Opinion
The article in the current Foreign Policy magazine by Otto Reich, a former US Ambassador to Venezuela, claims that the US government is complicit in the erosion of democracy in Honduras and Latin America. President Zelaya attempted to extend his hegemony in Honduras by changing the constitution so he could rule for successive terms but was stopped by the Honduran Supreme Court and an almost unanimous vote of the National Assembly, including Zelaya's political party.

While Zelaya's deportation from Honduras was improper, his removal from the presidency was not. The US, by imposing economic sanctions on Honduras and not recognizing in advance the presidential election underway there, is aiding the anti-democratic scheme of the ALBA countries —Cuba, Venezuela, Ecuador and Nicaragua— where constitutions were changed to stack the deck or virtually guarantee the elections of incumbent presidents in those countries. Zelaya, who was first elected as a centrist, opted to join ALBA, take its oil money and adopt its anti-democratic scheme to stay in power.

Zelaya is now in the Brazilian embassy hoping the US will reinstall him as president, which would suborn the current presidential campaign, the Supreme Court, the National Assembly of Honduras and the rule of law. By siding with ALBA, the US is reverting to the obscenities of US imperialism when banana republic presidents were changed at the whim of the United Fruit Company.

Anyone who knows Latin America can see that Zelaya was not removed from office by a coup. The current president Micheletti comes from the Congress expressly to pass power to whoever is elected in the current presidential campaign. Micheletti is not a candidate for president. He does not want to be president. And he has said he would resign if that would gain recognition for the winner of the current presidential election campaign. The US should do likewise and stand aside. The voters of Honduras should elect their next president, not political fixers in Washington, Caracas, Havana or anywhere else.
michaelrowan22@gmail.com