, the overwhelming majority is in support of the government action. There have been only a few hundreds of Zelaya supporters seen on TV, but they are a tiny minority and not representative of the country.
In reality, what has happened in Honduras has been a triumph for the rule of law and responsible action on the parts of those from both major parties who were adamantly opposed to Zelaya's march towards becoming an old-style caudillo. The government and people of Honduras should be receiving plaudits, not condemnations from the civilized world. It is especially baffling as to why the USG would have moved so quickly to align itself with leaders who are distinctly unfriendly to it and are taking Latin America on a road that does not lead to freedom and democracy.
This looks like checks and balances at it's best to me. The Legislative, the Judicial, and the majority of Hondurans (from what I've seen) all seem to support his exile.
If you would like to see the (technical) legality of what the congress, judicial, and military did you can see it
here.
They are saying that Zelaya, by his actions placed himself against the Honduran Constitution and more importantly according to the Congress, the Honduran Justice Ministry, and the Honduran Supreme Court, outside all the laws of Honduras.
If he had obeyed the initial orders to cease and desist last week, parliamentary procedure would have been used to bring charges against him in the legislature under constitutional protections. However, when he called his supporters into the streets in direct violation of Honduran law and as a direct challenge to the soveriegn authority of the Honduran state he demonstrated his willingness to challenge the very foundations of the democratic state and thus by blatantly disregarding those laws and his duty to respect those laws he effectively forfeited his rights as President and put himself outside the legal protections of the nation. The only recourse left to them at that point was immediate arrest.
Article 272:
The Armed Forces of Honduras are … established to defend the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the Republic, keep the peace, public order and the rule of the Constitution, the principles of free suffrage and alternation in the presidency of the Republic.
Constitutionally, it is the military that is charged, in concert with civilian organs of government, to ensure that the one-term limit of the presidency is enforced. It is the military that is constitutionally charged with ensuring the integrity of national elections.
Yes there was a better way of doing this, one that would not at least give the illusion of a coup.. but it seems everything that happened was in line with their constitutional law.