Another Honduran's view from within,

The following was written by Ian Merriam. Ian is a respected businessman in
Tegucigalpa that I’ve known for several years. It’s a very good synopsis of
what’s occurred.

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The Chain of Events in the Honduras Crisis by Ian H. Merriam

March 23, 2009: President Zelaya passes an Executive Decree ordering a
National Survey asking citizens if they would approve a Constitutional
Assembly that would write and approve a new constitution. The Decree stated
that the National Institute of Statistics (INE) would carry the survey out.
However, he did not publish the decree in Honduras’ official newspaper
called La Gaceta as required by law.

This decree violated the following articles in the Constitution:

Article 255 for not having published the decree in the Gaceta.

Article 5 which states that only Congress (with a majority vote of 2/3) can
define a National Survey and NOT the Executive branch.

Article 5 which states that only the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) con
conduct/execute a National Survey and NOT the National Statistics Institute
(INE).

His actions implied intent to violate Article 374, a “Petreos” Article,
which states that only five articles in the entire constitution (with a
total of 378 articles) cannot be amended or reformed. Two of those five
articles refer to the duration of the presidential period (Art. 237) and the
prohibition of presidential reelection (Art. 4).

By May 27, 2009: The National Prosecutor, the Attorney General and the
Supreme Court had unanimously ruled the National Survey decree as illegal
and it was ANULLED.

June 5, 2009: President Zelaya’s lawyer appeals the ruling.

June 16, 2009: The Appeal Court unanimously confirms that the National
Survey decree is indeed illegal and therefore ANULLED.

The State Prosecutor’s Office (Ministerio Publico) informs the Armed Forces
that the National Survey is illegal and therefore, the Armed Forces must not
carry out its constitutionally- assigned responsibility to act as guardians
of the Public Survey ballots. The Armed Forces apply Article 323 that states
that no public official, whether civil or military, can be forced to comply
with an illegal order and thus refuse to carry out President Zelaya’s order
to safeguard the ballots and election/survey. That same day, the State
Prosecutor’s Office also advise President Zelaya and his entire cabinet of
the Appeals Court ruling against the decree.

June 19, 2009: The State Prosecutor’s Office formally advises President
Zelaya, a second time, that the National Survey is illegal.

June 25th, 2009: Only three days before his announced and illegal survey,
President Zelaya issues a second presidential decree again calling for a
National Survey. But this time, he goes all the way and publishes it in the
Gaceta. However, he makes changes to the wording in the decree. Instead of
ordering “a Public Opinion Survey,” as he had worded the previous decree, he
now changes the words to read, “Public Opinion Survey Convening a
Constitutional Assembly.” This changes the legal interpretation of this
decree entirely, and would’ve allowed for an immediate Constitutional
Assembly to convene and disintegrate the three powers defined in the
Constitution, effectively interrupting Constitutional Order.

With the publishing of this decree in the Gaceta, President Zelaya himself
kicks into motion Article 239 which states that “whomever changes or
attempts to change” article 4 (an unchangeable “petreos” article protected
by Article 374) relating to the alterability of the presidential position,
“will be immediately removed from public office” and lose his/her
constitutional powers.

NOTE: This is very important! As soon as the decree was published, President
Zelaya automatically stopped being president and became a regular citizen.

June 26, 2009: The Courts, along with the Attorney General and the Supreme
Electoral Tribunal, order the Armed Forces to confiscate all National Survey
ballots and voting material that had just arrived by plane.

That same day, in blatant disregard to all court rulings, Citizen Manuel
Zelaya gathers a group of protesters and proceeds to the Air Force warehouse
where the ballots had been impounded. He threatens with force and uses human
shields, risking other citizens’ lives. Calling on Article 59, which states
that the protection of “human life is the Constitution and the state’s
supreme responsibility/ obligation,” the Armed Forces yield to the mob and
allow Citizen Zelaya and his human shields to take the ballots by force.

Immediately, the Supreme Court issues an arrest warrant for Citizen Manuel
Zelaya for the crimes of (a) attempts against the form of government, (b)
treason to the country, (c) abuse of authority, and (d) usurpation of
functions belonging to other branches of government. The Supreme Court
orders the Armed Forces to serve this arrest warrant because according to
Article 272, the Armed Forces has the constitutionally- assigned
responsibility to maintain and protect the alterability of the presidential
office.

June 27, 2009: Country leaders meet intermittently throughout the day in an
effort to find an alternate means of resolving the situation without
recurring to an arrest that would incite unrest and possible violence within
certain segments of the population. In the meantime, the Armed Forces study
Citizen Zelaya’s agenda in order to determine the best moment to execute the
arrest with the least risk to the lives of Citizen Zelaya and the
Presidential Guards surrounding him.

June 28, 2009: Having found no better time for the arrest, at 5:45AM, the
Armed Forces capture Citizen Zelaya in his home. The arrest is successful
without any injuries or deaths on both sides. Citizen Zelaya is instructed
to get dressed, but wanting to be victimized, he refuses, only grabbing his
passport and wallet (with the presidential palace’s credit card, by the
way).

The Armed Forces decide to put Citizen Zelaya on the presidential plane and
take him to Costa Rica where he is left behind. The Armed Forces and whoever
else decided to expatriate Citizen Zelaya violated Article 102 which states
that “no Honduran can be expatriated or surrendered to a foreign
government.”

The Armed Forces is defending its decision by arguing that they again relied
on Article 59 (protection of human life as supreme obligation of the state).
They said that, in this case, breaking the law (art. 102) actually saved
lives since they felt that placing Citizen Zelaya in a Honduran prison
would’ve incited violence, unrest, and possible harm to Citizen Zelaya
himself. Nonetheless, the State Prosecutor’s Office has started an
investigation into this crime.

Per Article 242, when the President is absent and when the Vice President is
absent (or resigned in Honduras’ case), the third instance is the President
of Congress. Thus, the President of Congress, Roberto Micheletti, became
President of Honduras.

Points that are important to consider:

1. Petreos means “written in stone.” The petreos articles are defined in
Article 374. Article 374 protects these five petreos articles from ever
being amended NO MATTER WHAT. Presidential alterability (Art. 4) is one of
them and the four-year presidential period (Art. 237) is another.

2. Article 323 states that “all government officials are subject to the law
and that no one is above it.” The Constitution does not allow for immunity
to any government official including the President. Thus, if no immunity
exists, then there can be neither impeachment nor the process for it. Even a
President would have to be served with an arrest warrant just like any other
citizen.

3. International opinion is arguing that this is a coup d’état because we
ousted President Zelaya by force. But on June 28th, he was no longer
President Zelaya! He was ordinary Citizen Zelaya. We still broke the law
when we expatriated a citizen; but it wasn’t the president.

4. International opinion criticizes us for having used a Letter of
Resignation as opposed to having judged him based on his legal
transgressions and crimes. I’ll concede that mistake.

5. Further matters that complicated things:

a. U.S. Ambassador in Honduras, Hugo Llorens, slept right by the early
morning arrest and expatriation of Citizen Zelaya. He woke yelling, “Coup!
Coup!” without inquiring into the matter at 9AM.

b. It was another mistake to drop Citizen Zelaya off in Costa Rica, home to
a globally-respected and admired, Nobel Peace Prize President. Unfortunately
President Oscar Arias also condemned us without having heard our side of the
story and yelled, “Coup! Coup!” at 9:30AM. The world heard him.

c. By the time the Honduran Congress adjourned the assembly that day at
noon, the entire world had unilaterally and unjustly condemned us and the
word “Coup” now defined what we had done.

International organisms like the OAS and the UN will NOT go back on their
judgment and lose any more of their floundering public credibility. The OAS
and the UN have to “stick to their guns” while a poor, small country that
defended its constitution against the true corrupters of democracy (Chavez,
etc.) plunges into poverty and becomes a pariah state.

I have but one question that I would like to ask the international community
that is so adamant about not recognizing our existing government and is so
vociferous at demanding that Honduras reinstate our criminal ex President
Zelaya:

What part of our Constitution would you force us to change, amend or erase
so that we can reinstate Manuel Zelaya as President of Honduras without
breaking the law?

July 8, 2009

Just another piece of information,

Sen. Cornyn Urges President Obama, Secretary Clinton To Stand With The Honduran People To Preserve The Democratic Process
Wednesday, July 8, 2009

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, today met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and urged her to give equal time to both sides of the current conflict in Honduras, ensure that the Honduran Constitution is not undermined, and that the health of the Honduran democracy and its rule of law are preserved. He will be following up in a letter with Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., echoing the same requests.
Sen. Cornyn also met today with several Honduran leaders, including two former presidents, six current members of the Honduran Congress who supported the deposition of President Manuel Zelaya, and two individuals who helped to draft the 1982 Honduran Constitution.

"The United States has stood and continues to stand as a beacon of freedom in every corner of the globe. Like our own nation, Honduras adopted a constitution designed to ensure our Presidents are never above the law. Today I met with two original authors of the Honduran Constitution, which places strict limits on executive power and limits the President to one term. These constitutional tenets are highly significant to the Honduran people due to the nation's unique history concerning military rule. I am very troubled by President Obama's call for the return of deposed President Zelaya to power, as his return would directly undermine the democratic process and the Constitution of Honduras. President Obama and Secretary Clinton must stand with the Honduran people, not with Hugo Chavez and other leftist dictators, and I reiterated these concerns to Sec. Clinton when I met with her this morning. I'm hopeful Costa Rica's upcoming mediation will be successful and the health of Honduras' democracy will be preserved."

Sen. Cornyn serves on the Finance, Judiciary and Budget Committees. He serves as the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee's Immigration, Refugees and Border Security subcommittee. He served previously as Texas Attorney General, Texas Supreme Court Justice, and Bexar County District Judge

The Honduran Constitution doesn't have an impeachment clause. If Zelaya returns he will probably be arrested and stand trial for violating the Constitution. That is the "democratic", i.e. rule of law solution to this problem. If Cornyn truly believes in freedom, democracy and the rule of law he'd keep his mouth shut and not use this issue to take a shot at the President and his administration. What Cornyn is advocating goes against the very standards he claims to support. Besides, if it makes this guy unhappy the OAS, US and UN must be doing something right:

http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/news-17602--12-12--.html

BS!

What a joke (a terrible, terrible one). These people (Obama and Clinton) have no use for the US Constitution, let alone any respect for the Constitution of the Republic of Honduras.

Just a surmise, but I bet that if the ousted president of Honduras had been a right-wing wannabe dictator, H20dog would have no problem with the fact that the Honduran military was fulfilling the constitutional role assigned to them when they obeyed the directives of the Congress and the Supreme Court.

Who said anything about the US Constitution? Get a grip.

Don't go off on that left wing right wing horsesh5t. If you actually read my post you'd notice I suggest he go back to his country, be arrested and stand trial.....in accordance with the Honduran Constitution. Amazingly Mel Martinez (oh sh5t, a Republican) agrees.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxcY1WWgmz8

he's cute when he gets all testy

I expect such a simple response from a guy with the education of an Ethiopian sheep herder.