BACKDROP:
The president of Honduras (Manuel Zelaya) was forcibly removed from his home by the military on orders of the country's Supreme Court.
WHY?
Zelaya allegedly attempted to circumvent his country's Constitution by using a referendum to keep him in office. According to a link provided by Piece of Work in Progress, the President of Honduras is forbidden from re-election upon completion of his term.
Title VII, with two chapters, outlines the process of amending the constitution and sets forth the principle of constitutional inviolability. The constitution may be amended by the National Congress after a two-thirds vote of all its members in two consecutive regular annual sessions. However, several constitutional provisions may not be amended. These consist of the amendment process itself, as well as provisions covering the form of government, national territory, and several articles covering the presidency, including term of office and prohibition from reelection.
Those in support of Zelaya being detained point to the fact that a president cannot remain in office by referendum and that being permitted to do so must involve the amendment process within the Legislative Branch.
CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS?
By any measure, Honduras is in the middle of a constitutional crisis. The Executive Branch has been pitted against the Legislative and Judicial Branches.
Zelaya is reportedly an ally of both Chavez and Castro. The Fausta Blog (see link below) reports that Zelaya remaining in office could be the first step in allowing Chavez to govern Honduras by proxy.
Gee, doesn't Iran govern by proxy when it comes to Hezbollah? Are Ahmadinejad and Chavez operating from the same playbook?
As this plays out it will be interesting to see how the Obama Administration deals with this compared to how it dealt with the recent Iranian elections.
Time will tell.
The best place to find a blow by blow account of what happened seems to be over at Fausta's Blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment