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Behind the Honduran Mutiny
By JOSE DE CORDOBA | The Wall Street Journal
Zelaya's return to Honduras is the latest turn in a regional crisis that's far more complicated than it appears. The U.S. is calling for his reinstatement, but a close look at Zelaya's time in office reveals a strongly antidemocratic streak.
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- During Honduras' Independence Day celebrations last September 15, then-President Manuel Zelaya turned up for a time-honored ritual meant to promote national unity. But rather than merely making the traditional presidential cry "Long Live the Republic!" Mr. Zelaya treated political, civic and business leaders to a 15-minute diatribe against capitalism. "The businessmen and corrupt oligarchy are responsible for our country's two centuries of poverty because they support an unjust neoliberal economic model that exploits humans and our natural resources," said Mr. Zelaya, wearing his trademark white Stetson hat, as members of the crowd began to shout "Fuera! Fuera! Fuera!" ("Out! Out! Out!").
Forced out of the country last month by the military, Mr. Zelaya returned Friday -- at least temporarily. Trailed by reporters and talking on a cell phone, Mr. Zelaya crossed the border into Honduras from his Nicaraguan exile. He walked to the rusty chain that marks the border, lifted it and walked a few feet onto his native soil. "We are unarmed. I come in peace," Mr. Zelaya said, shaking hands with a Honduran army officer, before retreating back into Nicaragua under threat of arrest by the provisional Honduran government. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the stunt "reckless."
It's the latest turn in a growing regional crisis that's far more complicated than it appears. The episode may seem like a flashback to a tragicomic era of Latin American history when presidents were regularly overthrown in coups. That's how the Obama administration has responded so far, voting with the Organization of American States to suspend Honduras and calling for Mr. Zelaya's reinstatement.
But in fact, a close look at Mr. Zelaya's time in office reveals a strongly antidemocratic streak. He placed himself in a growing cadre of elected Latin presidents who have tried to stay in power past their designated time to carry out a populist-leftist agenda. These leaders, led by Venezuela's Hugo Chávez, have used the region's historic poverty and inequality to gain support from the poor, but created deep divisions in their societies by concentrating power in their own hands and increasing government control over the economy, media and other sectors. >>> Go to Full Story >>>