For those of you who have not heard about the military overthrowing Manuel Zelaya, president of Honduras, yesterday morning, consider yourself informed. Sunday morning at dawn the Honduran military (between 200 – 300 troops) took the president from his home and flew him to Costa Rica. This was all in response to Zelaya’s plan to hold a national vote the same day, where the country would be asked their opinion if a referendum should be held to change the constitution. Polls were to open just an hour after he was taken into the hands of the military.
Zelaya’s presidential term is up in January 2010. He would like to run for a second term, that which is not allowed under current Honduran law, which is why he was pushing for a change in the constitution. The national vote had been ruled unconstitutional by Congress and the Supreme Court, and was not backed by the military. In response to the lack of support from the military in organizing the vote, Zelaya canned the head of the armed forces, who was later reinstated by the Supreme Court. Since Zelaya was going to push forward with the vote, Congress and the military took drastic measures, and took him out of power.
Michelleti, the leader of Congress, was sworn in as interim president until January, just hours after Mel was ousted. Presidential elections are scheduled for November. One of the first things Michelleti did was imposed a 9pm – 6am curfew in the city for Sunday and Monday. Supposedly a fake resignation letter, “written” by Mel Zelaya, was presented to Congress. Mel refuses that he resigned from his position as Honduran President, and in the eyes of Congress, Michelleti is now president.
Today Zelaya met with other leftist leaders from Latin America to discuss the happenings, where much support has been shown for Zelaya. There has been talk of Venezuela invading Honduras if Mel is not put back into the presidential position. The problem is that there is a lot of talk, and nobody really is quite sure what is going on.
The coup has had little effect on us here at the Ranch. We have been affected in small ways - our travel this weekend has been restricted, as travel across the country has been strongly discouraged due to possible protests and riots. Yesterday all morning the country was without power, all lines of communication had been cut (cell phones weren’t working, and apparently all news programs had been cut from the air). I initially thought it was due to the weather, since during the rainy season it is not uncommon to have frequent power outages. However, others were saying differently.
I have heard from friends that live in Tegucigalpa, the capital city, that overall things are “calm” in the city. However, there is heavy military presence, especially around the presidential palace and other governmental buildings. The military has blocked off several roads, and there are occasional protests and riots. Tear gas has been used on protesters, who have taken to throwing rocks at military, burning piles of tires in the streets, etc.
Well, I think this is enough information for now. I’ll do my best to keep my blog updated. But for the most recent information check either CNN or BBC.
I assure you that for now we are all fine here at NPH. Thank you to those of you who have emailed or call to make sure we’re all safe!
Much love,
annie
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