Honduras President Jose Manuel Zelaya Arrested
28 June 2009, 11:54 AM. By Daniel Mauser
Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya was arrested on Sunday morning–the same day he promised to go through with a referendum that the Supreme Court ruled illegal.
The military arrested the President at his residence and took him in a plane to an undisclosed location.
Honduras President Zelaya, a leftist, was elected in 2005 and put himself in a tough position with the legislative and judiciary branches and the military by going through with Sunday’s referendum. This asked voters to place pressure on the constitutional assembly to allow for the president to run for a second term in November’s ballot.
The Honduras President Zelaya, whose term ends in January of 2010 is only allowed one four year term and cannot run for re-election under current law.
The Honduran Supreme Court ruled the poll illegal and this was backed by the Congress and the military but Zelaya persisted. Zelaya said on Friday that the poll is justified under Honduran law:
that says the citizens can ask the powers of the state to be consulted. That poll has no binding character. That is, its result — yes or no — does not obligate the state to do anything. It’s a public opinion poll. It’s a poll that does not create new rights, does not create a new law.
His opponents have called Zelaya mentally unstable, which he has denounced as conspiracy and adds that he has received support from the United States, Spain, The Organization of the Americas, South America and other Caribbean countries.
It’s interesting to note that the military ruled Honduras for 25 years before an elected civilian came to power in 1982.
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There’s a lot of misinformation surrounding Jose Manuel Zelaya’s arrest on Sunday morning… Both CNN’s and the international community’s belief of a military coup is wrong. The president violated the constitution by going ahead and pushing for an illegal poll in an attempt to rewrite the constitution and perpetuate himself in office indefinitely in spite of a supreme court’s previous rulings… Please take note that the grand majority of Honduran citizens don’t support the president’s actions since they believe this to be attempt of the president to adopt Fidel Castro’s and Hugo Chavez’ model… For the real story please go http://www.elheraldo.hn
Today Honduras was saved of becoming the next Cuba or Venezuela. Under Hugo CHAVEZ INFLUENCE PRESIDENT MANUEL ZELAYA WAS A THREAT TO BECOME A DICTATOR. HE WANTED TO CHANGE OUR CONSTITUTION TO RE ELECT HIMSELF INDEFINITELY. HONDURANS TOOK A DIFFICULT BUT BRAVE DESICION THAT WILL PROTECT OUR DEMOCRACY ON THE LONG RUN, EVEN IF THIS MAY NOT BE EVIDENT TO THE MEDIA TODAY.
The world needs to be made aware of what is really occurring in Honduras. What occurred today was not a coup d’etat, but the application of justice towards a person who continually violated the law despite the fact that he was cautioned by the Supreme Court, the Attorney General, Congress, the Human Rights Commission, the Catholic and Christian Church and the Honduran Armed Forces, on numerous occasions to desist from the illegal actions he was promoting.
So finally, on a day when Mr. Zelaya Rosales and his entire cabinet were committing the aforementioned felony and after disregarding all due legal processes, the Armed Forces, with the support of Honduran Law, proceeded in detaining him.
I’m a Honduran living in Tegucigalpa, Honduras and want to tell to the international community that we are in peace and very gratefull with our congress and our military forces for saving our democracy and our constitution from the hands of the man who was clearly violating all the law and who was believing that he was the law, this is the case of Manuel Zelaya, the president of Honduras who insted of being a soldier of the democracy and the constitution became a traitor of his own country. I agree this was a very difficult decision to take but it was the only way and it was absolutley legal according to our constitution. Manuel Zelaya closed the doors of dialogue, and now he wants to make believe the world that he is the victmin. Sooner than later around the world this will be clearly proved by the rest of our state institutions. we’ve been saved from what is a reality in Cuba and Venezuela. WE DON”T WANT THAT!
Ever since president Zelaya was elected, during his regime he has done nothing but cause economical and social insecurity within the whole country. He has caused much conflict and insecurity for all citizens. I am appaled by people who have been calling Honduras full of “barbarians” and scorn Honduras because the president was over thrown without ever knowing what it is to live in such insecurity that this man has caused. He wanted to violate the constitution wih this so called “popular consultation” so that he could place himself permanently as dictator of our country. Citizens were not against the popular consultation, Hondurans were against his intentions behind such consulation or poll that was proven “ilegal” by all responsible powers in Honduras. He believed himself above the law because he was President and believed himself untouchable and it was about time he was removed from the country. He has done nothing but make everything in the country worse, there is no education, no medications for public hospitals, there is abundant drug dealing and criminality, and he has chosen to ignore these severe problems on a whim to continue in power. Honduras is better off without his “communist” ideals. He has always been Chavez’s puppet all along and he belongs in Honduras no more!
We are concerned that our story is not being told objectively. We are proud of the armed forces, they stood up for us and they are protecting our freedom. The president was abusing his power, trying to go around what is legal and therefore, what happened today was an act of protecting our constitution and not allowing him to get away with things. Our constitution allows for this to happen because it doesn´t allow the president to go above the law which is what he was trying to do. We ask for the support of other countries to help us and not believe entirely what is on the news because Mel Zelaya is not the victim here.
En Honduras no ha existido un golpe de estado, si no, el funcionamiento del estado de derecho…
Lo que esta pasando en Honduras es un problema que lo tienen que solucionar los hondureños bajo las leyes de su propio pais.
El pueblo ha sido mal informado para apoyar algo inconstitucional que la mayoria todavia no entiende, y con todo el dinero que se ha gastado en la campaña de la 4ta Urna, se pudieron haber tratado problemas como la pobreza, falta de medicina en los hospitales
publicos o el narcotrafico, que son situaciones mas importantes que buscar una reeleccion.
No podemos victimizar a Manuel Zelaya y permitir que regrese al poder.
Que quede claro que los hondureños estamos agradecidos con el Congreso Nacional y sus acciones porque no podemos seguir con el abuso de autoridad y traicion a la constitucion o a los hondureños.
RBB
THE CURRENT SITUATION IN HONDURAS
Today at 12:29pm
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.
For those of you out there who still feel Honduras has acted rashly and “barbarically” against Manuel Zelaya there are things that should be clarified. Our constitution states in its “Articulos Petreos” (petreo deriving form the lating word for rock) that a president may not be reelected and may not stay in the office for more than 4 years. This, was designed to protect us, the people, from the past experiences of political instabilities in the 70’s and 80’s.
Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales, intended with his so called “survey” to promote the alteration of these articles so that a president may be reelected. In order to modify these articles, the ENTIRE constitution must be abolished, this is the first characteristic of a Coup d’etat. Without constitution, the Honduran people would be entirely unprotected from a regime emulating those of Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia and now Nicaragua in which the constitution is manipulated at will by the president so he might remain “constitutionally” in office.
It is also extremely important to point out, that the ballots that were to be used for the questionable survey, were provided by the Venezuelan government.
I am utterly proud of my country and am glad to be part of this social and political uproar, for the first time in many many years, Honduras has risen strong against corruption and oppression and sets an example for Latin America.
Dear World I am a Honduran citizen and I plea with you to tell the truth of what is happening in my country today. Manuel Zelaya had the most corrupt presidency ever .. most of his ministers robbed the people’s money and enriched themselves … some of the ambassadors in the exterior did the same thing hence they want Zelaya to stay in power and are telling lies to the world. Zelaya sided with Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro and went as far as trying to ilegally bring a ballot to all trying to ensure his continuation in power as well as modifying the current Constitution that gives Liberty and Justice to all. All the ballots came from Venezuela already filled up to empower Zelaya and lie to the Honduran people and the world usind a Democratic Ballot to change our Constitution and impose his Dictatorship. We would have become another Cuba or Venezuela. Please people of the world all I ask is for you to read and read and find out the real truth … we Hondurans love peace and the Free will of the people and oppose Comunist Leftist Dictatorships. God Save Honduras and you will see we will have free elections in November. We have to protect our interim President who one day he will be remembered in history like a George Washington or Abraham Lincoln.
To everyone around the world who is taking an interest to what is occuring to Honduras my home country and where i live. Please let i be known that the military was not the one who took the desperate measures to bring our EX-president out of power… It was all of us! We have live with fear for so many days,weeks, months! This had to come to an end!!! We appreciate that our congress and armed forces had the will to take matters into their own hands and act on behalf of the honduran society. We were walking on the edge, doubting if we where going to have to leave the country.. Where were we going to go?!? No-one knew.. I ask for the internacional press and people around the world that you do not have mercy on this tyran!! Manuel zelaya rosales i a power hungry crazy man who has been manipulated by Hugo Chavez!! Please support us and dont listen to what this fool has to say! WE ARE THE PEOPLE AND WE ASK OF THIS!! We need your support to keep him out! Please understand! This is not a coup! This is the uprising of every honduran who had lived with fear because of this man… We give thanks and we ask for your prayers! Thank you..
All Honduras needs is to become another so called democracy with an elected lifetime dictator.
I am glad to see that the military of Honduras upheld the law and the consitution of Honduras. Apparently, our military, courts and congress do not have the balls to take their oaths seriously.
En Honduras no ha existido un golpe de estado, si no, el funcionamiento del estado de derecho…
Lo que esta pasando en Honduras es un problema que lo tienen que solucionar los hondureños bajo las leyes de su propio pais.
El pueblo ha sido mal informado para apoyar algo inconstitucional que la mayoria todavia no entiende, y con todo el dinero que se ha gastado en la campaña de la 4ta Urna, se pudieron haber tratado problemas como la pobreza, falta de medicina en los hospitales
publicos o el narcotrafico, que son situaciones mas importantes que buscar una reeleccion.
No podemos victimizar a Manuel Zelaya y permitir que regrese al poder.
Que quede claro que los hondureños estamos agradecidos con el Congreso Nacional y sus acciones porque no podemos seguir con el abuso de autoridad y traicion a la constitucion o a los hondureños.