Honduran president ousted in military coup

| 28/06/2009

(The Guardian): The army in Honduras has ousted and exiled its leftist president, Manuel Zelaya, in Central America’s first military coup since the cold war, after he upset the army by trying to seek another term in office. The US president, Barack Obama, and the EU expressed deep concern after troops came at dawn for Zelaya, an ally of the socialist Venezuelan president, Hugo Chávez, and took him away from his residence. Speaking on Venezuelan state television, Chávez, who has long championed the left in Latin America, said he would do everything necessary to abort the coup against his close ally.

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Everything is back to normal in Honduras, people are back to work. Even though the news are showing you people fighting and burning tires it did happened but in a very small area in Tegucigalpa.

    They had a Peace march yesterday in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula. The country does not want Zelaya back and the people that support him is very little. They also found $60 millions Lempiras (US$ 3,250,000.00) that he had cash in a safe in his office. How can he explain that? I don’t think he was planning to give it to the poor.

  2. anonymous says:

    I am oh soooooo proud of Honduras right now.  Zelaya is just another dictator who oppressed the Honduran people.  The Hondurans I know, and I do know a lot of them, are hard working and good people who are only trying to do their best to survive.  Instead of Zelaya trying to get his country above poverty level he has been holding them down.  They should have booted him out a long time ago.  The OAS has condemned the move and Zelaya now has the UN demanding that he be reinstated.  Zelaya is just another dictator who should be taught a lesson.  Stop playing with communism when you don’t have anything to play with! 

     

    Stay in Nicaragua and Venezuela Mr. Zelaya

     

     

  3. Anonymous says:

    What is the situation in Roatan

  4. Anonymous says:

    Honduras, you should be very proud of yourselves.Venezuela in particular was supporting a move by the president of Honduras to basically take over the country. This has resulted in a crisis pitting the executive branch against the congress and the supreme court with the military in the middle. The president was attempting to place himself in a position where by he could force a rewriting of the constitution to remove the clause on term limits there by allowing him to remain in office indefinitely. The illegal move toward the “cuarta urna” had created massive unrest across the country and Honduras was heading toward a confrontation which puts at risk the representational democracy on which this country stands.

    Contrary to news reports this was NO! military coup nor conspiracy. This was two branches of government (supreme court and congress) moving to oust a president that was abusing his power and flaunting the law. Honduras saw the presidents actions as an overt and aggressive attempt to install a Chavez style dictatorship in Honduras have rejected that attempt in a lawful manner that resulted in the presidents removal from office. Hugo Chavez is an ego maniac that has attempted to spread his left wing dictatorship philosophy to many countries. He thought that he had obtained a foothold in Central America by way of Honduras. He was wrong.

    The events of the last few weeks have shown me that my faith in Honduras and its people is not in vain. Honduras, you should be very proud of yourselves.

    He thought that he had obtained a foothold in Central America by way of Honduras. He was wrong.

    The events of the last few weeks have shown me that my faith in Honduras and its people is not in vain. Honduras, you should be very proud of yourselves.

  5. Anonymous says:

    Cayman Airways should continue to fly to Honduras as planned, they are going to La Ceiba and not to Tegucigalpa (the capital) where all the commotion is happenning. The curfew is only from 7pm to 6am so they are not flying betwwen those hours. All Chavez got is MOUTH  he will not be sending  no military to Honduras.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Bravo Honduras for standing up for YOUR RIGHTS!!!!!!!

    1. The event this morning should be taken as an arrest against a Honduran citizen, Manuel Zelaya, who broke the constitutional Honduran law in multiple occasions over the last few days.

    2. This SHOULD NOT be taken as a Coup d’état.

    3. The vast majority of Hondurans firmly oppose Manuel Zelaya and are in favor of his arrest.

    4. The current news being portrayed in international networks appear to be heavily tilted toward a contrarian view of most Hondurans.

    5. The majority of Hondurans are not in favor of Manual Zelaya and are extremely proud of our congress and military for their stance in favor of democracy and peace.

    6. The events happening today were caused by an attempt by Manuel Zelaya to manipulate our country and its constitution to fulfill his ultimate goal of remaining in power indefinitely.

    7. The world should be proud of Honduras as we are the first Latin-American country to stand against a tyrannical leader who has tried to topple democracy and peace in our country.

    8. Declarations made by Hugo Chavez should be discredited immediately. He should, as President Obama said, allow Hondurans to solve this issue through open communication following LEGAL processes.

    9. It is NOT ONLY in the interest of Honduras and its citizens that democracy prevails (supported by the events today and Manuel Zelaya’s arrest) but also in the interest of the UNITED STATES that no other countries align with Hugo Chavez (and his puppets) to build his empire against democracy and peace.

    10. In case Hugo Chavez tries to use military force in Honduras, we hope and pray we can count on the United States to stand along side Honduras in the fight against tyranny and oppression.

    WE SUPPORT YOU HONDURAS!!!!!!!

  7. Anonymous says:

    Well said, congrats Honduras

  8. Anonymous says:

    Is Cayman Airways still planning to fly to a country under military curfew?  With Chavez threatening military invasion, this does not sound like a nice place to visit right now.

  9. Anonymous says:

    Kudos to the Honduras Military for ousting a "wanabee socialist dictator" namely President Manuel (Mel) Zeleya-Rosales.This does not come as no surprise, as Manuel Zeleya- Rosales have become close allies with Hugo Chavez, Daniel Ortega, Raul & Fidel Castro and the presidents of Bolivia and Ecuador, whom are all socialist dictators.

    Why do you think earlier this year Hugo Chavez donated 100 brand new agricultural tractors to Honduras and where did the ballots papers for the rushed referendum arrive from ??? Chavez wants Manuel Zeleya to turn Honduras into the "puppet state" that he Chavez has turned Venezuela into but the Honduras people will not allow that to happen. Never !!!!!!

    Presidente Mel should have spent the last 4 years creating legitimate well paying jobs for his people and aggressively interdicting the drug traffickers whom arrive each week to Honduras from Colombia via Venezuela, landing their small aircrafts on clandestine airstrips in such Department’s as Colon, Atlantida and Yoro.  Every week this happens in the costal towns of Trujillo, Limon, Isla be Bahia- Guanaja & Utila and Puerto Lempira. What does Manuel Zeleya do about this???Absolutely nothing.

    However, he wants Honduran people to grant him an additional 4 year year term in office in breach of the Honduran Constitution, which clearly states that no President of the Republic shall serve more than one election term in office, this to avoid/curb corruption. Perhaps, it’s now time that we here in the Cayman Islands should enshrine something similar into our Constitution, to avoid elected officials serving long terms in office and likely receiving kickbacks from certain government contracts which create massive deficits for the country to bear, swallow and digest. 

    Additionally, the Supreme Court of Honduras just recently ruled against Manuel Zeleya that he illegally fired one of his top military chiefs, (opposed Mel, returning for a second term in office) whom they stated should be re-instated and that the proposed referendum was illegal/unconstitutional based on the timing of the general elections, which is just 5 months away.

    Long live Honduras and down with the socialism/communism dictators of the world and those who openly and secretly support such a regime.