Honduran legislative branch made the law, judicial branch issued essentially a warrant, and the executive branch enforced it.

See Honduran constitution’s Article 313 above, thanks elduende.

Article 313 of the Honduran constitution allows its Supreme Court to deputize the Honduran military to carry out its orders, including removing politicians from office who seek to extend a president’s term.

Under the Honduran Constitution, what really happened here?
By Octavio Sanchez*

If you are not familiar with the country’s history and the Honduran constitution it is almost impossible that you would understand what happened here this past weekend. In 1982 my country adopted a new Constitution to allow our ordered return to democracy. After 19 previous constitution -two Spanish ones, three as part of the Republic of Central America and 14 as an independent nation- this one, at 28, has been the longest lasting one. It has lasted for so long because it responds and adapts to our changing reality, as seen in the fact that out of its original 379 articles, 7 of them have been completely or partially repealed, 18 have been interpreted and 121 have been reformed.
It also includes 7 articles that cannot be repealed or amended because they address issues that are critical for us. Those unchangeable articles deal with the form of government, the extent of our borders, the number of years of the presidential term; two prohibitions -one to reelect presidents and another one to change the article that states who can’t run for president- and one article that penalizes the abrogation of the Constitution.
In these 28 years Honduras has found legal ways to deal with its own problems. Each and every successful country around the world lived similar trial and error processes until they were able to find legal vehicles that adapt to their reality. France had 13 Constitutions between 1789 and the adoption of the current one in 1958 which has passed 22 constitutional revisions. The USA had one before this one which has been amended 27 times since 1789 and the British –pragmatic as they are- in 900 years have change it so many times that they have never taken the time to compile their Constitution into a single body of law.
Having explained that, under our Constitution, what happened in Honduras this last Sunday? Soldiers arrested and took out of the country a Honduran citizen that, the day before, through his actions had stripped himself of the presidency of Honduras.
These are the hard facts. Last Friday Mister Zelaya, with his cabinet, issued a decree ordering all government employees to take part in the “Public Opinion Poll to convene a National Constitutional Assembly” (Presidential Decree PCM-020). The decree was published on Saturday on the official newspaper. With this event, Mister Zelaya triggered a constitutional protection that automatically removed him from office.
The key legal elements for that constitutional protection to be triggered are the following ones. Constitutional assemblies are convened to write new constitutions. In Honduras, you have 365 articles that can be changed by Congress. When Zelaya published that decree to regulate an “opinion poll” about the possibility of convening a national assembly he acted against the unchangeable articles of the constitution that deal with the prohibition of reelecting a president and of extending his term. His actions showed intent.
How is that kind of intent sanctioned in our Constitution? With the immediate removal of those involved in the action as stated in article 239 of the Constitution which reads: “No citizen that has already served as head of the Executive Branch can be President or Vice-President. Whoever violates this law or proposes its reform, as well as those that support such violation directly or indirectly, will immediately cease in their functions and will be unable to hold any public office for a period of 10 years.” Notice that the rule speaks about intent and that it also says immediately –as in instant, as in no trial required, as in no impeachment needed.
This immediate sanction might sound draconian, but every country knows its own enemies and it is the black letter of our supreme law. Requiring no previous trial might be crazy, but in Latin America a President is no ordinary citizen, it is the most powerful figure of the land and historically the figure has been above the law. To prevent that officer from using its power to stay in office Honduras has constitutional rules such as the mentioned one.
I am extremely proud of my compatriots. Finally, we have decided to stand up and become a country of laws, not men. From now on, here, no one will be above the law.
——-
*
Lawyer (J.D. Universidad Nacional Autonóma de Honduras; LL.M. Harvard Law School). Former Presidential Advisor (2002-2005) and Minister of Culture (2005-2006) of the Republic of Honduras.

Why do I keep thinking of Mussolini getting into trouble and Hitler rescuing him?

MB4 on July 2, 2009 at 8:05 PM

Been wondering the same thing.

Between restoring Hugo Jr to power and today’s stimulus epic fail to prevent further job loss, let me offer a hearty “good work, Barry.”

Speaking of “stimulus” and “epic fail”, can we get Krugman committed to an insane asylum yet?
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/03/opinion/03krugman.html?_r=1

Obama will send Cynthia Mckinney and Jeremiah Wright(Who happened to be dating) as an envoy.

THE CHOSEN ONE on July 3, 2009 at 12:06 AM

They’re not dating. Jerry prefers his women to be a little less . . . pigmented.

I would imagine that the soldiers that arrested and deported the wanna-be dictator were simply following their oath to defend their country against enemies both foreign and domestic.

Since Zelaya was acting against his constitution, they had to act or they would be negligent in their duty.

mea maxima culpa…

From the CSM…Octavio Sánchez writes:

“Continuismo – the tendency of heads of state to extend their rule indefinitely – has been the lifeblood of Latin America’s authoritarian tradition. The Constitution’s provision of instant sanction might sound draconian, but every Latin American democrat knows how much of a threat to our fragile democracies continuismo presents. In Latin America, chiefs of state have often been above the law. The instant sanction of the supreme law has successfully prevented the possibility of a new Honduran continuismo.

The Supreme Court and the attorney general ordered Zelaya’s arrest for disobeying several court orders compelling him to obey the Constitution. He was detained and taken to Costa Rica. Why? Congress needed time to convene and remove him from office. With him inside the country that would have been impossible. This decision was taken by the 123 (of the 128) members of Congress present that day.

Don’t believe the coup myth. The Honduran military acted entirely within the bounds of the Constitution. The military gained nothing but the respect of the nation by its actions.

I am extremely proud of my compatriots. Finally, we have decided to stand up and become a country of laws, not men. From now on, here in Honduras, no one will be above the law.”

Yet, our President, has openly and with malice decided that Honduras is acting outside the law?

Follow the link. Print a copy of the article. Mail it to your members of Congress and the State Department, and the White House. $2.20 is a very small price to pay in postage while a free country is being openly subverted as a matter of US National policy by an Administration who finds nothing at all wrong with Continuismo.

Octavio Sánchez is a lawyer, former presidential adviser (2002-05) and minister of culture (2005-06) of the Republic of Honduras. His Christian Science Monitor column on the events in Honduras is “A ‘coup’ in Honduras? Nonsense.” Sánchez writes:

Sometimes, the whole world prefers a lie to the truth. The White House, the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and much of the media have condemned the ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya this past weekend as a coup d’état.

Coup are you? part 2

That is nonsense.

In fact, what happened here is nothing short of the triumph of the rule of law.

Please read the whole thing, and if you know anyone in the State Department, please pass it on.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0702/p09s03-coop.html
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2009/07/023955.php

What part of “immediately cease in their functions and will be unable to hold any public office for a period of 10 years” don’t the imbeciles in Obama’s administration understand? I feel like screaming at the idiots. Don’t they even have a 2nd-grade reading comprehension level?

Or are they not even bothering to read, which makes them not only stupid but downright dangerous and evil?

justincase on July 2, 2009 at 11:28 PM

If the State Department cannot manage to find the correct Russian translation for ‘reset’, when handing the Russian Foreign Minister a gag-gift that looks like a nuke launch button …

If The Precedent thinks that there is such a language as “Austrian”, and isn’t sure if there is an expression for “wheeling and dealing” in it …

If the greatest economic drag ever to be imagined is called a “Jobs Bill” …

If welfare disbursements are declared to be “tax cuts” …

.. it just doesn’t matter what anyone in this administration knows, because nothing has any connection to reality, anyway. Whether by ineptness, stupidity, ignorance or malice, they will always be able to arrive at whatever conclusion hurts the US and Western civilization. It’s a special talent; the worst of all worlds.

Help me, Barack Obama, you’re my only hope

Stick a light saber up your ass punk.

Hugo Chavez was once deposed, but, like the Hondurans, his people also forgot to execute him to prevent any chance of return.

Both should learn from the Romanians… and note how they took care of the Ceausescus.

All true in my eyes, too. Obama is for incumbency, particularly his own, at all costs.

Partly I think it’s because he doesn’t want foreign entanglements to distract him from his socialist, domestic agenda. Anything that would draw attention and focus away from domestic policy is risky. He cannot control foreign powers like he can domestic ones given our current political environment, so spending capital on those things he cannot dominate for numerous reasons will most assuredly ding his “glowing” reputation. Remember he was able to parlay the greater war on terror into the presidency by attacking Bush. He more than anyone knows the same can be done to him.

Second, I think he really believes via his narcissism that he has some special skills with others government heads, that he can smooth talk them as needed. Clearly it’s in his own mind that he has been or will be successful, but I think it part of his calculus that even if he get schooled by others that they won’t hold him (Obama) personally responsible for any failures and that they’ll spare their new ally. See, Obama’s shown a propensity to save his own ass over all else’s. It’s who he is and it’s that bus undercarriage that his peers have always given him. Why would he expect anything different now other than a pass?

Finally, I think (and have for a long time) he actually sides with socialists and Marxists. (Not a novel idea here, of course, but it cannot be said enough. It’s self-evident.) It’s his core. He has been immersed in America-hating environments for decades. America and its democratic constructs are a blight in his eyes. To knock it down a peg whether directly or by proxy while boosting others of his feather would surely appeal to his poisoned nature. Clearly this last opinion is the most debatable. It’s (that is, “hating America” is) also the most dangerous motivation since it would attribute to our President characteristics that would be described as treasonous. Is that going too far? I’m not sure anymore. I see Obama pushing this nation further, faster Left than I could have ever imagined… and I remember Carter. Carter was naive but at least he served the country. Obama has taken every opportunity to disrespect it except to the extent that he can use political service to advance his career. Carter was better than that.

So, yes, Honduras should tell Obama to F-Off and that they know how to follow the law better than Obama, Constitutional “scholar” that he is. We all know Obama has no intention of using the military against them, and who in national matters believes his “just words?” Obama will coast on the risky policies Bush laid out for him (and for which Bush politically “died”). Obama will move no further on foreign soil.

Domestically, however, is an entirely different story.

Since when is Democratic Honduran Constitutional Law subservient to Democratic American Constitutional Law?

AnonymousDrivel on July 2, 2009 at 10:10 PM

On this the Honduran Government is entirely correct. Period.

Unless we wish to send Smedley Butler back to Latin America to lead Marines in keeping Latin America a subservient vassal of the United Fruit CompanyStates, then the Obama Administration should, as they say, STFU, and allow the Hondurans under their laws (which were inspired by our own, by the way, after decades of dictators taking that country apart) to adjudicate the Zelaya problem on their own as they deem fit.

Our involvement, calling a removal of a president who openly violated Honduran Constitutional law a “coup” and repeating that “coup” meme constantly is doing us no favors anywhere execept among those who believe they can strong arm their way into power, complete and absolute.

As Americans, we should be appalled at Obama’s meddling in Honduras. We should be shouting from the rooftops our support of the Hondurans, and their respect for the rule of law.

Instead…we get the wonks and experts and politicians looking not at the ramifications of forcing Honduras to violate their own laws to suit our needs, but at the fearful and inconvenient idea that separation of powers works, when allowed to work.

This seems to be at the crux of Obama’s actions…because if tiny Honduras can show that respect for the rule of law, and the Constitution is what civilized societies must do, then the Obama goose is cooked.

he seemed to settle on McCain. That was a turning point as well.

Considering shamnesty and all.