The deposed president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, gave an interview to Costa Rica's La Nacion on his way out of the country, exceprts of which were published over the weekend in La Prensa.According to this interview, Zelaya claimed that he had no intentions of seeking reelection through his "cuarta urna" referendum initiative, and that instead, he was seeking popular opinion on a wide range of potential ballot initiatives, only one of which was presidential reelection, for which he himself, he explained, would not have been eligible.
Asked why he flouted both congressional and judicial blocks to move forward on the referendum, Zelaya explained that:
"A human being that doesn't fight for his principles is worthless, he's simply a wretch. For my principles I'm wiling to give my life."
("Un ser humano que no lucha por sus principios no vale nada, es una simple marranada. Por mis principios estoy dispuesto a dar la vida.")
The initial negotiations in Costa Rica, mediated by President Oscar Arias and which ended last week to little avail, are scheduled to resume in the "near future," though no definite date or place has been made public.
Sources: La Prensa, La Tribuna, La Nacion
4 comments:
"... he was seeking popular opinion on a wide range of potential ballot initiatives, only one of which was presidential reelection..."
Did you make this up? I searched the three papers you cited as sources for your post and no where did I find that he said he wanted to promote reelection. He said there was no reelection in Honduras and he couldn't be reelected himself, but supporting presidential reelection in general is different than seeking one's own.
The issue according to Law and the Honduran Constitution is that the President can not initiate a referendum, period. Only Congress can do this. To initiate a referendum when it has been deemed un-constitutional serves only to create controversy. Look at his timing?
This news article from the LA Times lays out the legality of the Honduran Constitution:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-estrada10-2009jul10,0,4262300.story
I include this to give a thorough explanation of why this is a 'non-coup'.
Bicyclepirate:
I did not, in fact, make that up. By citing "presidential reelection" as part of his ballot initiative, I didn't specify that he meant his own (he specified otherwise in his interview, but most people that follow Honduras know that this is less than an earnest explanation). If you click on the La Prensa link I provided, you can read for yourself what I was summarizing:
Q:¿Quería seguir como Presidente por medio de esas reformas?
A:Eso es falso. En Honduras no hay reelección y no hay posibilidad de reelegirme.
Planteé la necesidad de una cuarta urna para que el pueblo opine sobre desarrollo, impuestos, reformas tributarias, presupuestos y tratados internacionales."
No where in that quote does Zelaya say one of the potential reforms or "ballot initiatives" would be presidential reelection.
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