Monday
Jun292009
Human Rights Expert Analyzes Honduran Coup
Monday, June 29, 2009 at 2:10PM
By Celia Canon- Talk Radio News Service
Attorney Robert Amsterdam says the ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zeleya opens the door for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to place himself in the middle of that country's affairs.
“What we have been left with is one of the first major confrontations between someone following the [Hugo] Chavez line of what we call ‘constitutional editing’ and the institutional elites that exist in a country which have taken the view that changing the Constitution should not be made subject to a [referendum],” said Amsterdam.
Honduran military forces invaded President Zelaya’s home just hours before polls for a national referendum were opened. The referendum was to determine whether the Constitution could be modified in order to give the President a second tenure instead of the current limitation to one term.
Amsterdam explained that “The Constitution in Honduras doesn't allow for ... him [Zelaya] to be elected in the next election. [It] would have violated the constitution.”
The situation has required immediate attention as Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez has been “threatening a military intervention himself,” said the attorney, warning that “Mr .Chavez has bought more Russian arms than any other country on earth, so there is certainly some potential [to order a military intervention in Honduras] that would seem to run contrary to much of his dogma.”
As for how President Barack Obama should respond, Amsterdam said that “He [Obama] is going to want to stay out of it... He is not going to want to be seen supporting those engaging in a coup, but given Chavez’s threats to intervene, he is not going to want to be too loud about the role the U.S is going to take.”
Amsterdam argued that “For the U.S doctrine in Latin America, this is a very important moment because firstly, it’s the first military coup in a dozen years and secondly there is this definitional problem about whether this is indeed a coup or a counter coup,” referring to the intention of the coup to protect the Constitution rather than overwrite it.
Attorney Robert Amsterdam says the ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zeleya opens the door for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to place himself in the middle of that country's affairs.
“What we have been left with is one of the first major confrontations between someone following the [Hugo] Chavez line of what we call ‘constitutional editing’ and the institutional elites that exist in a country which have taken the view that changing the Constitution should not be made subject to a [referendum],” said Amsterdam.
Honduran military forces invaded President Zelaya’s home just hours before polls for a national referendum were opened. The referendum was to determine whether the Constitution could be modified in order to give the President a second tenure instead of the current limitation to one term.
Amsterdam explained that “The Constitution in Honduras doesn't allow for ... him [Zelaya] to be elected in the next election. [It] would have violated the constitution.”
The situation has required immediate attention as Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez has been “threatening a military intervention himself,” said the attorney, warning that “Mr .Chavez has bought more Russian arms than any other country on earth, so there is certainly some potential [to order a military intervention in Honduras] that would seem to run contrary to much of his dogma.”
As for how President Barack Obama should respond, Amsterdam said that “He [Obama] is going to want to stay out of it... He is not going to want to be seen supporting those engaging in a coup, but given Chavez’s threats to intervene, he is not going to want to be too loud about the role the U.S is going to take.”
Amsterdam argued that “For the U.S doctrine in Latin America, this is a very important moment because firstly, it’s the first military coup in a dozen years and secondly there is this definitional problem about whether this is indeed a coup or a counter coup,” referring to the intention of the coup to protect the Constitution rather than overwrite it.
Reader Comments (7)
[...] rights lawyer Robert Amsterdam. There is a “definitional problem about whether this is indeed a coup or a counter coup,” he [...]
I'm an American Citizen, born in Honduras, that has lived in the USA for over 20 years and finally moving back to Honduras. Over the years, I've listen to Manuel Zelaya over the years and he would not have gotten far if he was President of the United States of America. I strongly believe that countries accept the removal of Mel Zelaya. There is a legal process that he would have needed to take in order to seek a 4th ballot during the elections, but he defied Congress and the Supreme Court by moving forward instead. Although I do not favor the new President because of party affiliation, the legal process was correctly done in order to restore order in the country. The UN should recognize that the country did not remove Zelaya in a coup. All parties were unified in order to protect the constitution from being modified.
Sorry, you got it wrong. Honduran presidents only get 1 term as the constitution stands.
Thank you for noticing David. The appropriate changes have been made!
The poll - not exactly a referendum - was not directly about changing the constitution to allow Zelaya to pursue a second term. It was whether to place a question for the November ballot on whether to set up a National Constituent Assembly to rewrite the constitution. That's a bit different from what your article says.
[...] rights lawyer Robert Amsterdam. There is a “definitional problem about whether this is indeed a coup or a counter coup,” he [...]
My understanding is that the Honduran constitution was written by the military and elites and that with such a constitution it is difficult to institute economic democracy for the vast majority of impoverished Hondurans. Zelaya was taking an appropriate step, and a democratic one, to poll the people as to their wishes. How else can nonviolent fundamental change come about when the elites controlled the rest of the government? Bravo Zelaya! And I hope that we will see a demonstration of Gandhi's sattyagraha - nonviolent truth force - rather than any sort of military intervention.