First of all, there are at least two versions of the Honduran constitution on the internet which are outdated and do not include all of the revisions. I have a copy in a booklet form which details all of the revisions, including some which were proposed but never ratified.

There is no provision for impeachment. — the impeachment clause was not ratified in a 2003 change to the constitution. No doubt there is some story of corruption behind that, but the fact is, there is no impeachment clause in the Honduran constitution. There is a provision for a sort of vote of no confidence, which the congress did on June 3, with no effect on Zelaya’s actions.

The military were never in charge of Honduras, not for 5 minutes. They were acting under orders from the Supreme Court, as allowed (and required) by the constitution, article 306. My only guess as to why the police were not used is due to the corruption in the police department.

Article 274 allows use of the military in many areas, including cooperation with police. Zelaya himself ordered the use of the military just a few months ago to combat crime and make arrests.

Zelaya was following exactly in the footsteps of Chavez, dividing the population, promising to share the wealth, promising citizens that they would be governing, and even made comments that this constitutional assembly would be governing Honduras, ie. instead of the congress. He also made statements about removing the Supreme Court because it didn’t work. If you have hours to watch videos of Zelaya and Chavez, you’ll see Zelaya following the Chavez plan step by step, including trying to control the media. Now Ortega has announced that he, too, wants to change the constitution.

This constitutional change promoted by all 3 of them (I’ve watched the videos) is always announced as an opportunity for citizens to kick out elected officials (or judges) that they don’t like. As we know in Venezuela, that isn’t the real purpose. Ironi

The “poll” was completely rigged with Zelaya being charge without any oversight every step of the way. A vote tallying computer center was found and guess what? The votes had already been counted for an election that never occurred! I’m sure that he would have appointed his cronies to the constitutional assembly and as a result, citizens would not really have had a voice.

Honduras has been living under self-imposed curfews for years due to the high rate of violent crime. The pro-Zelaya supporters have been acting like terrorists in this country. That is the only reason for the curfew. I heard today that it was canceled. You won’t find many people on the streets after midnight in Honduras. It’s just too dangerous. The average law-abiding person in Honduras thinks that the government should be taking more action against these terrorists who are severely restricting the civil rights of citizens to go to work or school! They are the ones repressing people, not the military.

I don’t believe that the media is being suppressed. The government may have stopped reporting on that Sunday morning, but since then, I don’t think so. There are a couple of radio and TV stations and newspapers that are strongly “anti-coup” and in fact promote insurrection and make false reports every single day trying to get people riled up.

Being here in Honduras, I’m getting a much different picture than I see on CNN! I see Hondurans feeling empowered, something that would have never happened without this. My hope is that citizen demands for prosecution of corruption will continue,that citizen involvement will stay strong and that Honduras will become a better place for Hondurans.

Despite what you might think from watching the news, this crisis did not start on June 28. All of the various segments of government (Election Tribunal, Fiscal, lower court, Congress, and Supreme Court) had been trying to stop Zelaya from his illegal actions since March. He would not be stopped!

The way they handled Sunday morning was sloppy, no doubt about that. But if there should be any legal action for the *manner* in which he was removed, that is what the world should be looking at, not forcing the return of a corrupt, thieving, drug-connected, mentally unbalanced man to a seat of power in a country who does not want him.

Sorry for writing a book here. I know it is easy to disregard what I say — because who am I compared to CNN or the NY Times? Nobody. The difference is that I’m here in Honduras, I’m married to a Honduran, I have 100s of contacts all over Honduras, and I see the news everyday. Many of my contacts are with NGOs who work with the poorest of Hondurans. They have no reason to side with the government except that they also believe that it is a step in the right direction for all Hondurans.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-estrada10-2009jul10,0,4262300.story

Also, be sure not to miss the wonderful video posted on La Gringa’s site today, Defending Democracy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=da9etL5uqy8&feature=player_embedded

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maMA3PTYoZE

It looks, to me, like Zelaya is trying to set himself up as another democratically elected dictator, like his mentor Chevez. For once a Latin American country has stood up and said enough. As I said, I tend to believe the bloggers that I have found to be fair in their reporting in the past.