CameronPoe wrote:
Kmarion wrote:
Against a prior ruling against it no? His branch of government is not responsible for making the laws. He was issued a cease and desist order. He then went about firing high ranking officials and ordering his supporters out into the streets. Admittedly their military, congress, and supreme court could have went about stopping his unconstitutional actions in a better, non coup looking way.. Still, when one branch goes about ignoring the rightful and constitutionally assigned orders of two other branches.. sketchy.
There is a nice explanation here:
http://zerosheep.com/2009/07/01/no-coup-in-honduras
He was in violation of the constitution but several things strike me:
- How the army/judiciary had a basis for arresting/deporting him and preventing him from returning.
- How any nation is supposed to enjoy any level of stability if presidents are only entitled to one term (it takes 7 - 12 years to plan and build one high voltage power line, never mind meaningfully change an economy/curriculum/healthcare system).
- What kind of retarded constitution stipulates that a proposal of constitutional reform is basically criminal!!! (I may have to check my own, perhaps it contains similar).
Yes he was clearly in violation, and as I said it probably could have been handled a better way.
I agree with this:
I believe that the arrest and removal of Zelaya probably should have been handled differently, for appearances’ sake if nothing else. If the legislature had acted to remove him before the military arrested him, there would be much less international criticism.
Here is the basis for deporting him.
Whether immediate arrest was necessary is easy to debate in hindsight. It must be remembered that the Honduran authorities were facing an unprecedented constitutional crisis due to the illegal and unconstitutional acts committed by Zelaya, with no clearly constitutional way to remove him from power. We in the U.S. — and most other countries — are used to having the luxury of constitutionally defined methods of dealing with malfeasance by elected officials, not to mention decades or even centuries of jurisprudence. The officials in the Honduran military, legislature, and judiciary did not have this luxury. What they had was a situation that was potentially deadly to their young democracy, and they acted in the way they thought best to defend it.
When he began ignoring the rules he became an enemy to their constitution (interpret that any way you want). It was the military's duty to remove him. I believe they should have got approval first.
Constitutional reform is not illegal. It is the job of the legislature to make those reforms though. There is an obvious conflict of interest when the president subverts the law with the only goal of extending his political career.