Zelaya Tells Mexicans Obama Can Turn Back Coup "In Five Minutes"

• Zelaya tells Mexican supporters if Obama stepped up pressure "coup would last five minutes"
• Says Army had instructions to "eliminate" him
• Asks Calderon to discuss Honduran coup with Obama at North American Summit

President Zelaya came through Mexico City this week to woo Mexican President Felipe Calderon and talk to grassroots organizations that support his return to power. I decided to go see the man I've been writing about for the past 40 days.

The public event came on the heels of the official meeting with Calderon, who agreed to take up Zelaya's case with President Obama at the North American Summit this weekend. In a one-hour speech, the Honduran president tailored his message to the Mexican workers, debtors, students and urban poor in the audience at the city's elegant Teatro de al Ciudad. As the crowd shouted and waved paper Honduran flags, he gave a run-down of his efforts to build "citizen power", the resulting coup and the "insufficient" efforts of the international community to resolve the crisis.

This mixture of high diplomacy and building support from the bottom up reflects his two-pronged strategy to restore constitutional order in the Central American country. In the front rows sat members of Zelaya's cabinet and the Mexican Congress. Up in the nose-bleed section, I was flanked by university students and whole families that traveled in from the poor fringes of this massive city, to hear about what they see clearly as the latest front in the battle between haves and have-nots, and feigned democracy and real democracy.

"This is almost the first coup of the 21st century, the first to be condemned by the international community, the first to have massive sanctions applied," Zelaya told the crowd. Yet in spite of unprecedented diplomatic action, the coup remains in power. He called the stalemate a reflection of the "weakness of the international community," and appealed to the right of the people to peaceful resistance.

Zelaya said, "Our people have the right to resist repression with all the arms of our democratic system but also peaceful insurrection... Patience has limits -- I'm advising all the recalcitrant right from Washington to Tierra del Fuego." He was careful to repeat that "ours is a peaceful, civic and tolerant struggle... but patience is running out." The resistance movement has been building up over a month now and seen at least six of its members assassinated.

"International solidarity has been extraordinary against the coup but we think that it is insufficient. There is still more to do in the international arena to build support, to repudiate this event that has shamed our country, but with the shame falling on the shoulders of the groups that exercise illegitimate power."

Hopes Pinned on Obama
Zelaya stated clearly where international pressure needed to come from at this stage of restoring his government.

"If President Barack Obama really wants to turn back this coup, these coup leaders will last all of five minutes because the economy of Honduras, all our military, commercial and migration activities, depend on the United States." Emphasizing how the Honduran coup is a test case for the new government, he added, "We'll see the extent of his sincerity, force and democratic conviction."

Zelaya explained that the reason he agreed to enter into the mediation process under Costa Rican President Oscar Arias was to make the U.S. government continued to play a role in returning him to office.

"I recognize the force of the international community. When Sec. Hillary Clinton proposed Oscar Arias to me, I agreed because I wanted the U.S. to play a leading role."

As he's done everywhere else, Zelaya differentiated between the support from the Obama administration, which he did call "lukewarm", and forces in the U.S. government that openly support the coup.

"Many of the fundamental actors of the coup d'etat in Honduras did not come out of the government of Barack Obama but did come from the hawks in Washington who promoted them." He gave the specific example of U.S. congressional representatives "who have said publicly that the coup is good because it halts the social reforms of President Chavez, President Morales, Rafael Correa and Daniel Ortega in Central America." Rep. Connie Mack and others have stated that the forced exile of the Honduran president does not constitute a coup d'etat and protested U.S. sanctions.

Zelaya criticized the mediation process that has been at a standstill since coup leaders refused to agree to Zelaya's return, but didn't discard it completely. "I think that apart from the good-faith efforts of Pres. Oscar Arias, who won a Nobel Peace Prize, they have treated the coup with kid gloves. This is the time to clamp down."

Citizen Power
In one of his most political speeches, Zelaya detailed the achievements of his government in growth and raising the minimum wage, saying that despite the advances, the elites "didn't want to share."

The president said he'd been reflecting on what he did in office to provoke the economic and political elites to a coup. He explained the principle of "poder cuidadano" -- citizen power -- as combining two concepts: empowerment and citizenship. He went through the conflicts leading up to the coup, particularly the decision to consult the population on voting in November elections on whether to convoke a Constitutional Assembly and noted that his Law of Citizen Participation gave the people the power to be consulted on major decisions and was a critical step to "pass from a representative democracy to a participatory democracy."

"A president can't resolve the problems of the country alone. You need the large majorities, to listen to them, not just in elections -- you need to listen to them in decisions. The people aren't just there to elect, but also to decide... on development plans, on international trade treaties..."

He told the audience that the economic and political elite chose the wrong people, the wrong country, the wrong century and the wrong president to try out a modern-day coup. The people are "determined to struggle for guarantees of their constitutional rights, their human rights and their universal rights" and "Honduras is no longer willing to put up with a return to arms" in the 21st century, he noted.

Zelaya said the coup offered him money and benefits to his family to stay in exile, which he refused. He plans to return to the border with Nicaragua to prepare to return to Honduras.

In a new revelation, Zelaya narrated a phone call he received in Nicaragua from the head of Honduran Armed Forces, General Romeo Vasquez shortly after the coup. called him. He said Vasquez told him, "'Mr. President, we received instructions that you were to be eliminated in the capture (eliminated meaning assassinated). And we decided then, the Joint Command, that we are your friends (Zelaya paused to question the term friends) and that to preserve your life we had to take you out of the country.'"

Zelaya told the audience, "I'm telling you this because the radical positions of the traitorous right came to this extreme."

Pressuring Washington through the Big Guys
The emphasis on the "weakness of the international community" comes at a time when talks have broken down and the U.S. position has been ambiguous. The State Department reportedly wrote a letter to Sen Richard Lugar softening its stance on the coup. When questioned Aug. 6, spokesperson Robert Wood did not deny the letter, and said the U.S. position was "robust." He reaffirmed State's commitment to the Arias accords, said they it could not yet determine legally that it was military coup, and added that further sanctions are not the focus.

Zelaya announced Mexican President Felipe Calderon offered support and agreed to discuss the Honduran political crisis with President Obama at the Summit of North American Leaders. Calderon received the ousted Honduran president with full state honors. At this point though, Zelaya had a tough audience. When he mentioned Calderon's name, the crowd broke out in boos and cries of "espurio!" (illegitimate) that made it impossible for him to continue. The uproar revealed the still-simmering resentment against what many people in this country, especially the poor and popular organizations that filled the theater, still consider the elections of 2006 to have been stolen presidential elections in 2006.

But for Zelaya, courting Calderon to intervene with Obama is a strategic move. He openly referred to something Washington insiders have been saying as the world tries to pinpoint what has seemed a vacillating position within the Obama administration. With U.S. forces consolidating in favor and against the coup and a marked difference in tone between the president and his secretary of state, many have emphasized the major influence of the U.S.'s two most powerful allies in the region -- Mexico and Brazil -- in deciding to soften or strengthen pressures against the coup. There are powerful U.S. interests close to the government that prefer the coup to Zelaya, but one thing the Obama administration does not want to do is alienate these two countries. The press reports that Zelaya plans a trip to Brazil later this week.

Zelaya continued once the shouting died down. "[Calderon] will be with President Obama in Guadalajara and the force with which the United States decides to take effective actions will also depend on this meeting." He said Mexicans must watch the talks between Calderon and Obama, because they will have an impact "on the destiny of Latin America."

Following the meeting between teh two presidents Tuesday, Calderon confirmed support for the Arias mediation process and asserted his "full support for restitution and pacification." His remarks send a message to Washington but fall short of Brazil's position. Brazil has already come out saying there should be no conditions set on Zelaya's return and that any concessions to the coup in the framework of the mediation process would encourage further coups in the region. This contrasts with the Arias proposal to form a coalition government including coup supporters.

Moving back to the grassroots, Zelaya noted the strength of the Honduran resistance. "Today I want to express my solidarity with the Honduran people. We are 37 days into a teachers' strike... It's not just to protest the coup -- what the teachers say is that they can't go to the classroom to teach the children how coups are made, they want to teach them how to revert coups d'etat in the streets."

Honduran organizations are now on the frontline of the battle to defeat the coup in their country and the president stated that the coalition of unions, women and workers have carried out more than 100 peaceful civilian road blocks. He specifically asked the international community to support Radio Globo, almost alone, he noted, in reporting on repression in the country and currently facing closure by the coup regime that controls the media.

To the enthusiastic crowd, Zelaya framed his dilemma as a struggle without borders. "When the struggle is for a value, a principle, there are no borders, there are no countries." Outside the theater, more Mexicans who didn't fit inside waited to greet the Honduran president. It didn't exactly look like a sea change in increasingly polarized Latin American politics, but for them it represented the possibility, somewhere, of defending real democracy.

Follow Laura Carlsen on Twitter: www.twitter.com/tortuga7

Comments

[ModernTimes1]

" Continuismo – the tendency of heads of state to extend their rule indefinitely – has been the lifeblood of Latin America's authoritarian tradition. The Constitution's provision of instant sanction might sound draconian, but every Latin American democrat knows how much of a threat to our fragile democracies continuismo presents. In Latin America, chiefs of state have often been above the law. The instant sanction of the supreme law has successfully prevented the possibility of a new Honduran continuismo.

The Supreme Court and the attorney general ordered Zelaya's arrest for disobeying several court orders compelling him to obey the Constitution. He was detained and taken to Costa Rica. Why? Congress needed time to convene and remove him from office. With him inside the country that would have been impossible. This decision was taken by the 123 (of the 128) members of Congress present that day. "

Octavio Sánchez, minister of culture (2005-06) of the Republic of Honduras.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0702/p09s03-coop.html

BRAVO. Senor Sanchez!!!

[arvay]

Perhaps more obnoxious than continuismo is the "tradition" of military coups, often sponsored by the US.

There is no way to wipe that stain of military intervention away from the current situation. Why can't the elites that oppose Zelaya's politics fight their battle politically? Even Chavez in Venezuela has bowed to losses at the polls.

Sorry, but if Obama doesn't act to squelch this coup, it's going to look like a standard US intervention via the army to remove a leftist. Right-wingers on our Congress are already screaming about the communist threat (they REALLY miss the Cold War).

Time for Obama to act decisively, and freeze all US aid until Zelaya is returned and permitted to serve out his term.

[JayDubs]

I would be more convinced this was a military coup if the Honduran Congress were disolved or a general were selected to fill Zelaya's seat. This doesn't seem to be the case. It seems like their Congress as well as their judiciary are supportive of the action. Is it the removal of a popular president by established powers? Maybe. He certainly wasn't popular with the upper class from what I understand. Illegal coup? By Honduran law, highly improbable. A removal from office that isn't popular isn't necessarily illegal.

Plus, it's not like the United States is outright supporting the new regime. From what I understand, the official response is that we're against Zelaya's ouster. We're just not going to take drastic action in response. The way I see it, South America complains when we interfere, and they complain when we don't. Honestly, I'm tired of interventionism. We've got quite a bit of international affairs on our plate already, and it's not like we don't have anything to take care of at home.

[ModernTimes1]

Zelya was a good leader of the country who engaged in positive reforms benefiting the poor.
And then he decided to trample on Honduran democracy in bold quest to usurp more personal power.
Despite clear prohibition from all democratic institutions of young Honduran democracy.
He was removed for it. This is reality.
Zelaya wanted to be young Castro, but due to personal shortcomings ended up being Batista.

[ModernTimes1]

Fact: June 26, President Zelaya writes a decree which ORDERS all government employees to take "Public Opinion Poll to convene a National Constitutional Assembly."
Fact:Honduran Constitution PROHIBITS this in a clear and unambiguous language.
Article 239: "No citizen who has already served as head of the Executive Branch can be President or Vice-President. Whoever violates this law or proposes its reform [emphasis added], as well as those that support such violation directly or indirectly, will immediately cease in their functions and will be unable to hold any public office for a period of 10 years."

Fact: Supreme Court ordered Zelaya's removal from office based on HIS REPEATED VIOLATIONS the Constitution and other crimes.

Fact: Civilian leftist government is still in power. This was NOT a military coup.

Yes there were plenty of military coups in S and Latin America. No, this is not one of them.
Those capable of analyzing facts understand this. Some prefer the comfortable agitprop. Enjoy.

[Laura Carlsen - Huffpost Blogger]

You have obviously not read the text of the public opinion poll to be held June 28, which is strange since this is at the crux of your argument. It says nothing about term limits. The single question reads: Do you agree to install a fourth urn in the November 2009 general elections to decide on calling a National Constituent Assembly that would approve a political constitution? Those are the presidential elections in which Zelaya is not on the ballot, making it impossible for him to stay in power even if the majority were to express a desire to install the fourth urn in November and later to approve the call for constitutional reform.

It is also strange that some people consider themselves more knowledgeable about international law and the definition of a "coup" than every single one of the national delegates of the United Nations. That body proclaimed unanimously: (The UN) Condemns the coup d’état in the Republic of Honduras... as did the OAS. Today the State Department again said, "we’ve been very clear in condemning the coup that took place that removed President Zelaya."

A "civilian" government that came to power as a result of a military cup that forcibly exiled the elected president and remains in power under a state of siege, with the military in the streets and the curtailment of basic civil liberties is not a civilian government. If this were a legal process, Zelaya would have been tried, not exiled.

[ModernTimes1]

Those with less allegiance to worn out slogans can produce a valid analysis which does not adhere to any one political agenda.
Fact: Zelaya repeatedly and wantonly violated Honduran constitution. This is beyond debate.
Fact: he continued to do so despite repeated orders from the Supreme Court and Attorney General.

Opinion: I agree with most of the reforms Zelaya tried to implement. But I do not support his attempt to be another Latin American Prez-for- Life.

Fact: The Supreme Court issued an order for the military to arrest him for breaking court orders requiring him to act within the constitutional framework.

Fact: Military violated Supreme Court order and exiled Zelaya instead of arresting to stand trial.

That's it.

Summary:
Outster of Zelaya--legal.
Order for his arrest--legal.
Exile-illegal.
Succession process to appoint next President--legal.

[ModernTimes1]

Deposed and exiled ex-prez was arrogant enough to ignore the constitution, supreme court, his own party and the entire executive branch. They say absolute power corrupts abosutely.... but El Prez of Honduras?!lol.

Luckily the civilians ares till in power. Luckily the current President is a leftist.

[shorelive]

Bunch of moronic lies and distortions, but that goes without saying whenever you have something to say.

[ModernTimes1]

People who can't be bothered to read Honduran constitution have nothing to offer to the discussion.

[sticksnstones]

Repitition of the same false talking points in every Honduras/Zelaya article does not make them any more true, my Golpista friend, General Romeo Vasquez.

[ModernTimes1]

" Continuismo – the tendency of heads of state to extend their rule indefinitely – has been the lifeblood of Latin America's authoritarian tradition. The Constitution's provision of instant sanction might sound draconian, but every Latin American democrat knows how much of a threat to our fragile democracies continuismo presents. In Latin America, chiefs of state have often been above the law. The instant sanction of the supreme law has successfully prevented the possibility of a new Honduran continuismo.

The Supreme Court and the attorney general ordered Zelaya's arrest for disobeying several court orders compelling him to obey the Constitution. He was detained and taken to Costa Rica. Why? Congress needed time to convene and remove him from office. With him inside the country that would have been impossible. This decision was taken by the 123 (of the 128) members of Congress present that day. "

Octavio Sánchez, minister of culture (2005-06) of the Republic of Honduras.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0702/p09s03-coop.html

This is the best and most succinct account of the events.

Take heed those who prefer to engage in long-winded speeches based on nothing but worn out cliches.

BRAVO. Senor Sanchez!!!

[ModernTimes1]

Honduran Constitution

Article 239: "No citizen who has already served as head of the Executive Branch can be President or Vice-President. Whoever violates this law or proposes its reform [emphasis added], as well as those that support such violation directly or indirectly, will immediately cease in their functions and will be unable to hold any public office for a period of 10 years."

Now repat reading it again and again. Until you get it!

[ModernTimes1]

40 years of strident " Yankee hands off Latin America." ( Which I support).
And now... sudden reversal in complete and total contradiction of the entire middle class liberal dogma. Just hear the spin....
Funny stuff...

[america10]

Hi, since you mentioned the booing, I am left wondering WHY you didn't mention how heavily Zelaya was applauded WHEN HE PAID HIS RESPECTS TO MANUEL LOPEZ OBRADOR -as you know, leader of the revolutionary party- and why you failed to mention HOW the mexican president and legislators were OFFENDED by what he said in that theater? ...And of course, how they elegantly invited him to "continue on" without giving him access to the press in the airport... most probably to keep him from insulting the gracious hosts who had given him the keys to the city earlier... You didn't think that was important?

[Laura Carlsen - Huffpost Blogger]

I obviously did not transcribe the whole speech. Immediately after the reference to Calderon, Zelaya quoted a Peruvian politician saying "Sometimes it is better to feel like a president than to be one" and mentioned Lopez Obrador. The crowd cheered--as I mentioned, this was a grassroots organization event, where rejection of Calderon ran high and sympathy for Lopez Obrador ran deep. By "revolutionary party", I assume you mean the center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution, which governs the nation's capital and presented Zelaya with the keys to the city. They were presumably not insulted at all by the reference to Lopez Obrador, since he was their own candidate who they feel was cheated out of the presidency. Finally, it's true from reports I have that the presidential guard that accompanies all foreign leaders did not permit Zelaya to talk to the press again at the airport hangar as he was leaving. All this is part of the polarized politics in Latin America that I refer to at the end. Your reading of it here is a little confused, but I would say that President Zelaya is not always the most diplomatic of statesmen, a fault that in no way justifies being forced into exile from the country that elected him by a military coup.

[JerryLevy]

Zelaya tried to subvert the Honduran constitution and was over ruled by his own party, the supreme court and the military (not to mention the majority of the Honduran people). Working with Hugo Chavez and Daniel Ortega, he had begun a process that would extend his term indefinitely. What he was seeking to do is the same thing as what is going on in Ecudor and in Venezuela and the people rose up and put an end to his power play before it got out of control. Long live the Honduran democracy.

[EpicFail247]

I assume you mean "long live the junta." The military has the real power.

[sticksnstones]

Jerry:

Since you're such a strong supporter of the Honduran Constitution as written in its present format, and a strong supporter of the coup d'etat which exiled Zelaya, then perhaps you'd like to attempt to defend constitutional and human rights violations by the very junta/cabal which replaced him.

On June 30, 2009, Executive Decree No. 011-2009 was issued, signed by Mr. Micheletti, suspending the following constitutional rights: personal liberty, detention and confinement for more than 24 hours, freedom of association and assembly, the right of freedom of movement, to leave, enter, and stay in the national territory. Those rights are detailed in Articles 69, 71, 72, 78, 79, 81, 84, 99 of the Constitution. The Decree established that the rights would be suspended from 10PM to 5AM for a period of SEVENTY-TWO HOURS from the passage of the Decree.

This Decree, which IS STILL IN FORCE, does not include a mechanism to extend the mechanism to extend the suspension of said rights, but also to date the Decree has not been published in the official newspaper of the Honduran Republic. Article 211 of the Constitution requires that regulations be published in order TO BE VALID. Article 187 of the Constitution restricts the restriction or suspension of rights exclusively in the case of invasion, serious disturbance of the peace, epidemics, or other disaster.

Continued ...

[sticksnstones]

Continued from Page One :

The order for the suspension of these fundamental rights of the Honduran people continues to be applied despite their expiration after the 72 hours originally stipulated in the decree that issued these restrictions. No later decree exists that has formally extended the suspension of these rights.

There have been a significant number of extrajudicial executions, hundreds of arbitrary detentions, multiple threats, curtailment of freedom of expression and information, as well as undue restrictions on the freedom of movement. These illegal restrictions have been used to target political and union leaders, human rights defenders, social activists, journalists, and foreign citizens.

There you go, Jerry. Everything I've typed can be cited for validity.

[JerryLevy]

Are these laws a temporary measure to stop the Zelaya mobs from disrupting transportation, commerce, and day to day living in Honduras? A tactic of these groups are to cause as much disruption as possible and make it look like there is support for the would be dictator where there is none. He brought his violent mobs out to the warehouse where he was storing the Venezuelan printed ballots to keep him in power just a week before he was diposed----so I expect violence is one of his tactics. Read the Wall Street Journal today that discusses how the only political party to support Zelaya is also implicated in supporting FARC. If Zelaya's own political party does not support him, the military does not support him, the supreme court does not support him, and most importantly, the people do not support him, then I don't either.

[seanfitzgerald]

Here is a link to that story:

http://www.topix.com/world/honduras/2009/08/zelaya-offends-mexican-president-and-is-denied-ability-to-comment-to-press-as-he-leaves-mexico

[Laura Carlsen - Huffpost Blogger]

Many of the comments to the article on this site reflect a deliberate misinterpretation of what I said. Mel Zelaya was not booed by the audience at any point in the presentation. The boos were clearly directed at Calderon, when his name was mentioned. Mexican organizations, as I said in the article, are still resentful of the violation of democracy when the Mexican courts refused a recount in 2006 despite their own evidence of massive irregularities in the vote and counting. The result was the rightwing candidate, Calderon, gaining office by half a percentage point amid accusations of fraud, leading to demonstrations of millions of people in the city center and live-in occupations that froze the city for weeks. This is why the people listening to Zelaya identified so much with the Honduran battle to regain democracy following the coup.

It´s remarkable how the pro-coup forces monitor the U.S. press, even to the point of twisting the facts to suit their campaign to support a military coup. I was in that audience. I know what happened and stated clearly that it was Calderon, not Zelaya, that prompted the indignation of the crowd.

[JerryLevy]

Laura---where is your concern about the Venezuelan democracy? Or the Argentinian democracy or the Ecuedorian democracy? When power hungry leaders use the democracy to subvert the law, countries lose their democracy which is exactly what has happened in Venezuela (as they continue to close down the free media) but you issue not one bit of concern. Instead, you are worried about Honduras that stopped this despot before he took power from the people. Your concerns are, lets just say, inconsistent.

[seanfitzgerald]

Unfortunately, this is only half the story.

Later that very same day, Zelaya also met with Calderon's political opponent, Manuel Lopez Obrador. Zelaya then publicly insulted Calderon so badly that he was immediately escorted by police out of Mexico. That very same day!

So while your story might have been initially accurate, it no longer is. Mexico may not love the US, but it is no friend of Zelaya.

[Laura Carlsen - Huffpost Blogger]

Lopez Obrador was in Oaxaca at the time, a state far to the south of Mexico City and President Zelaya was not "escorted by police out of Mexico" unless you are referring to the presidential guard escort that always accompanies heads of state. He was prevented from speaking to the press at the hangar (see above).