Resource Guide to the Crisis in Honduras

Updated July 27, 2009 - The coup in Honduras earned international condemnation even as the country's government named an interim president. In an effort to deliver the latest on the crisis in Honduras, AS/COA Online offers a collection of links to primary sources, news coverage, and multimedia content.
 

AS/COA Coverage:

• AS/COA Online news analysis of President Manuel Zelaya's brief July 24 stop into Honduras across the Nicaraguan border.
• AS/COA Online news analysis covering the standoff at Tegucigalpa airport on July 5. (7/5/09)
• AS/COA Online news analysis including background on events leading up to the coup, coverage of the overthrow, and the swearing in of interim President Roberto Micheletti. (6/28/09)
• AQ blog: COA Vice President Eric Farnsworth: "Arias Mediation Efforts - Not U.S. Sanction - Offer Best Hope for Honduras. "Arias Mediation Efforts - Not U.S. Sanctions - Offer Best Hope for Honduras." (7/7/09)
• The AQ blog runs continued coverage of efforts to resolve the crisis. Read analysis of the San José Accord, the seven-point pact, a proposal to move up the date of Honduran elections, and concerns about Honduran press freedoms since the coup. Additional links below.
• AQ blog: AS/COA's Christopher Sabatini: "Honduras: SIdes Harden, Logic Breaks Down, and Tragic Silliness Begins." (7/26/09)
• AQ blog: AS/COA's Christopher Sabatini: "Honduras' Holding Pattern." (7/6/09)
• AQ blog: COA Vice President Eric Farnsworth: "Time for Cooler Heads to Prevail on Honduras - Here is one option." (7/3/09)
• AQ blog: AS/COA Senior Policy Director: “The Honduran Coup is Still a Coup: But Where Was Everybody Before?” (6/29/09)
• AQ Daily Focus: "Regional Organizations Speak out Against Zelaya's Removal from Office" takes a look at how regional bodies (ALBA, SICA, Rio Group) reject the overthrow. (6/29/09)
• Appearing on NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, AS/COA's Christopher Sabatini takes part in a debate about whether Zelaya's overthrow can be considered a coup. (7/3/09)
• In an interview on PBS' World Focus, AS/COA's Christopher Sabatini calls the ousting of President Manuel Zelaya as "retrograde" and puts the coup in the context of regional relations. (6/29/09)

Primary sources:

• Constitution of the Republic of Honduras.
• Website of the Honduran Congress.
• 6/28 decree by the Honduran Supreme Court authorizing the military to take action necessary to halt the illegal referendum and calling the executive branch "disobedient."
• Honduran Supreme Court documents in case against Zelaya.
• 6/29 letter by former Honduran Defense Minister Angel Edmundo Orellana Mercado. The trained attorney was also a congressional deputy but, in the letter, resigns from his legislative and called the overthrow a coup.
• Joint press conference with deposed leader Zelaya and Costa Rican President Oscar Árias after military brought Zelaya to San José.
• Zelaya's letter of resignation accepted by Honduran Congress. Zelaya says he did not submit such a letter.
• Video of Roberto Micheletti’s speech after being sworn in as interim president by Honduran Congress. In his remarks he says the transition is completely legal.
• Website of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), of which Honduras is a member, includes updates on the coup and statements by ALBA members.
• On 7/7, President Óscar Arias accepts the role of mediator between the two sides. Zelaya and the interim government agree.
• Arias' seven-point proposal to reach agreement; delivered during mediated talks held 7/18.
• Arias' San José Accord; delivered during a news conference held 7/22.
• Honduran armed forces release 7/25 communiqué supporting the San Jose Accord.

Statements/reactions by multilateral bodies:

• ALBA: Statement released by leaders of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) after a 6/28 emergency meeting in Managua. The ALBA leaders announced intentions to withdraw their envoys from Honduras as a result of the coup. Present at the emergency meeting: Manuel Zelaya of Honduras, Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, Evo Morales of Bolivia, Rafael Correa of Ecuador, Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, and Bruno Rodriguez (foreign minister) of Cuba.
• CIDH/IACHR: The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights statement condemning removal of Zelaya.
• COHEP: Statement by the Honduran Private Business Council supporting the expulsion of Zelaya for violating the country's Constitution.
• EU: European Commissioner for External Relations and Neighborhood Policy Benita Ferrero-Waldner statement urges involved parties to “promptly engage in a dialogue, in the interest of peace and stability in Honduras.”
• EU: Videos of European Union briefing in which EU Commission Spokesperson for External Relations Christiane Hohmann reading Ferrero-Waldner’s statement and an EU update.
• Grupo de Río: A release by Mexico’s foreign relations secretariat says the Grupo de Río/Rio Group rejects the coup and “considers the rupture of constitutional order inadmissible and unacceptable.”
• Interpol: Despite reports that the interim government had called on Interpol to arrest Zelaya, the agency denied receiving an international wanted person's notice for him.
• Mercosur: President of Paraguay and current head of Mercosur Fernando Lugo announces condemnation of the coup by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
• OAS: Organization of American States (OAS) condemns coup, urges reinstatement of President Manuel Zelaya, calls ministerial meeting. (English / español)
• OAS: Statement of OAS Secretary-General José Miguel Insulza condemning the coup. (English / español)
• OAS: Video of Special OAS Session on honduran coup
• OAS: OAS document released on June 26 expressing concern about potential crisis in Honduras. (English / español)
• OAS: OAS resolution released June 28 condemning coup and calling for the the restoration of Zelaya. (English / español) Also, video of the resolution read at OAS meeting.
• OAS: OAS resolution released July 1 demanding that the interim government restore Zelaya to the presidential post within 72 hours or face expulsion from the agency.
• OAS: Secretary-General José Miguel Insulza visits Honduras 7/3 to negotiate Zelaya's return. Supreme Court refuses, then interim government renounces OAS. Insulza says the interim government has no legal bearing as the OAS only recognizes the government of Zelaya.
• OAS: The agency suspends Honduras membership July 5 after the interim government refuses to reinstate Zelaya. (English / español)
• SICA: After an emergency meeting of the Central American Integration System (SICA) in Managua on June 29, Guatemalan President Álvaro Colom says SICA leaders should support reinstatement of Zelaya. SICA leaders, along with Mexico, announced intentions of withdrawing ambassadors from Honduras until Zelaya's reinstatement.
• UN: A Resolution adopted on June 30 by the UN General Assembly recognizes Zelaya as legitimate president and rejecting the new government of Honduras.
• UN: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon statement “urges the reinstatement of the democratically elected representatives.”

Governments around the world react:

• Argentina: President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner expresses concern for the situation in Honduras.
• Brazil: On his show "Café com o Presidente,” President Inácio Luiz Lula da Silva calls the coup an “attack on democracy.”  (audio, em portugues)
• Chile: President Michelle Bachelet, who also serves as the current president of UNASUR, rejects the “institutional rupture” that took place in Honduras.
• Cuba: Former leader of Cuba Fidel Castro reports and reflects on the coup in his Granma column.
• Ecuador: In Managua, President Rafael Correa condemned coup and called on Hondurans to protest the overthrow. (audio, en español)
• El Salvador: New President Mauricio Funes rejects coup and calls for respect for human rights.
• Guatemala: The government of Guatemala released a six-point declaration condemning the coup.
• Mexico: The government expresses its deep concern over the crisis in Honduras.
• Mexico: The Secretariat of Foreign Relations announced that, in the early hours of June 29, Mexico welcomed Honduran Minister of Foreign Relations Isabel Rodas and guaranteed her personal safety.
• Panama: Outgoing President Martín Torrijos condemns the coup.
• Spain: Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero’s condemnation of the arrest and expulsion of Zelaya.
• United States: President Barack Obama described the overthrow of Zelaya as "not legal" during a press briefing coinciding with President Barack Obama's 6/29 meeting with Colombian President Álvaro Uribe. Obama also said Zelaya remains the true president of Honduras.
• United States: President Obama 6/28 statement: “I am deeply concerned by reports coming out of Honduras regarding the detention and expulsion of President Mel Zelaya.”
• United States: In 6/29 press briefing, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton talks with reporters about Washington's reaction to situation in Honduras and says it has "evolved into a coup." (Video)
• United States: 6/28 Statement by Secretary Clinton calls “on all parties in Honduras to respect the constitutional order and the rule of law.”
• United States: U.S. State Department 6/28 background briefing on the situation in Honduras. Senior-level officials say that, in lead-up to crisis, they worked to avert coup.
• United States: U.S. State Department 7/1 background briefing, saying both U.S. president and state secretary have termed overthrow in Honduras a coup.
• United States: After meeting with Zelaya on 7/7, Clinton confirms that Costa Rican President Óscar Arias has agreed to mediate between the two sides.
• United States: July 8 letter from 17 Republican Senators to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, opposing U.S. support of Zelaya
• United States: Secretary Clinton’s description of Zelaya’s return as “reckless.”
• United States: During the weekend of July 24, a delegation of Republican lawmakers led by Rep Connie Mack (R-FL) travels to Honduras to meet with the interim government in a show of support for the de facto leaders.
• Venezuela: President Hugo Chávez rejected the coup and says the “Yankee empire has much to do” with it.

Interviews, op-eds, and news coverage:

• Images of an overthrow, published by Honduran paper El Heraldo.
• El País interview with President Manuel Zelaya in days leading up to coup. In it, Zelaya talks about whether he intended to seek reelection and his strong relations with both Washington and Caracas.
• Interview with Zelaya in his Costa Rican hotel room where he says he “would have preferred to be killed me than to sign a letter” of resignation.
• Wall Street Journal op-ed by Micheletti in which he says defends the overthrow of Zelaya's as a triumph for the rule of law.
• Costa Rica’s La Nación uses CoverItLive to deliver breaking news about the situation in Honduras, including international reaction and actions taken by the interim government. The coverage also includes reader comments and debate.
• Boston.com gives the crisis its "Big Picture" treatment, with large images of what's happening on the ground.
• Telesur footage of Zelaya’s brief July 24 return to Honduras.

Around the blogosphere/Twitter

• Catch breaking news and debate on Twitter at #Honduras and #crisisHN.
• La Información uses an interactive map to compile where statements have been made opposing the coup (and, in the case of Honduras, in support of it).
• Revista Envío's Ismael Moreno offers a backgrounder on what led up to the coup in an article republished by openDemocracy.net.
• Bloggings by Boz puts together suggestions for what could happen next in Honduras, from most to least likely possibilities. 
• Two Weeks Notice blog takes a look at the crisis as well as the debate over whether ousting Zelaya was legal.
• Huffington Post liveblogged the OAS special emergency session on June 28.
• University of Pittsburgh JURIST blog’s coverage of the coup.
• Miami Herald’s Cuban Colada blog covers Havana’s reaction to the coup.
• University of Texas at Austin's Knight Center blog about press coverage within Honduras, as well as press censorship in coverage of the overthrow.
• Kevin Casas-Zamora, former vice president of Costa Rica and a current fellow at the Brookings Institution, writes about the crisis for Foreign Policy’s The Argument blog. “Dark clouds are gathering again over Central America, and the United States would do well to pay attention,” he says.
• The Latin Americanist takes a look at the mixed Honduran reaction to the overthrow.
• Post penned by Francisco Toro on The Plank, a blog by The New Republic, about how the reaction to Zelaya's overthrow "underlines the region's pathologically imbalanced veneration of presidential power." Toro usually blogs for Caracas Chronicles.