2009 Coup in Honduras.

[Author`s Name] [Professor`s Name] [Course Title] [Date] Coup in Honduras Like all historical events, the Honduran military coup d'état of 2009 happened under specific circumstances. But the ouster of President Manuel Zelaya fits within a larger historical pattern; typical of right-wing coups, it took place with the support of traditional political sectors that control the institutions of state, the business elite, and their foreign allies. Interpretations of the coup can be varied and complex, and will reflect the interests of their proponents. But the facts are simple and by now well-known: In the early morning hours of June 28, 2009, about 200 members of the military and police invaded Zelayas modest home in the capital city of Tegucigalpa and took him prisoner. Still in his pajamas, Zelaya was flown into exile in San José, Costa Rica. (Smith, 1) The immediate excuse for the coup was that Zelaya had violated a provision of the Honduran constitution that bars the president from attempting to stay in power longer than the legally mandated single term. In the months leading up to the coup, Zelaya had embarked on a process of political renewal in Honduras, the centerpiece of which was a proposal to convene a constituent assembly to rewrite the country's 1982 constitution so as to include mechanisms for popular democratic participation and break down the monopoly of the two-party system that keeps the oligarchy in power. The first step in this was to hold a nonbinding poll in the forthcoming November elections to gauge support for the inclusion of a referendum on whether to include a constituent assembly. Zelayas opponents, however, portrayed the poll as a binding measure that would abolish term limits and install Zelaya for an illegal second term. This bizarre legal theory condemned the president for what his enemies claimed he merely thought about doing; since he was never charged with a crime or tried in a court, the coup violated due proces...