Honduran Pres. Zelaya deported after military coup

[RebLem]

JUNE 28, 2009, 1:57 P.M. ET ||Wall Street Journal

Honduras Tense After Army Coup

By PAUL KIERNAN in Tegucigalpa and JOSE DE CORDOBA in Mexico City

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- Soldiers stormed the house of leftist President Manuel Zelaya in a predawn raid Sunday, arresting him and removing him from power amid a growing crisis over Mr. Zelaya's plans to try to get re-elected.

Supporters of Honduras's President Manuel Zelaya demonstrate in front of a tire bonfire in Tegucigalpa.
"I was awakened by shots, and the yells of my guards, who resisted for about 20 minutes," Mr. Zelaya told a news conference at the San Jose airport in Costa Rica. "I came out in my pajamas, I'm still in my pajamas....when they came in, they pointed their guns at me and told me they would shoot if I didn't put down my cell phone."

Mr. Zelaya called the action a kidnapping, and said he was still president of Honduras.

In Honduras, television stations were off the air, and electricity was out in parts of the capital, Tegucigalpa. Military jets streaked overhead.

"This is a tragic day. Hopefully it will be a historic day," said Carlos Sosa, Honduras's ambassador to the Organization of American States, in an interview on CNN en Español. The ambassador said he was told about the unfolding coup by Mr. Zelaya's family after soldiers entered the house.

Reaction to the apparent coup was swift. U.S. President Barack Obama said he was "deeply concerned" and called on all political actors in Honduras to "respect democratic norms, the rule of law and the tenets of the Inter-American Democratic Charter. Any existing tensions and disputes must be resolved peacefully through dialogue free from any outside interference," he said.

The Obama administration worked in recent days to prevent President Zelaya's ouster, a senior U.S. official said. The State Department, in particular, communicated to Honduran officials on the ground that President Obama wouldn't support any non-democratic transfer of power in the Central American country.

"We had some indication" that a move against Mr. Zelaya was afoot, said a U.S. official briefed on the diplomacy. "We made it clear it was something we didn't support."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton joined Mr. Obama Sunday in criticizing the Honduran coup and calling for the restoration of the democratic process.

"We call on all parties in Honduras to respect the constitutional order and the rule of law, to reaffirm their democratic vocation, and to commit themselves to resolve political disputes peacefully and through dialogue," Mrs. Clinton said in a statement.

The European Union called on the Honduran military to release Mr. Zelaya. "The EU strongly condemns the arrest of the constitutional president of the Republic of Honduras by the armed forces," Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout told reporters.

Fears of violence in Honduras grew as soldiers surrounded the presidential palace, keeping at bay a growing group of protesters who gathered to support the ousted president. They burned tires, sending up black plumes of smoke. Helicopters circled overhead.

"We want the people's vote to be respected," said Freddy Huezo, a lawyer who had taken to the streets to support Mr. Zelaya.

Mr. Zelaya called on unions, workers and peasant and indigenous organizations to demonstrate peacefully for his return. "I ask the people of Honduras to be calm, but for them to defend their democracy and their rights," he said. "There are forms of protesting without hurting anybody...there should be demonstrations everywhere."

Mr. Zelaya, an ally of Venezuela's populist President Hugo Chávez, has been locked in an increasingly bitter battle with the rest of Honduras's political establishment, including members of his own party, over the president's plans to hold a referendum to scrap the constitution and potentially allow re-election, something currently barred under Honduran law.

Honduras's Supreme Court had declared the referendum illegal, and last week the military said it wouldn't help the president distribute the ballots. The president responded by firing the top military chief, leading to growing tensions within the army. The Honduran Congress had also considered having Mr. Zelaya declared "unfit" for office.

Things came to a head on Sunday, the day that had been slated for the referendum.

The president's term ends in January, following November presidential elections. But Sunday's referendum would have allowed voters in November to call for a new constitution. The president's opponents say he planned to use a new constitution to scrap term limits and run for re-election when his four-year term ends in January.

Voicing the fears that sparked the military's action, retired Honduran Gen. Daniel López Carballo justified the move against the president, telling CNN en Español that Mr. Zelaya was a stooge for Mr. Chávez. He said that if the military hadn't acted, Mr. Chávez would eventually be running Honduras by proxy.

Mr. Chávez himself survived a brief coup in 2002. He was arrested by top Venezuelan officers who refused his order to fire on a huge demonstration as protesters headed toward the presidential palace. Taken to a naval base on a remote island, he nevertheless came back to power two days later after the military refused to back a civilian who was sworn in as his successor, and Mr. Chávez's supporters took to the streets.

Mr. Zelaya has been a sharp critic of U.S. policies in Latin America, maintaining a close alliance with Venezuela's populist President Hugo Chávez and criticizing Washington's economic embargo on Cuba. Still, Honduras receives more than $200 million in development aid from Washington annually and relies on the U.S. market for a large portion of its exports.

David Luhnow contributed to this article.
Write to Paul Kiernan at paul.kiernan@dowjones.com and Jose De Cordoba at jose.decordoba@wsj.com

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1246194 ... st_Popular