Honduras:---On Sunday, June 28, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was detained by a group of soldiers and flown into forced exile in Costa Rica. That same day, the people of Honduras were to go to the polls to vote on proposed constitutional reform, but the vote was suspended by the country’s Supreme Court.
“This was nothing less than a crime against democracy!” declared the president, who also categorically denied resigning his post.
The events that took place in the Republic of Honduras require the strongest possible condemnation by the international community. As First Vice-President responsible for assuming the presidency of the Parliamentary Confederation of the Americas, I wish to express my categorical repudiation of the coup d’état and of the overthrow of President Manuel Zelaya by the military.
The leaders of various Latin American countries, the United States and Europe have already voiced their unqualified denunciation of the actions of the Honduran military, and reaffirmed their support for Manuel Zelaya, whom they consider to be the country’s legitimate president.
The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), the Organization of American States (OAS) and the General Assembly of the United Nations, among other international bodies, are in complete agreement with them.
The members of the Parliamentary Confederation of the Americas believe it is their duty, as representatives of the people elected by popular vote in their respective countries, to prevent a return to the horrors that have plagued Latin America in the past, and of which the coup in Honduras is reminiscent.
As members of the wider American and international communities, it is our duty to contribute toward the restoration of institutional order. We must refuse to recognize any government in Honduras that has not been legally and legitimately elected by the people, and demand the restoration of democracy and the immediate reinstallation of the president of the Republic of Honduras.
“We must also call on the Honduran people and the international community to rise up together against this serious breach of the democratic process on the American continent strongly convinced as we are that internal conflicts must be resolved only through democratic institutions and the rule of law.” Said Senator Edda Acuña
Vice-president responsible for assuming the presidency in a press release.
