[A-List] Honduras: it was a coup, president Lobo admits

[james daly]

But the most important crux of nomenclature came when Obama evasively 
refused to call it a *military* coup, because then by US law the financial 
and other support would have had to be withdrawn. -- J.


Weekly News Update's blog

Honduras: it was a coup, president admits

Submitted by Weekly News Update on Tue, 06/01/2010 - 08:18.

In an interview on Spanish CCN broadcast May 19, Honduran president Porfirio 
("Pepe") Lobo Sosa agreed that the removal of former president José Manuel 
("Mel") Zelaya Rosales (2006-2009) from office on June 28, 2009 was a coup 
d'état. "Of course, put it how you will, but it was a coup," Lobo Sosa said 
when CNN's José Levy asked if the removal was a coup.

But the Honduran president, in Madrid for a May 18 trade summit of European 
Union and Latin American leaders, justified the removal. "Democracy did not 
have sufficient mechanisms to guarantee its maintenance," he said. During 
his election campaign last year, Lobo Sosa avoided characterizing the June 
28 action.

Supporters of Zelaya's ouster generally have insisted that it was 
constitutional and not a coup. (Honduras Culture and Politics blog, May 22; 
La Vanguardia, Honduras)