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Honduras is in turmoil. A military coup there this morning deposed Pres. Manuel Zelaya, pre-empting a controversial referendum that would have allowed the leftist ruler to run for a second term. The Honduran Congress has stripped Zelaya of his office and appointed the president of the Congress, Robert Micheletti, to be head of state. The US and the Organization of the Americas criticized the move,
While events in Honduras have not been as widely publicized as those in higher-profile states such as Iran, the coup aroused passionate, ideologically-driven debates in Latin America and the United States. Some US observers condemned the ouster of an elected president, but others applauded the removal of of a man seen as being dangerously close to such harsh US critics as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez. Chavez. along with Bolivian president Evo Morales, succeeded in getting their countries' constitutions modified in the same way.
"We thought that military coups were a thing of the past," one expert told CBC News in this report:
Tania has a summary of some of the events that have reportedly taken place in addition to Zelaya's removal from office:
Congressman Cesar Ham, from the leftist political party Democratic Unification of Honduras, was assassinated by a squad of soldiers sent to his house early on Sunday morning.
The mayor of San Pedro Sula has been kidnapped at gunpoint by masked members of the military. His whereabouts are unknown but his wife was visiting family at the time in another city and is deeply concerned about her children, who were with their father.
Martial law is in full effect in Honduras, at this hour...
In the comments below, giggey disputes this characterization of events, which she says is spin from the pro-Zelaya ranks.
Leonidas Meija reported on tensions in Honduras leading up to the coup.
Honduras is going through one of its most difficult moments of its political history. Honduran President Manuel Zelaya removed General Romeo Vásquez Velásquez as Chief of the Armed Forces [es] and accepted the resignation of Defense Minister Edmundo Orellana Mercado. The announcement was made after meeting with military leaders of the armed forces to seek protection of the polls for the referendum that has been promoted by the executive branch to be held on Sunday, June 28, 2009.
Real Clear World reported yesterday that Zelaya's referendum had aroused opposition from both the courts and the military:
* When the armed forces refused to distribute the ballots, Zelaya fired the chief of the armed forces, Gen. Romeo Vásquez, and the defense minister, the head of the army and the air force resigned in protest.
* Yesterday the Supreme Court ordered by a 5-0 vote that Vásquez be reinstated.
* Honduras's Supreme Electoral Tribunal ordered authorities to pick up all the ballots and electoral material, which were held by the country's air force.
* The country's Attorney General requested yesterday that Congress oust Zelaya.
* The courts have declared the referendum unlawful. Last Tuesday the Congress passed a law preventing the holding of referendums or plebiscites 180 days before or after general elections. Congress has also named a commission to investigate Zelaya.
The opposition within Honduras is what led Faustas blog to argue that the removal of Zelaya was not a coup at all:
The Honduran Supreme Court of Justice has confirmed that Honduran president Manuel Zelaya was detained this morning by the military in compliance with an order of the courts of law.
Newmaya has been tracking events via Twitter (some updates in Spanish.)
Larissa Alexandrovna says that as a leader, Zelaya has been a mixed bag:
Zelaya is not a traditional good/bad guy character. He pushed back against the exploitation of his country by foreign "investors," thereby making enemies of corporate interests in the US and the wealthy conservatives of Honduras. On the other side of the equation is Zelaya's attacks on the press and desire for dictatorial powers, which culminated in this coup.
The Christian Science Monitor reported that criticism of the coup crosses ideological lines:
Although Zelaya is a strong ally of Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chávez, who said Venezuela is now "at battle" and put his armed forces on alert, criticism seemed to fall outside ideological lines. President Obama, the European Union, and Mr. Chávez joined together in a chorus of criticism. Leaders from across Central America will meet in Nicaragua tomorrow in an emergency meeting.
Laura Carlsen live-blogged an emergency meeting of the Organiatin of American States where the coup was debated. The Venezuelan representative raised
