Yesterday brought the news from Honduras that ousted - and now former - President Manuel Zalaya had found his way back into the country, holing up in the Brazilian Embassy. Honduras is now poised for violence, I fear. By encouraging the return of Zalaya, our government has encouraged instability in Honduras. Calls for "calm" from this administration are pretty bold now, considering how they've contributed to the trouble, first by not
recognizing the constitutional succession of Presidents by Honduras, and then by calling for the return of the one man whose presence most likely leads to violence. Zalaya's mobs of (subsidized) supporters are capable of storming buildings on his behalf, as they did in order to seize his toxic, Venezuelan ballots before he was ousted.
The first Reuters report I read last night might as well have been written by Chavez for Zalaya. I've posted about this: In Honduras, While Obama Backs The Bad Guy, The Good Guy Does What Good Guys Do. Also here and here and here, but if you want to understand what's going on in Honduras all you have to do is read the editorial released today by its actual President, Roberto Micheletti.
On the other hand, if we want to understand the character of President Obama, we need only watch how events play out in Tegucigalpa, and then how he reacts. Honduras is not a particularly important strategic ally or trading partner for the U.S. What Obama is doing, then, is trying to gain favor with the left-leaning autocrats in Latin America by backing Chavez's play in Honduras. He is letting Micheletti twist, all the while pretending to strike some 'middle ground' where there is none. If Zalaya were to somehow regain power - against the will of the people, the government, the military, the Supreme Court, the Congress and the Constitution of Honduras - there would surely follow a purge, perhaps bloody. It seems now that there well may be violence to prevent that. Calm, indeed.
Once again, as we keep score: on one side, Chavez, Castro, Arias, Ortega, probably FARC, Zalaya....the OAS and Obama. On the other side, representative constitutional democracy, rule of law, good old truth, and President Micheletti, who said, in standing up punative cuts in aid from Obama, "Dignity does not have a price in our country."
Update: Allahpundit says, Wonderful:Obama grants visa to Burmese Junta member, but not to Honduran leaders. See, that way they can't make it to the UN this week. Ahmadinnerjacket? No Problem. Hangs gay people, represses democracy, blah blah blah...