Via Hot Air, previously ousted Honduran President and Chavez-wannabe Manuel Zelaya will return to power as President for the remainder of his term after an agreement between Zelaya and the Honduran government was accepted. There are some caveats (emphasis from Ed Morrissey):
Mr Micheletti said that Mr Zelaya could return to office after a vote in Congress that would be authorised by the country’s Supreme Court. He said that the deal would require both sides to recognise the result of a presidential election due to take place on November 29 and would transfer control of the army to the top electoral court.
Effectively, Zelaya would be the ultimate lame-duck President until power was turned over to the President elected after the November 29th election. Micheletti will also not be allowed to run as well.
Fausta has a great round-up of this as well, including a translation from Honduras’ El Heraldo:
El Heraldo (in Spanish) makes it clear that US State Dept. envoy for Latin America Thomas Shannon went to Honduras to twist arms: his position was that the November 29 elections would not be recognized unless Zelaya was returned to power. I guess nothing ensures democracy like restoring to power the guy who did his outmost to undermine democracy, at least in Shannon’s eyes.
American leftists have long whined about American intervention in Latin America, but only when that intervention is supposedly done by Republican Presidents. As of this post, no leftist blogger has said a thing over at Memeorandum (this could change as the day goes on). Yet in discussions I’ve had with leftists, they are pretty ambivalent about the Obama administration’s actions against the Micheletti government, taking the State Department’s word that it was an illegal military coup d’etat. I am pretty sure they will say this is just another example of the administration’s “smart” (that is, dumb) power, ignoring the implications that Obama just engaged in another case of intervention by the American gringos.
As a side note, the Law Library of Congress had recently issued a report that said Zelaya’s removal from office was perfectly legal under the Honduran Constitution and law, although they do mention that Zelaya’s exile by the military did seem to violate the Constitution, which is under investigation by the Honduran government. The now-senior U.S. Senator from Massachusetts John Kerry had wanted the report retracted. Per Morrissey in an update:
Law Library of Congress to John Kerry: Pound sand.
At least Zelaya, provided he keeps his word, will be gone from office, although he could still cause trouble down the road. But the hypocrisy of the administration of The One and those who worship him is stunning. They have put into practice the idea of the “Ugly American”; but based on my own observation of the left, those that revere The One will be completely dishonest and not put it that way. If I’m wrong, I’ll retract that.
UPDATE: These same leftists who will probably say nothing about this have hypocritically praised The One’s non-intervention of the Iranian election, even while the corrupt thugs of the Iranian mullahcracy brutally tortured and murdered its own citizens in order to make them legitimate. The One, to them, can do no wrong.
