Obama Revokes Honduran President's Visa (Updated)

Reuters reported today that the Obama administration has revoked the visa of Honduran President Micheletti.

Honduran de facto ruler Roberto Micheletti said on Saturday the United States has revoked his visa to pressure him to step down and reinstate exiled President Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted in a June military coup.

Micheletti, however, was defiant of the latest move by Washington, which said earlier this month it was cutting more than $30 million in aid to the poor Central American country.

"We will not back down. Dignity does not have a price in our country," Micheletti told Honduran radio.

You may not have been following the events in Honduras, because heaven knows plenty of other things have been happening a lot closer to home. But Obama's response to Honduras is the cherry on top of the whipped cream on top of the icing on the cake of his unending preference for socialist dictators over the rule of constitutional law.

As for what Reuters (not to mention the Obama administration) calls "a June military coup," this couldn't be further from the truth. Dennis Prager's summary at the time is priceless:

Even if you know little or nothing about the crisis in Honduras, nearly all you need to know in order to ascertain which side is morally right is this: Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega, Cuba's Castro brothers, the United Nations, and the Organization of American States are all lined up against Honduras.

And what troubles these good people? They claim that there was a military coup in Honduras that renders the present government illegal.

Here's how, back in July, Honduran-born Miguel Estrada described the complete legality of those events:

Something clearly has gone awry with the rule of law in Honduras -- but it is not necessarily what you think. Begin with Zelaya's arrest. The Supreme Court of Honduras, as it turns out, had ordered the military to arrest Zelaya two days earlier. A second order (issued on the same day) authorized the military to enter Zelaya's home to execute the arrest. These orders were issued at the urgent request of the country's attorney general. All the relevant legal documents can be accessed (in Spanish) on the Supreme Court's website. They make for interesting reading.

What you'll learn is that the Honduran Constitution may be amended in any way except three. No amendment can ever change (1) the country's borders, (2) the rules that limit a president to a single four-year term and (3) the requirement that presidential administrations must "succeed one another" in a "republican form of government."

In addition, Article 239 specifically states that any president who so much as proposes the permissibility of reelection "shall cease forthwith" in his duties, and Article 4 provides that any "infraction" of the succession rules constitutes treason. The rules are so tight because these are terribly serious issues for Honduras, which lived under decades of military rule.

As noted, Article 239 states clearly that one who behaves as Zelaya did in attempting to change presidential succession ceases immediately to be president. If there were any doubt on that score, the Congress removed it by convening immediately after Zelaya's arrest, condemning his illegal conduct and overwhelmingly voting (122 to 6) to remove him from office. The Congress is led by Zelaya's own Liberal Party (although it is true that Zelaya and his party have grown apart as he has moved left). Because Zelaya's vice president had earlier quit to run in the November elections, the next person in the line of succession was Micheletti, the Liberal leader of Congress. He was named to complete the remaining months of Zelaya's term.

So, the Honduran Supreme Court and military and Congress followed their constitution, ousted an illegal president whose very actions nullified his presidency, installed the next in line as president, and Obama can't see the legality of it all.

Indeed, Obama is pressuring Honduras to restore Zelaya to the presidency, and he's gone so far as to impose sanctions, as reported by the Voice of America on August 27, 2009:

The United States says it is cutting a broad range of economic aid to Honduras, over the June 28 ouster of President Manuel Zelaya. The State Department's announcement on Thursday came as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with the deposed Honduran leader in Washington.

The decision came a day after President Manuel Zelaya urged U.S. leaders to take tougher actions in condemning his removal from power more than two months ago.

Thursday, the State Department made permanent a suspension of some $30 million in aid imposed after Mr. Zelaya was deposed. In a statement, the State Department said the decision was made in recognition of the de facto regime's failure to restore democratic, constitutional rule to Honduras.

President Obama is either willfully stupid (which I don't believe), or he's a fascist-lover hoping the lack of MSM coverage will allow him to install one more socialist dictator-for-life in South America. Either way, Obama has no respect for the constitution, not the Honduran constitution and not ours.

Don't back down, President Micheletti!

Update (09/13/2009):

I left out a point, one that is probably the worst. From the Voice of America article:

Officials say the U.S. will not recognize the outcome of presidential elections scheduled for November, under current conditions.

Let's pretend, if you will, that it's June of 2008 here in America. A case claiming Bush stole the 2000 election gets to the Supreme Court, which declares that, indeed the election was stolen and both Bush and Cheney must be removed from office. Congress then passes a law requiring the military to ensure the removal of the President and VP from office and the installation of Nancy Pelosi (as next in line) as our new President. All according to the Constitution (assuming a couple details are found in the "penumbra" of the Constitution).

Meanwhile, in Pretend Land, the November elections are proceeding, with McCain and Hillary and Obama in heavy campaign mode. But because the UN and the UK and China are calling it a "military coup," they say they won't recognize our November election unless Pelosi is removed and Bush and Cheney are reinstalled as President and VP. As though who is living at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave has any bearing on the coming presidential election.

That's what Obama is doing by refusing to recognize the election in Honduras this November. All the candidates were busy campaigning (and the Honduran VP had already resigned in order to run for President) well before Zelaya's removal. The two events are NOT related. But the US will be the last ones, standing alone, against the lawful workings of a constitutional republic.

Read here about our standing alone against Honduras.

President Obama can't seem to get anything right.