At first blush, the news from Honduras sounds like a sad return to Latin America’s past: A democratically elected president has been exiled by the military. But make no mistake: The Honduran soldiers who escorted Pres. Manuel Zelaya from his home on Sunday were acting to protect their country’s democracy, not to trample it. Moreover, they had the full support of the Honduran Supreme Court, which had rejected Zelaya’s bid to hold a referendum on “constitutional reform.”
The proposed referendum, illegal without an act of Congress, aimed to launch a “constituent assembly” that would draft an entirely new constitution. Zelaya’s ultimate goal was to extend or abolish presidential term limits, mimicking the example of Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chávez and other Latin American populists. Hondurans rightly feared that such a maneuver would set their country on the path to Chávez-style authoritarianism. When the Supreme Court rebuffed him, Zelaya defied its ruling and sought to proceed with the referendum anyway. Along with a large group of followers, he ransacked a military post and seized millions of referendum ballots.
The Supreme Court says that it ordered the armed forces to detain Zelaya, who was then shipped off to Costa Rica. The Honduran Congress, which had refused to endorse Zelaya’s referendum, quickly named a successor. While it is always unnerving to see gun-toting officers arrest a president, the move against Zelaya was not a conventional “military coup.” It was an affirmation of democracy and the rule of law, both of which the president had flouted. If anything, it was a counter-coup, the real coup having been attempted by Zelaya.
Officials across Latin America have condemned his exile, as has the Obama administration. Chávez is apoplectic. No surprise there: Under Zelaya, Honduras became a member of the Venezuelan-led “Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas,” a trade bloc established to counter U.S. influence in the region. Immediately after being flown to Costa Rica, Zelaya headed to Managua, where he was warmly received by a leftist coterie that included Chávez and Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega.
Thus far, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has expressed serious concerns about Zelaya’s exile but neglected the events that preceded it. (“Meddling” in Honduras is apparently more acceptable than meddling in Iran.) Yesterday she declared that the political turmoil in Honduras had “evolved into a coup.” But we must remember that the military acted to preserve democratic institutions rather than to squash them. “It’s important that we stand for the rule of law,” Clinton said. But the armed forces were standing for the rule of law when they arrested Zelaya, who had shown brazen disregard for the Honduran constitution. Not only did the president defy a Supreme Court ruling, he also fired the top Honduran military official, Gen. Romeo Vásquez, for refusing to help carry out his referendum. This was a blatant attempt to hijack Honduran politics.
By contrast, the Honduran Supreme Court, Congress, and military have all worked to safeguard the constitution. The Congress issued a decree charging Zelaya with endangering both the rule of law and the broader “governability” of Honduras, and it voted (per the constitution) to replace with him congressional leader Roberto Micheletti. The new Honduran president says that presidential and parliamentary elections will go ahead as planned in November.
Despite its fidelity to constitutional procedures, Honduras has come under intense fire from abroad and may be forced to reinstall Zelaya as president. That would be a deplorable outcome. Zelaya’s exile was not about trashing the constitutional order; it was about defending that order. Why should Honduras be compelled to restore a president who showed utter contempt for the democratic process, and whose removal was backed by the judiciary and confirmed by the legislature?
Unfortunately, the reality is that if Honduras does not return Zelaya to the presidency the rest of Latin America may treat it like a pariah. In the event that Zelaya’s return is unavoidable, which it may be, he should be forced to publicly state his commitment to the current Honduran constitution and disavow his illegal referendum. As the negotiations proceed, President Obama and Secretary Clinton should tone down their criticism of Zelaya’s ouster. Honduran officials have maintained the integrity of their democratic institutions while resisting a naked assault on them. They should not be condemned.