United Liberty

The unrest in Honduras has been a topic in the news in the United States over the last few days (UL’s own Matt Wittlief explained the situation a few days ago), as President Barack Obama has voiced support for Manuel Zelaya’s return as president.

I’m somewhat confused by Obama’s seemingly unqualified support for Zelaya. When people of Iran erupted in protest over their recent election, Obama dismissed any involvement in what he correctly deemed to be an internal affair where the role of the United States could only be used against protesters. Conservatives and Republicans criticized him for it, but he was right. For some reason, Obama’s laissez faire view isn’t applied in Honduras.

Zelaya called for a referendum to enact reforms that would allow him to run for re-election. He wanted the military to distribute ballots and was refused. The Honduran Supreme Court and Attorney General ruled that such a referendum would be illegal. The Congress agreed and later removed him from office.

The Constitution of Honduras (Google Translate) provides a four year term in office with no eligibility for re-election, though the office is given broad power over the nation’s affairs. There is a potential problem for any president that may want to stay more than his allotted term, such as Zelaya:

ARTICLE 239 - The citizen who has ownership of the executive branch may not be President or Vice President of the Republic.

Anyone who violates this provision or the proposed reform, and support those who directly or indirectly, immediately cease the discharge of their duties and shall be disqualified for ten (10) years to exercise any public function.

Article 42 also poses a problem as it says, “the quality of citizen is lost…[i]f the citizen incites, promotes, or supports the continuance or the re-election of the President of the Republic.”

Zelaya made his own bed. There is nothing un-democratic about the steps taken to secure and preserve the Rule of Law in Honduras. I’m not defending every action taken by the government since Zelaya’s legal removal, the new government has made some mistakes in handling the transition from Zelaya to Roberto Micheletti, but the country’s Supreme Court and military leaders seem to have handled the situation within the confines of the law.

President Barack Obama should take his own advice and stay out of the affairs of a sovereign nation and encourage “robust debate.”