Official Statement from President Roberto Micheletti

July 28, 2009

Negotiated Solution is the Only Path for Honduras

By Roberto Micheletti

For almost a month, the entirely civilian, democratically elected government of one of America's most loyal allies in Latin America over many decades – Honduras – has been in the midst of a constitutional crisis that threatens our democracy. Sadly, key undisputed facts regarding our crisis often seemed to be ignored by America's leaders since the earliest days of the crisis.

And in recent days, the rhetoric and propaganda from allies of former president Manuel Zelaya have all too often dominated media reporting in the U.S., rather than the truth. The worst distortion from such sources is the repetition of the false statement that Mr. Zelaya was removed from the office of president by the military's, rather than the democratically elected civilian government's initiative and because Mr. Zelaya was allegedly a "reformer."

This is not true. So let’s review some basic fundamental facts that cannot be disputed:

* The Supreme Court, by a unanimous 15-0 vote, found that Mr. Zelaya had acted illegally in proceeding with an unconstitutional “referendum” and ordered the Armed Forces to assist in his arrest – since the Armed Forces have such responsibility under Honduran law at the direction of the Supreme Court.

* Eight of the 15 votes on the Supreme Court were cast by members of Mr. Zelaya’s own Liberal Party. Strange that the pro-Zelaya propagandists who talk about the rule of law forget to mention the unanimous Supreme Court’s decision, with a majority from Mr. Zelaya’s own party. Thus, Mr. Zelaya’s arrest was at the instigation of Honduran’s constitutional and civilian authorities – not the military.

* The Honduran Congress voted overwhelmingly in support of removing Mr. Zelaya as president – including a vast majority of congressional members who were of the same Liberal Party as Mr. Zelaya.

* Independent civilian governmental and religious leaders – including the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, the Administrative Law Tribunal, the independent Human Rights Ombudsman, four-out-of-five political parties, including the two major presidential candidates of the Liberal and National Parties, the Cardinal and head of the Catholic Church – all agreed that Mr. Zelaya had acted illegally.

* The Constitution itself expressly states in Article 239 that any president who seeks to amend the constitution and extend his term automatically is disqualified and is no longer president. There is no express provision for an impeachment process in the Honduran Constitution. But the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision affirmed that this is what Mr. Zelaya was attempting to do by his illegal referendum, and thus, Mr. Zelaya should be arrested. Thus, at the time of the arrest ordered by the Court, he was no longer – as a matter of law, as far as the Supreme Court was concerned – president of Honduras.

* Mr. Zelaya illegally caused his chief of staff days before he was arrested to withdraw millions of dollars in cash from the Central Bank of Honduras.

* A day or so before his arrest, Mr. Zelaya himself led a violent mob to overrun an air force base to seize referendum ballots that had been shipped into Honduras by Hugo Chavez’s Venezuelan government.

* I succeeded Mr. Zelaya under the Honduran constitution order of succession (since the Vice President had resigned to run for president). This is and has always been an entirely civilian government. The military was ordered by an entirely civilian Supreme Court to arrest Mr. Zelaya. He was ordered to be removed by an entirely civil and elected Congress. To suggest that Mr. Zelaya was ousted by means of a "military coup" is a demonstrably false statement.

Regarding the decision to export Mr. Zelaya out of the country the evening of June 28 without a trial, reasonable people can believe that, with the wisdom of hindsight, that situation could have been handled differently. But it is also necessary to understand that decision in the context of genuine fear of Mr. Zelaya’s already proven willingness to violate the law and to engage in mob-led violence.

The way forward is to work with President Arias on the details of his recent proposal to ensure that Mr. Zelaya will comply with the law and the constitution and will allow the election of a new president in the scheduled November 29 elections (or perhaps earlier, if the date is moved up as President Arias has suggested consistent with Honduran law.)

And if all the parties reach agreement and Mr. Zelaya is allowed to return -- that is the big "if" -- we believe he cannot be trusted to comply with the law, based on his past conduct, and therefore, it is our position as of now that he must be prosecuted, with full due process.

President Arias' proposal for a moratorium for prosecution of all parties may be considered, but our Supreme Court has indicated such a proposal presents serious legal problems under our constitution.

Like America, our constitutional democracy has three co-equal and independent branches of government - a fact that Mr. Zelaya ignored when he openly defied the positions of both the Supreme Court and the Congress. But we are ready to continue discussions once the Supreme Court, the Attorney General, and Congress have had the opportunity to analyze President Arias’ last proposal which was turned over to them, due to certain provisions of the last proposal impacting their legal authority and, thus, requiring their legal evaluation, as they have requested. Therefore, once we have knowledge of their legal positions we will proceed accordingly.

The Honduran people must have confidence that their Congress is a co-equal branch of government. They must be assured that the rule of law in Honduras applies to everyone, even their president, and that their Supreme Court's orders will not be dismissed and swept aside by other nations as inconvenient obstacles.

Meanwhile, the other elements of the Arias proposal, especially the establishment of a Truth Commission to make findings of fact and international enforcement mechanisms to ensure Mr. Zelaya complies with the agreement, are worthy of serious consideration.

Mr. Zelaya's irresponsible attempt last Friday afternoon to cross the border before President Arias has obtained agreement from all parties -- an attempt that Secretary of State Clinton appropriately described as "reckless" -- was just another example of why Mr. Zelaya cannot be trusted to keep his word.

Regardless of what happens, the very worst thing the U.S. can do is to impose economic sanctions that would primarily hurt the poorest people in Honduras. Rather than impose sanctions, the United States should continue the wise policies of Secretary of State Clinton, who is supporting President Arias's efforts to mediate the issues in order to achieve a peaceful solution consistent with Honduran law in a civil society where even the president is not above the law.

# # # # #

Mr. Micheletti is the successor president of Honduras, having previously served as president of the Honduran Congress. He is a member of the Liberal Party, the same party as his predecessor, Manuel Zelaya.