Crisis in Honduras 2
In Honduras, it's a battle of the President vs. the Congress and Supreme Court. The military is caught between the two sides. Constitutionally, the president commands the military. However, the Congress and Supreme Court have both told the military to not follow "illegal" orders from the president. This is the definition of an institutional crisis, and both sides know that the military could determine the outcome.
Honduran President Zelaya gave a speech Thursday afternoon denouncing the Congress and Supreme Court decisions to order him to reinstate the commander of the military. Read the previous blog post for more background on this crisis.
Then, in one of the more dramatic moments of Latin America politics I've seen in recent years, President Zelaya physically traveled to an Air Force base with trucks filled with supporters. The military had been ordered by the Congress earlier in the day to seize materials for the election and not allow the president to have them. Zelaya personally entered the base, the soldiers and airmen there stood down, and the president had his supporters load up their trucks with the election materials.
The Congress will now "investigate" the events of the past few days. The hints are that they may attempt to impeach the president.
On one side, President Zelaya and his supporters claim they face a coup attempt (Telesur even has a special "Golpe de Estado Honduras" section on their website). On the other side, Zelaya's opponents,which include some of his own party members, say the president is attempting an "auto-golpe" in which he overthrows his own government's institutions to take greater control. As I said, what we're watching in Honduras is the definition of an institutional crisis.
The good news is that not a single shot has been fired so far. It's a crisis, but it's not yet a violent one and everyone hopes it remains that way. President Zelaya pushed his luck yesterday in bringing a mob of supporters to confront the military and force them to turn over the election materials. I'm glad the military at that base decided that the confrontation over ballot boxes was not worth violence and chose to back away. However, it would be better to settle this crisis with negotiations and without mobs of supporters and military forces facing each other down.
The OAS will meet today to discuss the situation. Venezuelan President Chavez said that ALBA will back the Honduran president during the crisis, a statement the Honduran media interprets as interference in their domestic affairs. Statements from elsewhere in the hemisphere have been more cautious. Remember, this is all over a non-binding referendum. What happens when they actually vote to change the constitution for real?
Honduran President Zelaya gave a speech Thursday afternoon denouncing the Congress and Supreme Court decisions to order him to reinstate the commander of the military. Read the previous blog post for more background on this crisis.
Then, in one of the more dramatic moments of Latin America politics I've seen in recent years, President Zelaya physically traveled to an Air Force base with trucks filled with supporters. The military had been ordered by the Congress earlier in the day to seize materials for the election and not allow the president to have them. Zelaya personally entered the base, the soldiers and airmen there stood down, and the president had his supporters load up their trucks with the election materials.
The Congress will now "investigate" the events of the past few days. The hints are that they may attempt to impeach the president.
On one side, President Zelaya and his supporters claim they face a coup attempt (Telesur even has a special "Golpe de Estado Honduras" section on their website). On the other side, Zelaya's opponents,which include some of his own party members, say the president is attempting an "auto-golpe" in which he overthrows his own government's institutions to take greater control. As I said, what we're watching in Honduras is the definition of an institutional crisis.
The good news is that not a single shot has been fired so far. It's a crisis, but it's not yet a violent one and everyone hopes it remains that way. President Zelaya pushed his luck yesterday in bringing a mob of supporters to confront the military and force them to turn over the election materials. I'm glad the military at that base decided that the confrontation over ballot boxes was not worth violence and chose to back away. However, it would be better to settle this crisis with negotiations and without mobs of supporters and military forces facing each other down.
The OAS will meet today to discuss the situation. Venezuelan President Chavez said that ALBA will back the Honduran president during the crisis, a statement the Honduran media interprets as interference in their domestic affairs. Statements from elsewhere in the hemisphere have been more cautious. Remember, this is all over a non-binding referendum. What happens when they actually vote to change the constitution for real?
