Comments on: Obama administration backs Zelaya as PJTV heads for Honduras

By: brainfood

brainfood — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:41:59 +0000

Interestingly, the Honduran Constitution of 1982 does provide for loss of citizenship for those who “incite, promote or aid in the continuation or re-election of the President” http://pdba.georgetown.edu/Constitutions/Honduras/hond05.html (article 42):
ARTICULO 42.- La calidad de ciudadano se pierde:
5. Por incitar, promover o apoyar el continuismo o la reelección del Presidente de la República; y,
Further, Article 239 indicates that anyone who has held the office of chief executive cannot be president or vice president and anyone who proposes reform to that prohibition can be barred from holding public office for ten years:
ARTICULO 239.- El ciudadano que haya desempeñado la titularidad del Poder Ejecutivo no podrá ser Presidente o Vicepresidente de la República.
El que quebrante esta disposición o proponga su reforma, así como aquellos que lo apoyen directa o indirectamente, cesarán de inmediato en el desempeño de sus respectivos cargos y quedarán inhabilitados por diez (10) años para el ejercicio de toda función pública.
My educated guess on that provision is that it is aimed move at banning past military dictators from pursuing the office than it is a stricture contra re-election, per se.
Additionally, Article 374 bars any amendments regarding the length of the presidential term (amongst other things:
ARTICULO 374.- No podrán reformarse, en ningún caso, el artículo anterior, el presente artículo, los artículos constitucionales que se refieren a la forma de gobierno, al territorio nacional, al período presidencial, a la prohibición para ser nuevamente Presidente de la República, el ciudadano que lo haya desempeñado bajo cualquier título y el referente a quienes no pueden ser Presidentes de la República por el período subsiguiente.
As such, it is pretty clear why the Supreme Court of Justice ruled against Zelaya’s plebiscite proposal in the first place. It also means that if the vote had been allowed to happen it would have had no legal standing.

By: Insufficiently Sensitive

Insufficiently Sensitive — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:47:18 +0000

Supporters of this coup are justifying such things as: removal and exile of an democratically elected leader ; suspension of civil rights of the population; dusk to dawn curfew enforced by the army; kidnapping and assault of foreign diplomats;
shutting down of independent media. Not even Chavez has resorted to such tactics.

Such an earnest assertion! Sorry, it has serious flaws. Even Chavez has shut down independent media and packed the supreme court of Venezuela so that his contraventions of law can be ‘ruled’ legal.

The defense of Zelaya had better invent better ‘facts’ than those ones. The Hondurans have every right to defend themselves against continuismo, particularly as practiced oh-so-legally (one man, one vote, once) by Hugo Chavez.

By: Insufficiently Sensitive

Insufficiently Sensitive — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:38:31 +0000

Here is the respected Salvadoran lawyer Alberto Vallente Thorenson:

Hey, that’s the well-connected SUV-driving criminally-linked lawyer Alberto Vallente Thorenson! I read a different newspaper.

By: Mike_K

Mike_K — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 14:18:16 +0000

I think some are being unfair to Carter when comparing Obama’s recent behavior to him. Carter was naive but his commitment to human rights, while sometimes ineffective and even amusing, was sincere. Obama’s is not. I think there is a lot of similarity in the way the two of them have turned Congress loose to destroy the economy but Carter’s foreign policy, while ineffective and sometimes counterproductive (like Iran), was not overtly anti-American as I think Obama’s may be.

By: Lightnin' Hopkins

Lightnin' Hopkins — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:28:44 +0000

“You guys sure are self strokers are’nt you.”

This from someone called “dog” — I mean, the joke writes itself, doesn’t it?

By: dog

dog — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 05:29:54 +0000

You guys sure are self strokers are’nt you.

By: Barry Dauphin

Barry Dauphin — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:48:13 +0000

Obama gets pictured yukking it up with Chavez and accepts his book. Now he sides with Chavez and against a wise Latina woman justice (see Instapundit). At what point does he no longer get a pass as to his sympathies.

By: Richard Nieporent

Richard Nieporent — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:36:45 +0000

Counterpunch is an extreme leftist/Marxist anti-Semitic site. Other than that there is nothing wrong with jeffc3’s source of information.

By: David Thomson

David Thomson — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:15:43 +0000

“Here is the respected Salvadoran lawyer Alberto Vallente Thorenson”

It turns out that this man is a radical leftist—perhaps even an outright Communist:

“Alberto Valiente Thoresen was born in San Salvador, El Salvador. He currently resides in Norway where he serves on the board of the Norwegian Solidarity Committee with Latin America. He wrote this column for Rebel Reports.”

Thoresen is not to be taken seriously. Zelaya is supported by obviously less than admirable people.

By: jeffc3

jeffc3 — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 03:06:05 +0000

I’ll make a rebuttal – then I’m outta here…

Jay B – the “pertinent incidents” all occurred in response to actions which Thorensen contends were legal under Honduran law. Surely you are not arguing that people should just bow down to unjust and arbitrary rulings?

Steve – above also applies. “If you cannot tell the truth, stay off this site” – spoken like a true defender of democratic principles!

Again, people, the righteous cause you so want to believe in should not have to be upheld by arbitrary arrests, curfews, shootings, assaults, and suppression of the media.