Comments on: Human Rights Expert Analyzes Honduran Coup

By: Alanna Hartzok

Alanna Hartzok — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 02:00:37 +0000

My understanding is that the Honduran constitution was written by the military and elites and that with such a constitution it is difficult to institute economic democracy for the vast majority of impoverished Hondurans. Zelaya was taking an appropriate step, and a democratic one, to poll the people as to their wishes. How else can nonviolent fundamental change come about when the elites controlled the rest of the government? Bravo Zelaya! And I hope that we will see a demonstration of Gandhi’s sattyagraha – nonviolent truth force – rather than any sort of military intervention.

By: Honduras coup evokes ‘unacceptable’ images of Latin America’s past | Democracy Digest

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 21:48:06 +0000

[...] rights lawyer Robert Amsterdam. There is a “definitional problem about whether this is indeed a coup or a counter coup,” he [...]

By: John

John — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 03:39:40 +0000

The poll – not exactly a referendum – was not directly about changing the constitution to allow Zelaya to pursue a second term. It was whether to place a question for the November ballot on whether to set up a National Constituent Assembly to rewrite the constitution. That’s a bit different from what your article says.

By: Staff

Staff — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 01:44:05 +0000

Thank you for noticing David. The appropriate changes have been made!

By: David

David — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:48:30 +0000

Sorry, you got it wrong. Honduran presidents only get 1 term as the constitution stands.

By: Marco Romero

Marco Romero — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:22:32 +0000

I’m an American Citizen, born in Honduras, that has lived in the USA for over 20 years and finally moving back to Honduras. Over the years, I’ve listen to Manuel Zelaya over the years and he would not have gotten far if he was President of the United States of America. I strongly believe that countries accept the removal of Mel Zelaya. There is a legal process that he would have needed to take in order to seek a 4th ballot during the elections, but he defied Congress and the Supreme Court by moving forward instead. Although I do not favor the new President because of party affiliation, the legal process was correctly done in order to restore order in the country. The UN should recognize that the country did not remove Zelaya in a coup. All parties were unified in order to protect the constitution from being modified.

By: Honduras: coup or counter-coup? | Democracy Digest

Honduras: coup or counter-coup? | Democracy Digest — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 20:05:06 +0000

[...] rights lawyer Robert Amsterdam. There is a “definitional problem about whether this is indeed a coup or a counter coup,” he [...]