Micheletti Talks Tough In Honduras

Newly sworn in Honduran President Micheletti, refusing to bow to international pressure to restore ousted President Zelaya, has made his position clear:

"[Zelaya] has already committed crimes against the constitution and the law. He can no longer return to the presidency of the republic unless a president from another Latin American country comes and imposes him using guns. No one can make me resign if I do not violate the laws of the country. If there is any invasion against our country, 7.5 million Hondurans will be ready to defend our territory and our laws and our homeland and our government."

Micheletti has also reiterated his promise to fulfill the current presidential term, support popular elections in November, and has said he will not run for office. Although media outlets are claiming that the United States has called for Zelaya's return, I don't see that as true. In a press conference on Monday, Secretary Clinton said that the US concern is the return of "constitutional order" in Honduras, not specifically the reinstatement of Zelaya. She further pointed out that she does not believe a coup took place in Honduras, but that it has developed into one, whatever that means.

President Micheletti's foreign minster Enrique Ortez has also announced that the presidents of Argentina and Ecuador, and the heads of the OAS and the U.N. General Assembly who have agreed to accompany Zelaya back to Honduras will be barred from entering the country is they attempt to restore Zelaya to office, rather than turn him over to Honduran custody. Micheletti has again insisted that Zelaya will be arrested if he returns, citing multiple legal infringements by the former president, including failure to submit a budget to Congress last year, and a last minute alteration to a ballot question which would have allowed him to seek re-election. Zelaya has since promised he would not seek to extend his term of office, but has been rebuffed and will not be offered reconciliation.

Micheletti has been sworn in by the Honduran Congress. He is president. Any coup that takes place at this point will be orchestrated by outside governments. And if that happens, we will surely see a "return to the past" that Hugo Chavez warns of. It seems to me that although using the military to arrest and remove the president is a bit regressive, there was ample evidence that Zelaya had in fact violated Constitutional law in Honduras and fully intended to continue doing so, and his removal was technically carried out by the letter of the law. I don't see where "constitutional order" in Honduras has failed, and Micheletti's interim government does seem to be fully above board. Also, the assignation of the term "military coup" is alarmist and inaccurate -- as I have said, in order for it to be a military coup, a military leader would have to have been set in Zelaya's place. The military was used to remove Zelaya from office, and his constitutionally mandated successor was sworn in.