The Undermining of Honduran Democracy

From: American Thinker

The political situation of Honduras, our long-time Central American ally with a history of aversion to Communism and Socialism, appears to be lurching toward danger.


On Monday, May 2, a Court of Appeals in Honduras reviewing the criminal charges against ousted former President Manuel "Mel" Zelaya voted to annul the criminal charges against him, possibly paving the way for his return to the country. An appeal was rejected on May 5. But the opportunity for further appeal remains for sixty days.


The return of Zelaya, without fear of prosecution, is a condition which is being insisted upon by the leftist-dominated Organization of American States, as requirement for allowing Honduras to be readmitted to the organization. After the annulment of the charges, both the OAS and the U.S. State Department issued statements approving the developments.


Zelaya turned to Marxism after being elected president, and he drew support from Venezuelan Marxist dictator Hugo Chávez in an attempt to overthrow the Honduran Constitution. He was kicked out of Honduras in 2009 after tripping special clauses in the Honduran Constitution designed to prevent such a takeover.


Zelaya had already been granted amnesty for political crimes as part of a general amnesty in 2010. So with the annulment of criminal charges, Mel is apparently free to return to Honduras without consequence. While neither the OAS nor the U.S. is publicly calling for him to be returned to the presidency at this moment, this is still an alarming prospect. The cause for alarm becomes clear when one considers the fact that Zelaya's backer, Hugo Chávez, is a man who was once granted immunity for attempting a takeover in Venezuela in 1992. He is now the dictator of that country.


Since 2009, the previously taboo subjects of presidential reelection and of calling a "Constituyente" (an overthrow of the present constitution) have been increasingly introduced into open discussion in Honduras. But the call for presidential reelection and the call for a Constituyente are supposed to be expressly forbidden by the Tegucigalpa/San Jose Accords, which were signed in an attempt to diffuse the 2009 crisis.