Honduras in Turmoil – The Rejection of Socialism – Obama and Chavez Condemn Move to Exile Leftist President

Honduran President, Manuel Zelaya, was forcibly removed from office on Sunday, following his constitutionally illegal bid to prolong his tenure.. Zelaya, who is closely aligned with Venezuela’s Chavez, was limited to a 4 year term in office under the Honduran constitution. He then pushed for a “poll” to allow him to run for re-election – and that is when he ended up on a plan to Costa Rica, courtesy of the Honduran military.

Now, he is crying foul – however, prior to his removal, he had fired a high ranking military officer, Romeo Vasquez, for refusing to participate in an “unofficial poll” that would extend his term. That move put events into action, he was summarily removed from office and, Roberto Micheletti, the Congress Speaker, took the reins of government as Interim President (similar in scope to the U.S. constitution: Speaker of the House Pelosi would be President should Obama and then Biden be unable to serve) once Zelaya was exiled. Micheletti has noted that elections will take place as scheduled in the fall.

What this amounted to was an attempted coup (extending the presidential term to “indefinite” – see Chavez), thwarted by another coup. Pro Zelaya protests amount to several thousand people (2,000) taking a stand at the Presidential Palace, however, the country has a population approaching 7 million, and a good percentage apparently felt stability was a better choice.

Now the powers that be are weighing in: Chavezthe Venezuelan President for life (i.e.: dictator) has threatened military action against the nation of Honduras for legally following their constitution. He’s not alone: Barack Obama issued a statement of “deep concern”, (for the ousted leftist) and the United Nation’s has issued a strongly worded condemnation of the removal of Zelaya.

In the grand scheme of things taking place today in the world, there appears to be a general disdain for the tenants of socialist societies that are tyrannical in nature and have elected officials that are seated for life. How worrisome it must be to those who currently hold such power, or hope to hold such power, that these uprisings prevail: Should the Iranians succeed in ousting the current regime and place a more moderate, secular and democratic government in its staid – and Honduras, where the government in abiding by a constitution, oust a leader that was heading down the Chavez path, succeed in holding elections and maintaining the status quo. Worrisome because these instances may become more commonplace, and those leaders like Chavez and those who emulate him, may find them out of a job.