The Acts of the Democracies

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2009

Honduras

In June, the democratically elected president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, is ousted in a military coup and replaced by General Romeo Vasquez.

Many see the hand of the USA behind the removal of the leader that was attempting to improve living conditions for its poorest citizens. There were five clues:

The USA did not condemn the coup but rather expressed "concern".
The ambassadors of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua were arrested by the military - these are countries that Manuel Zelaya had good relations with but are opposed by the USA and its media allies.
General Romeo Vasquez is a graduate of the USA School of the Americas - previous dictators like Leopoldo Galtieri of Argentina, were also trained there.
The USA is the largest trading partner of Honduras and has a military base at Soto Cano so it is inconcievable that the coup could have been planned without the knowledge of the USA.
When the story was covered by the UK television broadcaster, the BBC, they only interviewed people who supported the coup even though there were so many demonstrations in support of the president, the military had to introduce a curfew.

Many countries condemn the coup and state that they will not recognise the new government. Dan Restrepo, the adviser to USA president, Barak Obama, states that it "is waiting to see how things play out" and accuses countries like Venezuela, who have condemned the coup, of interfering.

A United Nations resoltion is passed declaring that Manuel Zelaya is the lawful president of the country. The USA supported the resolution but did not recognise the removal of Manuel Zelaya as a coup d'etat. Had the USA done so, it would have to suspend aid to Honduras.

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