Micheletti Schools Zelaya on RealPolitik

I haven’t said much about the Honduran situation because, well, not much has changed.  Brazil is still providing a campaign headquarters for Zelaya from their embassy in Tegucigalpa, and the Honduran government is proceeding with the elections as planned for December.

However, I read today that Micheletti will be stepping down during the elections, which is obviously merely political theater but demonstrates the huge gulf between the current government and the former tyrant-in-training Zelaya.  Now the world will have to contend with Zelaya, who didn’t want to leave office and was willing to ignore the constitution, the legislative and judicial branches, and the image projected by the man who was elected to replace him, who is voluntarily stepping aside in the interests of his country.  One is a narco thug willing to trample the constitution to stay in power, the other is your typical scheming politician willing to give it up in order to gain public favor.

If you’re still in doubt as to whether Zelaya was properly removed from office, read the Honduran Constitution, Article 239 (from the Latina American Herald Tribune):

“Any citizen who has already served as head of the Executive Branch cannot be President or Vice-President again. Whoever violates this law or proposes its reform, as well as those who support such violation directly or indirectly, must immediately cease in their functions and will be unable to hold any public office for a period of 10 years.”

And some commentary from the WSJ:

In a speech to be delivered late on Thursday, Mr. Micheletti is expected to say he will hand the reins of government to his council of ministers – basically, the cabinet – from Nov. 24 until his return to power on Dec. 2, according to a copy of a speech obtained by the Wall Street Journal. The president-elect is scheduled to take power in January.

In the remarks, Mr. Micheletti says his temporary absence from his post is meant to help Hondurans concentrate on the presidential elections instead of the political crisis, which erupted when the army kicked the president out of the country for allegedly wanting to extend his stay in power. Mr. Zelaya, a close ally of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, denies the charges, and has called on Hondurans to boycott the vote.

“It’s symbolic, but the fact that Micheletti won’t be presiding over the government when elections take place will help to some extent to help get other governments to come around to recognize the election,” said Michael Shifter, an analyst at the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue think tank.

While the U.S. and some Latin American countries, such as Panama, have said they will recognize the new president, other countries, such as Brazil, Argentina, and those allied with Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez have said they won’t recognize the new government because Mr. Zelaya has not been restored to power.

Recently, Mr. Micheletti and Mr. Zelaya signed an agreement that called for the Honduran Congress to vote on whether to reinstate Mr. Zelaya as president, but Mr. Zelaya pulled out of the deal a few days after it was signed. The Honduran government is expected to vote on Mr. Zelaya’s reinstatement after the election, but is widely expected to not allow him to return.

US and regional recognition of the December elections effectively brings an end to Zelaya’s antics.  I assume he’ll have a nice penthouse in Havana or Caracas, but the people won this round.  The more interesting question is whether this can be seen as a harbinger of future elections, and whether the leftward trend has been slowed, stopped, or reversed.  My money says the pendulum is swinging back, from the US all the way south.