Honduran President Chucked Out In Coup

June 29. 2009

Honduran president exiled to Costa Rica

The President of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, has been forced out of office in a military coup. The move is being denounced all over the world as improper and illegal. He has been exiled to Costa Rica.

Obama says Honduran ouster was 'not legal'

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Monday declared that the United States still considers Manuel Zelaya to be the president of Honduras and assailed the coup that forced him into exile as "not legal," widening the chasm between the Central American nation and much of the rest of the world.

"It would be a terrible precedent if we start moving backwards into the era in which we are seeing military coups as a means of political transition rather than democratic elections," Obama said in the Oval Office after meeting with Colombian President Alviro Uribe. "The region has made enormous progress over the last 20 years in establishing democratic traditions in Central America and Latin America. We don't want to go back to a dark past."

Leaders from across the Western Hemisphere and beyond called for return to power of Zelaya, who was arrested Sunday morning by soldiers who stormed his residence and forced him into exile. The country now has another president appointed by its Congress, Roberto Micheletti, who insisted that Zelaya was removed legally by the courts and Congress for violating Honduras' constitution and attempting to extend his own rule...

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