Obama Tried To Stop Honduras Coup

Buried in a Wall Street Journal article is the news that President Obama tried to stop Sunday's coup in Honduras:

The Obama administration and members of the Organization of American States had worked for weeks to try to avert any moves to overthrow President Zelaya, said senior U.S. officials. Washington's ambassador to Honduras, Hugo Llorens, sought to facilitate a dialogue between the president's office, the Honduran parliament and the military.

The efforts accelerated over the weekend, as Washington grew increasingly alarmed. "The players decided, in the end, not to listen to our message," said one U.S. official involved in the diplomacy. On Sunday, the U.S. embassy here tried repeatedly to contact the Honduran military directly, but was rebuffed. Washington called the removal of President Zelaya a coup and said it wouldn't recognize any other leader.

Obama said in a statement that he was "deeply concerned," and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Zelaya's arrest by the military should be condemned.

"I call 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," Obama's statement read.

President Manuel Zelaya's replacement, congressionally designated successor Roberto Micheletti, mentioned the American president by name in response to a threat from Venezuela's Hugo Chavez: "Nobody, not Barack Obama and much less Hugo Chavez, has any right to threaten this country."

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Comments

[Virginia777]

06:56 PM on 07/07/2009

to Pero:

Much of our AIPAC-controlled media could care less about coups, military or otherwise, fair or otherwise.

They only serve their Masters.

[Virginia777]

06:55 PM on 07/07/2009

Then why did Obama not let Zelaya's plane land?? (on a U.S. base)

[islandsox]

05:17 PM on 07/04/2009

I think I may know why the main stream American media is not writing the truth about the "no coup took place" and why Obama may have postured himself to be for Zelaya. Here's something to think about. Many of the Central American countries have very shaky governments, especially Guatemala. If word were to get out that the OAS and Washington approved of Zelaya's ouster, then these other countries' peoples may try to overthrow their own governments as they would be seen as heroes. And then what a mess it would be if lots of small countries ousted their Presidents. Then there could be mayhem.

Just a scenario as to why people are spewing untruths about Honduras' new democracy that is alive and well.

[Pero]

02:43 PM on 07/01/2009

No "tweetering" from Honduras - a military coup there is OK?

[islandsox]

05:20 PM on 07/04/2009

We have tweeter, I just don't like it; it's boring and message content too limited.

[RickR62]

09:55 PM on 06/30/2009

Apparently, there are many here who have never read the Honduran Constitution, specifically Articulo 239. Please read before you continue with the military coup d'etat. It was not as the military is not in charge nor was it a coup but a Supreme Court generated adherence to a constitutional requirement.
http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Honduras/hond05.html
Typical US-centric control freaks. . .

[DerivePi]

09:58 AM on 07/03/2009

Trying to translate Article 204 (an English translation would be nice) regarding the powers of the Honduran congress - it seems to allow the discipline of the president (didn't get much out of Article 239). Haven't looked into the powers of the Supreme Court but I imagine that given the nature of the removal of the president, the term Coup is substantially biased (are we suprised?).

Do not use the term coup. Impeachment seems to be more appropriate at this time (unless you want to be disingenuous).

[GoodbyeGarci]

10:47 PM on 06/29/2009

Chavez' election machinery, Smartmatic is planning to do the same thing they did for Chavez last February, but the beneficiary now is the Philippine President.

Watch this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_cCNrnCGFU

[AverageJoeLE]

09:53 PM on 06/29/2009

Of course he didn't want this coup. It would mean that's one less person in the PanAm socialist club.
http://www.averagejoele.com/news/not-a-coup-in-honduras/

[expathonduras]

07:28 PM on 06/29/2009

Everyone in Honduras knew there would be a coup........... this has been brewing the past month...

But its a shame that Obama doesnt defend the new president............. strike this up as a gain for Chavez and ALBA....
too bad.

[termase]

06:52 PM on 06/29/2009

Obama states that the Pres of Honduras was not legal. Ba, Obama is WRONG as usual. The Honduran congress stopped their president from completing illegal actions against their Constitution. Their government was in their legal right to stop their President from acting like Hugo Chavez. Don't listen to Obama, he is lying.

[mfrollo]

06:25 PM on 06/29/2009

Obama Meddles for Honduras Dictator.

That's what statist totalitarians do - they stick up for each other.

[PR one]

06:20 PM on 06/29/2009

According to Reagan, this time the military in Hondura are, freedom fighters. the president even thought he was elected in a democratic election is a communist.

[PR one]

05:28 PM on 06/29/2009

Do not be surprised in the coming weeks when it is reveal that there is Miami Cuban connection in the overthrow of the president of Hondura.

[av2ts]

04:33 PM on 06/29/2009

So the highest levels of the United States Government KNEW that a military coup was about to happen in our hemisphere and we did nothing to stop it. This is an outrage. The easy way to stop a coup before it happens is to say something about it publicly, or at the very least, warn the democratically elected Government in Honduras about it. This could have all been very easily stopped by the Obama Administration. But because President Zelaya is on friendly terms with Hugo Chavez, I'd bet $100 that the Administration just decided to just keep its mouth shut. The statements coming from Hillary and Obama are as weak as they could possibly be. Compare them to the language coming out of the OAS or EU. It is clear to me that the Administration is trying to play this both ways, happy to have a new ally in Latin America - even if he is there illegally and as the result of a military kidnapping.

This will not end well.

[Tundrapat]

05:04 PM on 06/29/2009

The same article your responding to indicates that you'd lose your $100 bet. The administration was attempting to avoid a coup in Honduras.

Or did you miss that part?

[burndtdan]

05:05 PM on 06/29/2009

Because it's our job to solve every problem on the globe.

[sc300nc]

04:18 PM on 06/29/2009

I thought the whole world followed our supreme leaders decisions.

[jonjon66]

03:35 PM on 06/29/2009

Where's the maistream outrage of an actual coup in Hondurus?

Is there no coverage because the United States welcomes the coup of a leader it doesn't like?