2009 Honduran constitutional crisis

The 2009 Honduran coup d'etat is an ongoing constitutional crisis. After President Manuel Zelaya violated rulings of the Supreme Court of Honduras, the armed forces of Honduras arrested him on 28 June 2009 "just as dawn was breaking around 6:00 a.m." at his home. Zelaya was held in an airbase outside Tegucigalpa before being flown to San José, Costa Rica. Zelaya's arrest took place about an hour before polls were to open in a public consultation to approve a referendum to convoke a constituent assembly to modify the constitution. Later in the day, the Honduran Supreme Court said it had ordered the removal of the president.

Roberto Micheletti, a member of the same party as Zelaya, has been sworn in as President by the National Congress on a show of hands on the afternoon of Sunday 28 June for a term that ends on 27 January 2010 . The event was greeted with applause in Congress, which had denounced Zelaya's repeated violations of the constitution and the law and disregard of orders and judgments of the institutions.

Background

It's not possible for a sitting president to change the term limit in constitution.

President Manuel Zelaya's decision to follow through with a public referendum, on June 28, to let the people decide if they want to allow him to call a National Assembly taking place concurrently with this year's elections, that was rejected by Congress and ruled illegal by the Supreme Court, provoked a serious political crisis in the country. The military is in charge of security and logistics in elections in Honduras. Zelaya asked them to perform their election role for the referendum, but the head of the military command, General Romeo Vásquez Velásquez, refused the order to pass out the election materials. Zelaya removed him from his position but the Honduran Supreme Court ordered him reinstated. Zelaya staged a protest at an airforce base and led a citizen march to take posession of the referendum materials stored there, which were then guarded by the national police.

In addition to the Supreme Court, Zelaya's referendum was declared illegal by Congress, the attorney general, and the top electoral body. Congress had begun discussing how to impeach Zelaya but lacked a viable way to do so.

The Supreme Court, the Congress, and the military have recommended that voters stay home because the referendum would be neither fair nor safe to voters. The National Human Rights Commissioner, Ramon Custodio, said "I would tell the people to stay calmly at home in order not to get involved in any incident or any violence by going to vote 'no,' because they might be assaulted by these mobs," referring to Zelaya's supporters.

Developments

The presidential residence was seized by military troops. About 100 Zelaya's supporters gathered outside the building and threw stones at soldiers, shouting "traitors, traitors".

The power and telephone lines were suspended on Tegucigalpa about the time of the arrest of President Zelaya but they were restored at about 11:00 a.m. local time (16:00 GMT). Soldiers occupied several strategic areas of the capital but there are no restrictions on traffic, many stores are open, no shootings were registred. In addition to the President, La Prensa reports that there are arrest orders for all of his cabinet ministers. In addition there are reports that several people trying to vote in the referendum were arrested in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula. Some military jets overflew the capital early in the morning but they returned to their bases and at 11:30 local time (16:30 GMT) only some helicopters are patrolling in support of the police to prevent riots or looting, which have not been reported.

Within several hours of the coup, Zelaya spoke to media in San José, Costa Rica, calling today's events "a coup" and "a kidnapping." He stated that soldiers pulled him from his bed and assaulted his guards. Zelaya stated that he would not recognize anyone named as his successor, and that he wants to finish his term in office. He also stated that he will now be meeting with diplomats.

According to Venezuela's ambassador to the OAS, the ambassadors of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua were kidnapped by the military and transported to the airport. Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez stated that the Venezuelan ambassador was assaulted by Honduran soldiers and left by the side of a road.

Honduran Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas has called on the public to "fight in the streets for the president to return to Honduras."

Later that day, the Supreme Court issued a statement that it had ordered the army to remove Zelaya from office. The Supreme Court stated "The armed forces, in charge of supporting the constitution, acted to defend the state of law and have been forced to apply legal dispositions against those who have expressed themselves publicly and acted against the dispositions of the basic law".

The national Congress has voted to accept what they claimed is Zelaya's letter of resignation, but Zelaya has said he did not write the letter. Later the Congress voted unanimously to remove Zelaya for "manifest irregular conduct" and "putting in present danger the state of law" and named the President of the National Congress as his successor.

Venezuela has reportedly sent a plane to pick up Zelaya and take him to an extraordinary meeting of the Central American Integration System in Managua, Nicaragua.

Opinions

Before the coup, Michael Shifter, a Latin American analyst, said that Zelaya seems to have "a very strong appetite for power" and that he's trying to be the victim. Shifter predicted that Zelaya won't get much sympathy by defying the country's institutions.

Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela, accused members of the Honduran upper class and the United States of orchestrating the coup, though the US Government has strongly denounced the coup. A senior US government official is quoted as saying the US would only recognize Zelaya as president, as did Ambassador Hugo Llorens. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a statement saying "The actions taken against Honduran President Mel Zelaya violates the precepts of the Inter-American Democratic Charter, and thus should be condemned by all." Dan Restrepo, director of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the National Security Council, denied any American involvement saying, "The United States has had nothing to do with the happenings in the last 24 hours." A blog post by School of the Americas Watch, a political advocacy group, claims the head of the armed forces Romeo Vasquez studied at the School of the Americas now known as "Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation" a United States Department of Defense facility at Fort Benning responsible for training more than 61,000 Latin American military and police officials including several involved in previous coups.

International reaction

• The Organization of American States has called for an emergency meeting. Secretary-General José Miguel Insulza called it a military coup.

• : The European Union called on the Honduran military to release the president and restore constitutional order.

• : Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner said: "I'm deeply worried about the situation in Honduras. It reminds us of the worst years in Latin America's history. We will demand that the OAS (Organization of American States) fully comply with the democratic charter that requires unconditional respect for democracy and, above all, the restoration of the Honduran president. I do not hesitate to call this a return to barbarity. All countries of the continent and the entire international community should demand the return of the democratically elected president.

• : Evo Morales, President of Bolivia, condemned the military action. "To allow people to participate and decide the future of their country through their vote, it is not possible that some groups ignore this, including the military.".

• : Celso Amorim, the Brazilian Minister of External Relations issued a press release "strongly condemning the military action that resulted in the ousting of the President of Honduras", urging for his "immediate and unconditional return to power", and expressing "solidarity with the Honduran people".

• : The Chilean government also condemned the coup and referred to Zelaya as "legitimately elected by the people".

• : The Cuban government condemned the coup d’état.

• : Rafael Correa, the President of Ecuador, said he would not recognize any new government in Honduras.

• : The Mexican government condemned the arrest and forced exile of Zelaya to Costa Rica.

• : The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs have condemned the coup.

• : A spokesperson for Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero released the following statement: "The head of the government expressed his strongest condemnation for the illegal detention and expulsion of the constitutional president of the Republic of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya. The solution to any dispute must always be found through dialogue and respect for democratic rules. There is not, neither can there ever be, a solution to the Honduran crisis outside the country's constitutional framework."

• : United States recognizes ousted President Manuel Zelaya as the only constitutional president of Honduras President Barack Obama is said to be "deeply concerned" about the developments in Honduras. He called on all political and social actors in Honduras to respect democratic norms, the rule of law and the tenets of the Inter-American Democratic Charter.

• : Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said that the coup called for Obama to speak out because the US "has a lot to do" with what happens in Honduras. A few hours later, Chavez put his military on alert and said he would do everything necessary to abort the coup in Honduras if anything were to happen to its embassy. He also warned that if a new government was sworn in he would "bring them down".

Controversies

There is contention over whether or not the events constitute a coup d’état. The Honduran Constitution states that the Executive Power must respect the law and made the law be respected and that if it doesn't do that, it may be separated from his charge. That is the reason why Congress elected Roberto Micheletti President.

Also a document sent to Congress President states that Manuel Zelaya quit from his job as President of Honduras. President Zelaya denied his quitting, but even though he didn't sign the document, Congress has removed him from office.