U.S.: Honduras Coup a "Lesson" for Zelaya Not to Follow Venezuela's Path

[IndianaGreen]

If voting changed anything, it would be illegal.

--Emma Goldman

U.S.: Honduras Coup a "Lesson" for Zelaya Not to Follow Venezuela's Path

July 23rd 2009, by

Mérida, July 22nd 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) -- The military coup that ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya last month should serve as a "lesson" for Zelaya to steer clear of Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution and President Hugo Chavez, according to U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Philip Crowley.

In a press conference on Monday, Cowley stated, "We certainly think that if we were choosing a model government and a model leader for countries of the region to follow, that the current leadership in Venezuela would not be a particular model. If that is the lesson that President Zelaya has learned from this episode, that would be a good lesson."

On June 28th, the Honduran military kidnapped Zelaya and deposited him in Costa Rica, and Roberto Michelleti, a fellow party member of Zelaya and head of the Congress at the time, took over as de facto president.

Coup government officials have cited Honduras's entrance into the Venezuela-led fair trade group known as ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America) last year, and Zelaya's initiative to allow Hondurans to elect an assembly to re-write the nation's constitution, as motivations for the coup.

Crowley also accused Venezuela of intervening on Honduran affairs. The U.S. is "concerned about unhelpful steps that taken with some of his neighbors, and interference that we've seen Venezuela - with respect to relations with other countries, whether it's Honduras on the one hand, or whether it's Colombia on the other," he said.

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4652