Troops have arrested President Manuel Zelaya this morning, the day that Hondurans were to vote in a referendum to change the constitution to allow him to run for another term. The apparent coup comes four days after Zelaya fired the chief of the armed forces for refusing to assist in carrying out the referendum. Zelaya was reportedly put on a plane to Costa Rica, where he may be now.
Source: Plan Colombia and Beyond
Troops have arrested President Manuel Zelaya this morning, the day that Hondurans were to vote in a referendum to change the constitution to allow him to run for another term. The apparent coup comes four days after Zelaya fired the chief of the armed forces for refusing to assist in carrying out the referendum. Zelaya was reportedly put on a plane to Costa Rica, where he may be now.
[Added 12:15PM: Zelaya, now in Costa Rica, told CNN that he was "kidnapped," and that "at the moment of his detention, they aimed guns at his chest and head."]
The military claims it was carrying out an order from “judicial tribunals” to arrest Zelaya because of an apparent presence of Nicaraguan and Venezuelan political operatives in the referendum. Nonetheless, this appears to be the first military coup attempt since the April 2002 uprising that came close to unseating Hugo Chávez (unless one counts the forced resignation of Lucio Gutiérrez in Ecuador in 2005, in which members of the armed forces played a supporting role).
Regardless of one’s position on President Zelaya’s pursuit of a second term or his ties to President Chávez, the actions taken in Tegucigalpa this morning deserve universal condemnation, as they are an illegal disruption of the democratic institutional process. If the coup is allowed to stand and an unelected leader takes power, Honduras should be considered in violation of the 2001 Democratic Charter and the United States should support its suspension from the Organization of American States.
The European Union has already issued a statement condemning the coup. The OAS has condemned it and will hold an urgent meeting of the Permanent Council at 12:00PM EDT.
On Friday, the State Department called on Hondurans “to seek a consensual democratic resolution in the current political impasse that adheres to the Honduran constitution and to Honduran laws consistent with the principles of the Inter-American Democratic Charter,” and to involve the OAS. As of 11:45AM EDT, there is nothing new on either the State Department’s website or the U.S. Embassy in Honduras website. The U.S. government must leave no doubt about its position and raise its voice as well.
The Honduran military has been a heavy recipient of U.S. assistance for decades. A U.S. military unit, Joint Task Force Bravo, has been based at the Palmerola airbase in Honduras since the early 1980s. If the Honduran military persists in violating the country’s democratic order, U.S. military aid must halt and JTF-Bravo must leave.
(Photo courtesy of School of the Americas Watch.)
Links to coverage:
Honduras: El Heraldo
Honduras: Diario TIEMPO
Honduras: La Prensa
Google News page
BBC: Troops Detain Honduran President
CNN: Honduras president arrested, local media report
AP: Honduras President Arrested in Military Coup
Reuters: Honduran Troops Surround Presidential Palace
AFP: EU calls for release of Honduran President