It's striking that the dividing line between support for Zelaya and support for the new government in Honduras does seem to be geographical: In contrast to the international consensus, most of the mail I get from within Honduras about this takes the view that what happened to Zelaya was constitutional and democratic. I'm not saying everyone in Honduras is of that opinion, of course — far from it — but I do concede that it must be frustrating to live in a country and completely disagree with what everyone's saying about it.

In that vein, here's most of an email I received from Keith in Honduras, part of an exchange triggered by my last blog post. I had argued in an e-mail that Zelaya wasn't impeached, wasn't brought before a judge, that his formal removal from the presidency followed his removal by the military. Here's Keith's response. Reprinted with permission:

Being on the ground in Honduras before and after Zelaya's removal, I think, gives me a little better perspective on the order in which things occurred.

First off, the Honduran Constitution has no provision for "impeachment" as such.  The order of events was that Zelaya, by attempting to have a referendum to change the constitution, was flagrantly defying the terms of the constitution.  He was ordered to stop by the Attorney General and the Supreme Court. They could have ordered him removed when he first announced that he was planning a referendum to extend his term and then took a further step and attempted to have the ballots printed.

They did not.  The Supreme Court told him that what he was doing was unconstitutional and ordered him to stop.  Zelaya ignored their order and got his "buddy" Hugo Chavez to print them in Venezuela.  What business does Venezuela have to print ballots for an illegal referendum in Honduras? 

This alone shows the support of Chavez and the intent of Zelaya to emulate him and become "President for Life".  Since Zelaya's removal, Hugo Chavez, Raul Castro and Daniel Ortega have been Zelaya's most vociferous supporters.

After the ballots were seized by the Honduran Government, Zelaya, along with Chavez funded supporters, raided the military base where they were being stored and recovered them.  The military did not stop him at that time because he was the President and they were afraid to disobey him.

He then went forward with trying to have them distributed (down here the Hondurans called it the "4th Box") and the majority of the Hondurans were genuinely afraid that they were about to follow in the footsteps of Venezuela and Cuba.

It was at this time that the Supreme Court voted to have him removed from office with a unanimous vote of the 15 member tribunal.  The Congress, the majority of whom were members of Zelaya's own party, voted 125 to 3 to have him removed.  It was at this time that the court ordered the military to remove him.  The only prior involvement of the military was when Zelaya fired the head of the military for refusing to print the illegal ballots.  The Supreme Court ordered him reinstated and that's when Zelaya turned to Chavez to print them for him.

There is no where in the constitution that says he was to be exiled.  The proper procedure was to put him in jail to await trial on charges of not only defying the constitution but for corruption, drug trafficking and theft.

Fearing that putting him in jail would bring about a rallying point for his minority of supporters as well as men from outside the Honduran borders (all financed by Chavez) and cause rioting and bloodshed in the streets. they flew him, unharmed, to Costa Rica.  Of course what they did was illegal but their premise was proven correct when Zelaya sneaked back into the country and was given shelter in the Brazilian embassy.  From the embassy he urged his minority of supporters to rebel and create havoc, which they did, forcing the government to take steps to maintain the peace.  The media covered the "steps" but said little about the damage and violence caused by the "supporters".

Micheletti, who succeeded him, was president of the congress and therefore next in line to replace him and serve out the balance of his term  (the Vice President had resigned months earlier in order to run for President).  Although Micheletti was previously one of the candidates running to replace Zelaya after his term was up, he is no longer eligible to become president because the constitution forbids it.  Once somebody serves as president they are no longer eligible to run again. Therefore, Micheletti will serve out the balance of Zelaya's term until previously scheduled, transparent, open and free elections can be held this coming November.

Honduras is a democracy and the people are fiercely democratic.  They do not want their constitution abrogated.  The entire process was carried out in a democratic fashion and the Honduran people should be looked up to and admired for standing up for their constitution against the bullying of powerful nations that, for whatever reason, are attempting to have a dictatorial criminal restored to power.

The November elections, that the U.S. are threatening not to recognize, are made up of candidates chosen long before Zelaya's removal.  The Honduran government has invited in foreign "observers" to confirm that the elections are honest and represent the will of the people but the U.S, is still threatening not to recognize the elections unless Zelaya is first returned to power.

I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with you.  I would not call this a "coup".

I do appreciate your open mindedness and believe you are receiving information as presented by Zelaya.  That's because no one will listen to Micheletti or the Honduran people. 

Zelaya has been welcomed with open arms by the U.S. government and others, who listened to all of his complaints and lies.  The Hondurans have had their visas cancelled.

By the way, did you see on today's news that the OAS, that includes Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Ecuador, voted today for all countries to respect human rights?  What's wrong with this picture?

With best regards,

Keith