Honduras just pulled a Pinochet

[Taverner]

Military Coup, President kidnapped and then sent into exile in Costa Rica.

Venezuelan, Cuban and Nicaraguan Ambassadors have been kidnapped by hooded militia - no sign of them yet.

Fuck....

[Liberal_in_LA]

1. seriously? Sounds like a joke. Link?

[Taverner]

4. Links

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/06/28/honduras.president.arrested/index.html

And

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4556

[cutlassmama]

6. wow. Shit is going down...

[Liberal_in_LA]

10. thanks

[Taverner]

11. Here's another - Venezuela is threatening to attack Honduras

http://tinyurl.com/ljjqkd

[Hannah Bell]

2. kick

[pinto]

3. I saw the report on the President earlier. Foreign ambasadors as well?

President apparently contacted the press once he was in Costa Rica.

[Taverner]

7. Yes, and now Venezuela is threatening to attack Honduras

And the silence is deafening in American News - I had to look hard for these stories

[Taverner]

9. A link

http://tinyurl.com/ljjqkd

[pinto]

18. Thanks for the SKY News link.

kick

[Odin2005]

5. The difference is that we are denouncing the RW coup this time, not supporting it.

[arcadian]

13. Bwawaahahahahahahaha!!! Good one!

Show me a rightwing military coup the U.S. HASN'T supported. :rofl:

[Odin2005]

15. I rememer seeing in one of the first threads on this that Hillary condemned the coup,

:shrug:

[anigbrowl]

8. more detail here...

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124619401378065339.html#mod=rss_Today%27s_Most_Popular

It strikes me that if you're proposing to hold a referendum that will scrap the constitutional term limits even if your country's supreme court says it's unconstitutional, you'd probably do better to have the new provisions only apply to your successor. Whenever a sitting president proposes scrapping term limits, it's hard to separate questions of constitutional best practice from those of self-interest.

It will be interesting to see how this turns out; at least it hasn't degenerated into violence yet.

[angstlessk]

16. proposing a referendum is HARDLY as large a problem as a military coup!!!

a referendum is where the voters get to decide.

[anigbrowl]

19. Not saying it is

It's just an observation that when proposals for constitutional change overlap with self-interest, it can rebound politically. I am not supporting this coup, but nor am I terribly surprised by it.

Imagine (for example) that Bush had proposed a constitutional amendment allowing him to serve a third term (or more). Even if he followed the letter of the law precisely, I doubt many DUers would have considered it acceptable.

[arcadian]

12. SOUTHCOM U.S. military South pretty much HQed in Honduras.

'nuff said.

[Hannah Bell]

14. thanks.

[MajorChode]

17. I went there once back in the 80's

It was a pretty fucked up country back then, and I doubt if it's changed much.

[EFerrari]

20. Kick