2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumObama says coup in Honduras is illegal
www.reuters.com/article/us-honduras-usa-sb-idUKTRE55S5J220090629
"U.S. President Barack Obama said on Monday the coup that ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was illegal and would set a "terrible precedent" of transition by military force unless it was reversed.
"We believe that the coup was not legal and that President Zelaya remains the president of Honduras, the democratically elected president there," Obama told reporters after an Oval Office meeting with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe."
.......
"Obama said he would work with the Organization of American States and other international institutions to restore Zelaya to power and "see if we can resolve this in a peaceful way."
"TERRIBLE PRECEDENT"
"It would be a terrible precedent if we start moving backwards into the era in which we are seeing military coups as a means of political transition, rather than democratic elections," Obama said, noting the region's progress in establishing democratic traditions in the past 20 years.
Despite Obama's comments, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the administration was not formally designating the ouster as a military coup for now, a step that would force a cut-off of most U.S. aid to Honduras.
Under U.S. law, no aid -- other than for the promotion of democracy -- may be provided to a country whose elected head of government has been toppled in a military coup.
"We do think that this has evolved into a coup," Clinton told reporters, adding the administration was withholding that determination for now.
Asked if the United States was currently considering cutting off aid, Clinton shook her head no."
Wilms
(26,795 posts)We strategized on a plan to restore order in Honduras, Clinton wrote, and ensure that free and fair elections could be held quickly and legitimately, which would render the question of Zelaya moot. In other words, rather than support the right of the elected president to serve out his term, Clinton allowed his illegal ouster to lead to an interim right-wing regime followed by elections that the Honduran oligarchs could again dominate.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511466860
Kittycat
(10,493 posts)Paperbook?
Clinton's Response to Honduras Coup Scrubbed from Paperback
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/hillary-clinton-honduras-coup-memoirs_us_56e34161e4b0b25c91820a08
But that paragraph -- indeed, the entire two-page discussion of the Honduran coup -- disappeared from the paperback edition. In the paperback version, the chapter on Latin America ends abruptly after a look at the debate over whether Cuba should be included in the Organization of American States.
It's a striking omission, given that Zelaya was overthrown just three weeks after Clinton's visit to Honduras for the OAS meeting at which Cuba's membership was debated, which she recounts as the penultimate anecdote of the Latin America chapter.
When asked about the edit, a Clinton spokeswoman pointed The Huffington Post to the front flap of the paperback edition, which notes generally that the text has been trimmed.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-honduras-coup-memoirs_us_56e34161e4b0b25c91820a08
IllinoisLabour
(86 posts)The American Revolution was illegal.
How about we leave other countries alone alone? I'm sure Obama would have kept his mouth shut about the coup if they installed a figurehead his administration liked.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)What's the reason?
For if it prosper none dare call it treason.
Dem2
(8,166 posts)But I always wondered what we were supposed to do about it? Invade Honduras?
ljm2002
(10,751 posts)...but the Administration and SOS Clinton chose not to withhold aid, and Clinton threw her support behind having an election rather than restoring Zelaya's Presidency. It really isn't that hard to understand.
Dem2
(8,166 posts)You haven't explained how the USA could have changed the outcome there. Withhold aid? How'd that work in Cuba? Who suffers when aid is withheld?
Enrique
(27,461 posts)Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)(I assume I'm reading your avatar correctly).
farleftlib
(2,125 posts)Although her BFF status with Kissinger seems Ok with them so I guess supporting a military coup against a democratically-elected populist was the next logical step.
still_one
(91,937 posts)It is what it is, and the Wikileaks Revelations Showed Obama Administration had Complicity in the Coup
and no I did not support that
JackRiddler
(24,979 posts)Ken Burch
(50,254 posts)still_one
(91,937 posts)South America has been a receptacle for those repeated errors