Fausta's Blog

American and Latin American Politics, Society, and Culture

July 7, 2009 By Fausta

In Russia, President Obama Explains His Support for Ousted President of Honduras

oba071

Jake Tapper reports,
In Russia, President Obama Explains His Support for Ousted President of Honduras

Facing criticism for having backed the “wrong” side in the recent coup in Honduras, President Obama Tuesday tried to explain his advocacy on behalf of ousted President Manuel Zelaya.

“America supports now the restoration of the democratically-elected President of Honduras, even though he has strongly opposed American policies,” the president told graduate students at the commencement ceremony of Moscow’s New Economic School. “We do so not because we agree with him. We do so because we respect the universal principle that people should choose their own leaders, whether they are leaders we agree with or not. “

The president’s remarks came in the midst of a speech in which discussed “America’s interest in democratic governments that protect the rights of their people” and supported Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s call for judicial reforms in his country.

Zelaya is scheduled to meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington, DC, this week, perhaps as soon as today.

Tapper also quotes Rep. Connie Mack, R-Florida, and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee:

“There is little doubt that Zelaya, in his blatant power grab, has moved Honduras down a dangerous path toward less freedom, less security, and less prosperity,” Rep. Connie Mack, R-Florida, recently said. “The United States and our allies in the region must now stand with the Honduran people to ensure the respect of freedom, the rule of law and democracy.”

Florida Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee said that “the Honduran people deserve a government which upholds the constitution and protects their democratic rights. True proponents of democracy and human rights will hold true allegiance to these principles, not to the rulers who undermine them.”

Gateway Pundit links to the text of Obama’s speech in Russia.

Over in Nicaragua, there’s confirmation on the story that Hunter Smith broke yesterday:
Bala asesina no es de calibre militar. Honduran newspaper El Heraldo reports that the bullet that killed the demonstrator last Sunday is not from a military caliber. Minister of Defense Adolfo Lionel Sevilla also stated that according to the investigation, the bullet’s trajectory would not match the direction of a bullet fired by the armed forces. Hunter has a quick translation at his blog.

Today Mel Zelaya is scheduled to meet with Hillary Clinton in Washington. Before departing Managua, Nicaragua, he told CNN that he’s going to try returning to Honduras a third time but wouldn’t specify when. He also accused the Honduran military of trying to kill him.

Related
Honduras Pleads for Balanced Coverage in Their Fight for Democracy

Notice the Similarities with That Other “Coup”, the One That Overthrew Leftist Saint© and Martyr™ Salvador Allende?

Hugo’s Hands Are All Over Honduras

Why is Obama administration supporting Zelaya instead of rule of law?

Twelve questions at ECrisis.

Here’s an on line petition to Pres. Obama.
Photo added at 2:30P

———————————————-
UPDATE There will be a press conference. The Miami Herald has details: Both sides in Honduran crisis press claims in Washington

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is to meet behind closed doors Tuesday afternoon with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as both sides laying claim to the Central American country’s government arrive to press their cases in Washington. The State Department said that Clinton was to meet at 1 p.m. with Zelaya, whose aborted attempt to retake the presidency Sunday was met by military force. The conversation may not be to his liking: The fact that Zelaya sought much of his advice from Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez reportedly irked the Obama administration. The meeting with Clinton could signal greater intervention by the United States, which has joined with leaders across the Americas in trying to end the crisis, which began with a predawn raid June 28, and to seek Zelaya’s return to Tegucigalpa. The Organization of American States, which has said that Zelaya’s return isn’t negotiable, is seeking a compromise with Honduran legislators and judges. Several members of the Honduran National Congress and former members of the Honduran judiciary will make their own case at a news conference at 3 p.m. in Washington. The delegation is in Washington for several days of meetings with U.S. policymakers “to clarify any misunderstandings about Honduras’ constitutional process and to discuss the next steps to ensure the preservation of the country’s democratic institutions,” a news release from the group says. The de facto government in Honduras maintains that Zelaya’s ouster was justified because he was flouting the Honduran Constitution and was seeking to overturn presidential term limits that would have removed him from office in six months. Also in town is former Honduran President Ricardo Maduro, who’ll meet with Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida. Ros-Lehtinen, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has been critical of Zelaya and the OAS, and she said Monday that “the United States and other responsible nations must shift to a more responsible approach that does not focus on Zelaya but on supporting democratic institutions and the rule of law.”

Welcome, Big Hollywood readers. Please note I am not Honduran and am based in Princeton NJ, but you can read all my posts on this topic here.

4:15PM
On the US Senate floor,

Senator Martinez: (3:22 PM) * Spoke on the situation in Honduras.
o SUMMARY “Having stood on the sidelines while Mr. Zelaya overstepped the nation’s constitution, the United States and the international community only speak now. Protecting a sitting president, regardless of their illegal act, sets a dangerous precedent. Instead, U.S. policy should be focused on supporting efforts that uphold the integrity of constitutional order and democratic institutions. In fairness to the Obama administration, this distorted policy is not new…Former President George W. Bush was talked out of having the United States stand visibly in Latin America. The advice was based on the belief by not making the United States an issue, this would allow the United States to stand up for democratic activists. Unfortunately, no country or leader did so. Most importantly, the Secretary General of the Organization of American States passed that idly by year after year, democracy after democracy being dismantled one piece at a time, one institution at a time, saying absolutely nothing.”

Senator Kyl: (3:36 PM) * Responded.
o SUMMARY “You can elect a government which then begins to govern un-democratically, and unfortunately, some of the governments in the southern part of our hemisphere have started out all right with elections and then ended up in a very, very bad way. We certainly didn’t want that to happen to our friends in Honduras, and in fact, the people of Honduras didn’t want that either. People stood by us when we were trying to support forces of freedom who were fighting in Nicaragua. And there was sacrifice on the part of the Hondurans to do that. It is important for us to stand up for our friends. For that, I compliment my colleague from Florida, and again, add my voice to his saying that we hope the discussions that the Secretary of State has called for can produce an appropriate resolution to this issue without any kind of bloodshed or violence.”

Senator Martinez: (3:38 PM) * Responded.
o SUMMARY “There is no more important country in terms of military relations in Central America than Honduras where we have the presence of our military, where we work together in partnership to try to stem the flow of drugs and narcotics into our country. And where we conduct not only training missions, but other important activities with the Honduran military as a partner, and where we are very involved in providing aid and assistance. It would be well for us to hold back any declaration that a coup has taken place that would trigger other events. This is not a traditional military coup where a military group decides to set up a junta. The military people, while they may have acted too strongly, did not seek power for themselves, but establish a constitutional order of succession.”

Senator Kyl: (3:38 PM) * Responded.
o SUMMARY “That is precisely the way I see it, as well, and I hope this clarifies for the American people what’s really going on there and that we can support our friends in Honduras and that relationship that has existed all these years can continue to be the productive one that it has been.”

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Filed Under: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Honduras Tagged With: Fausta's blog, Manuel Zelaya, Mel Zelaya, OAS

Comments

  1. safariman says

    July 7, 2009 at 10:26 am

    No matter how wrong Obama’s position is, and no how many Hondurans think the right thing was done here, Obama insists on foisting an unwanted former president on us.

    First world to third world: your Constitutional processes are valueless.

    Sickening.

    From Tegucigalpa

  2. Sir Sefirot says

    July 7, 2009 at 11:40 am

    This is just surreal. Too bad he wasn’t saying this a few weeks ago when Iran was “debating” about this “democratic government that protects the rights of the people” thing.

    The only explanation I can find (apart from being a fascist himself, which is no secret) is that he is preparing to imitate Zelaya in the US in the near future.

    The US Army should do a bit of soul searching, just in case.

  3. Pat Patterson says

    July 7, 2009 at 11:56 am

    The initial defense is rather interesting in that Pres Obama is now arguing that the US will not even act on the bare necessity of national interest. Much less a beseiged democracy.

    “America supports now the restoration of the democratically-elected President of Honduras, even though he has strongly opposed American policies,” the president told graduate students at the commencement ceremony of Moscow’s New Economic School. “We do so not because we agree with him. We do so because we respect the universal principle that people should choose their own leaders, whether they are leaders we agree with or not. “

    That would have been a swell speech if delivered on Jan 30, 1933.

  4. DavidL says

    July 7, 2009 at 12:28 pm

    Barack Obama is either ignorant of, or apathetic to the United State Constitution. No reason to expect him to have more know of, or regard for, Honduras’s constitution. Having to actually know and respect constitutional law is just another distraction.

  5. Peter says

    July 7, 2009 at 12:32 pm

    Obama Better watch it, if this is true, he might be getting Ousted soon !

    AP- WASHINGTON D.C. – In a move certain to fuel the debate over Obama’s qualifications for the presidency, the group Americans for Freedom of Information has Released copies of President Obama’s college transcripts from Occidental College Released today, the transcript indicates that Obama, under the name Barry Soetoro, received financial aid as a foreign student from Indonesia as an undergraduate at the school. The transcript was released by Occidental College in compliance with a court order 20, in a suit brought by the group in the Superior Court of California. The transcript shows that Obama (Soetoro) applied for financial aid and was awarded a fellowship for foreign students from the Fulbright Foundation Scholarship program. To qualify, for the scholarship, a student must claim foreign citizenship. This document would seem to provide the smoking gun that many of Obama’s detractors have been seeking.

    Along with the evidence that he was first born in Kenya and there is no record of him ever applying for US citizenship, this is looking pretty grim. The news has created a firestorm at the White House as the release casts increasing doubt about Obama’s legitimacy and qualification to serve as President. When reached for comment in London, where he has been in meetings with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, Obama smiled but refused comment on the issue.

    Britain ‘s Daily Mail also carried the story in a front-page article titled, Obama Eligibility Questioned leading some to speculate that the story may overshadow economic issues on Obama’s first official visit to the U.K.

    In a related matter, under growing pressure from several groups, Justice Antonin Scalia announced that the Supreme Court agreed on Tuesday to hear arguments concerning Obama’s legal eligibility to serve as President in a case brought by Leo Donofrio of New Jersey . This lawsuit claims Obama’s dual citizenship disqualified him from serving as president. Donofrio’s case is just one of 18 suits brought by citizens demanding proof of Obama’ s citizenship or qualification to serve as president.

    Gary Kreep of the United States Justice Foundation has released the results of their investigation of Obama’s campaign spending. This study estimates that Obama has spent upwards of $950,000 in campaign funds in the past year with eleven law firms in 12 states for legal resources to block disclosure of any of his personal records. Mr. Kreep indicated that the investigation is still ongoing but that the final report will be provided to the U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder. Mr. Holder has refused to comment on the matter.

    LET OTHER FOLKS KNOW THIS NEWS THAT THE MEDIA WON’T EMBRACE!

  6. Pablito says

    July 7, 2009 at 12:44 pm

    Peter, Snopes says the Soetoro/Occidental AP wire is false and an April Fools joke… http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/occidental.asp

  7. safariman says

    July 7, 2009 at 3:22 pm

    I wish Pablito was right. Unfortunately, I’m afraid Obama’s oxymoron is fact. They coddled Chavez before, and now they’re doing it again.

    Maybe there is a deeper meaning. When you think about it,… Executives and Presidents around the world have been circumventing their Congresses and Courts for many years. The Executive point is being made: Executives are above the law of their lands, and are not to be messed with.

  8. J says

    July 7, 2009 at 4:54 pm

    When will the world realize that the ruler of USA does not want to hear no stinking stuff about liberty, democracy, freedom. He is all about the little man bowing down before the mighty obama….and the sooner the USA and the world realize this, the better.

  9. John T. Simpson says

    July 7, 2009 at 5:25 pm

    Greetings Fausta! I see you’ve already linked to my Big Hollywood post on the subject, much of which I researched here, at the Wall Street Journal and Gateway Pundit. In the heat of scouring the Internet for my oped, I assumed from the gist of material here you were Homnduran-based. My bad, but certainly not as bad as Obama’s bad in this matter.

    Knowing the facts, I stand with the Honduran people, and have put links to where people can BUY HONDURAN in my piece. Keep up the great work. Too few are doing it. And VIVA HONDURAS! Best, Johnny Simpson

  10. Fausta says

    July 8, 2009 at 1:31 am

    Thank you for your kind words, Johnny! I really appreciate it. Keep up the good work.

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