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Today, the president of Honduras, (after two months and no sign of reinstatement, can we still call him the president?), Manuel Zelaya gave a lecture at George Washington University. The lecture was called, “Returning Honduras to Democratic and Constitutional Order.” Unfortunately Honduras has not returned to democracy, and so it was hard for Zelaya to speak about the country’s re-democratization process.
Too bad that the event was full, and so I was not able to attend, but from what I hear Zelaya talked for most of the time about how he was caught off-guard in his pajamas when he was expelled from the country. Most people claimed he was a less than convincing speaker on the subject of Democracy, and focused more on making himself seem as if he was saving Honduras, reaching out to the poor, and strengthening democracy before the coup when the “bad guys” of Roberto Micheletti came in and took over.
Too bad for Zelaya, that no one forgot the reasons of the coup: Zelaya wanted to hold a referendum vote to see whether he could extend his time in office. In fact, Zelaya’s opposition could have probably found ways to constitutionally fight against Zelaya, but they opted to take a short cut.
When I get more details on the event, I will keep you all updated. I do know, however, that it was an event held in order to call attention to the Obama administration that people believe that something needs to be done about Honduras. We can’t watch a coup occur and not take action against a clear violation of democracy.
The way I see it is Zelaya might not have been a good president. That isn’t the argument (even if Zelaya may think it is). However, short cuts around democracy cannot be tolerated . If we are to respect democracy, we have to respect it when it works in our favor and when it does not. If there is someone who is breaking the democratic law, then their punishment must come from within the system set up.
Next time, Zelaya, know this: We care much less about whether you were in your pajamas when the military came to ship you off to Costa Rica and much more about the ways in which you see democracy being reinstated in your country.
