Spokane7
58°
July 22, 2009 in Nation/World
Honduras, Venezuela wrangle
Chavez’s diplomats scorn order to leave
Venezuelan Embassy charge d’affairs Ariel Vargas gets into his car outside the Venezuela Embassy in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on Tuesday.
(Full-size photo)
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Honduras’ interim government ordered Venezuelan diplomats on Tuesday to leave the country as the international community threatened new sanctions on the Central American nation if negotiations fail to resolve the crisis.
Venezuelan Embassy charge d’affaires Ariel Vargas said he received a letter from the Honduran Foreign Ministry ordering his diplomats to leave in 72 hours.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been the most vociferous critic of what he calls the “guerrilla” government that overthrew his ally Manuel Zelaya on June 28.
The government of Roberto Micheletti, whom Congress swore in as president after the coup, accused Venezuela of meddling in its affairs and of threatening to use its armed forces against Honduras, according to a copy of the letter obtained by the Associated Press.
Vargas dismissed the allegations and – holed up in the embassy along with a consular officer also affected by the order – vowed to defy it.
“We only have relations with the government of President Manuel Zelaya,” Vargas told reporters outside the building. He said the expulsion order “does not exist for us, because the Micheletti government does not exist. It is a usurper government, a coup government, a government that is not recognized by anyone on an international level.”
Micheletti apparently planned no immediate action to remove the Venezuelans.
“We are going to wait for them to obey the order this country has given them,” he said late Tuesday. He added that “we have information that many of their people are involved in the movements that have been happening in our country,” an apparent reference to pro-Zelaya protests.
Marta Lorena Alvarado, Micheletti’s assistant foreign affairs minister, said Honduras was withdrawing its embassy staff from Venezuela; both countries pulled their ambassadors soon after the coup.
From Managua, Nicaragua, Zelaya told the Venezuelan diplomats to stay put and said he plans to try again to return to Honduras sometime after today, the expiration date for a 72-hour period requested by Costa Rican President and mediator Oscar Arias to allow time for negotiations.
“We want to return to Honduras to look for solutions. It will be a peaceful return,” Zelaya told a news conference. He did not give details.
Zelaya also said he sent a letter to President Barack Obama naming army officials and lawmakers who allegedly planned his ouster, and asking for economic actions against “those who conspired directly to execute the coup.”
Chavez has demanded Washington do more to pressure Micheletti and force Zelaya’s return to power, including withdrawing U.S. troops from its Honduran base.
The European Union, meanwhile, warned Tuesday that if talks to end the crisis fail, it may impose further sanctions against Honduras. The EU announced on Monday that it had already frozen some aid.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt – whose country holds the rotating EU presidency – said the bloc is “considering different ways” to support mediation efforts by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias. He did not elaborate.
The 27-nation EU, like the United Nations and the Organization of American States, has condemned the coup and called for Zelaya’s immediate return to power.
No government has recognized the Micheletti administration.
© Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Obama to honor Medal of Freedom recipients 
Reality_Check on July 22 at 2:08 p.m.
So what if the Honduran people object to being dictated to by Europe ???
What if they move their Presidential election up from November to next month ???
Both Presidents, the defacto President and the exiled President are from the same Political Party within Honduras, is the EU going to decide which candidate that Political Party should run in the election ???
Honduras has multi-party elections, is the EU going to ban all candidates from the other political parties from running for President???
Under the Honduran Constitution Presidents can only serve one term, is the EU going to declare the Honduran term limits unacceptable to Europe and decide the Honduran constitution will not be the basis of the election ???
Is the EU going to support Socialist Militias from Nicaragua and Venezuela entering Honduras to disrupt elections, kill political opponents of the exiled President and start a war ???
Just wondering how far the EU is willing to go in the “name of Democracy” to return the former President and install him as a defacto dictator who has no intention of following the current Honduran democratic constitution or the constitutional process for changing the constitution.
Reality_Check on July 22 at 2:30 p.m.
All countries of the European Union and the United States are Republics.
The countries of the European Union are NOT Democracies.
The United States is NOT a Democracy.
Honduras, as well as all the countries above, including the United States are Democratic Republics with the Supreme Law of the Land being the constitution of each country.
Elected representatives of the people in legislative bodies in all these countries make laws in accordance with limitations of the constitutions. All elected officials must swear a solemn oath to uphold and defend the constitution. Each member of the US Military swears such and oath.
Each constitution sets out a process to change the constitution.
Presidents in all these countries enforce the laws and do not make law.
No President in any of the these countries has the authority to change the constitution by decree.
In the United States the people can NOT vote to make a federal law. In the United States the people can NOT vote to change the United States constitution. Only elected representatives of the people of the United States can change the Constitution when following a specific process that makes it very difficult to change and requires super majorities to change it.
The same is true in Honduras as the United States.
The exiled President proposed to change the constitution the way he wants it to be by following a very simple process which is NOT allowed by the Constitution and does not require a super majority - in fact he intended to make up the election rules as he went along because the other members of the Democratic government of Honduras would not join him in violating the constitution.
The United States and the EU are now demanding this man be returned to power in Honduras - why ???
So he can claim victory and change the constitution by an illegal rigged election run by his own cronies - after bringing in Venezuelan and Nicaraguan militias to put down any peaceful democratic opposition ???
Hey - it worked in for the current dictator in Venezuela - why not try it again in Honduras.