If America is to ever has a chance to regain its reputation and image, then it still needs to back up its public rebuke with more serious actions that's aimed at sending a strong signal to coup leaders that it will no longer continue to support illegal behavior and the violation of the political rights of its leaders.

Finally, Washington did everything it could in seeking to damage the image and reputation of Zelaya for his backing of Chavez' alternative economic colalition, thru it's usage of familiar tactics such branding him a communist and allowing the ruling elite to misrepresent and mis-characterize the former Honduran president's intentions. For Zelaya had made it clear that the fourth ballot box and proposed constitutional referendum weren't being done in order to extend his own term, as had been falsely claimed by the elite, but was merely trying to eliminate the stranglehold that the status quo and Congress had placed upon the Honduran people by the series of articles deemed to be untouchable by the president. Yet Washington let the conservative Honduran elite criticize continue to criticize Zelaya by portraying his image as being a Communist and too extremely far to the left to be able to govern. Anyway, if Washington in the future wants to avoid another fiasco like occurred herein, it needs to wake-up to the reality that economic injustice and political corruption are rampant within Honduras and many other supposedly democratic countries that it does business in.

Regarding the comment against Zelaya's action as having posed a real danger to the interests of small businesses and job creation, I think the argument hold no water. What type of jobs does this person pretend were lost? This type of fear mongering is typical of the capitalist class. This class always cries about how having to pay a fair living wage deprives the country from having jobs, yet I don't think the business owner would like it if they had to survive on the meager wages that are routinely paid throughout the Latin American third world. Moreover, we're just coming out from the greatest Gilded Age in American history where many workers have seen their middle class jobs exported to the third world where there is no labor protection or fair wages being paid. It just goes to shows how little concern the business class has for the need to pay a fair living wage in Latin America, and furthermore, if Washington has any real interest in stemming the ever growing flow of illegal immigration into the US, it better wake to the reality that helping to suppress a fair living wage in Latin American countries such as in Honduras help to keep the flow of illegal immigration into the U.S. going.

Truth is that Washington handled the situation poorly for while in a technical sense Zelaya violated the Honduran Constitution, yet there was no other way for him to get the referendum on changing the Constitution into the hands of the disenfranchised Honduran people to whom it mattered the most. Several news reports noted that the Attorney General of Honduras was visited by a group of several hundred angry demonstrators from the rural and agricultural class whom threatened insurrection if the fourth ballot was not allowed to take place. What this tells us is just how disenchanted there were within the ranks of the poorest classes in Honduras, yet instead they were described unfairly as an angry mod who was threatening the stability of the government.

I am an American citizen who's been living abroad for more than 6 years now in Colombia and who has visited many countries in Central America, I can tell you that practices and actions of governments within these countries is irregular and inconsistent. For example did the Attorney General Office ever prosecute those members of the Honduran military who kidnapped Zelaya from his presidential palace and removed him from the country under the guise of an arrest warrant. Fact is that the warrant was improperly served, thus robbing Zelaya and his supporters from having the opportunity of challenging the validity of the actions undertaken by the Supreme Court and the arrest warrant that was issued. All that ever came about as a result of the arrest warrant not being properly executed to this day is that the de facto president admitted that errors had been made with the serving of the warrant, but there never should have been an arrest warrant issued in the first place because all that Zelaya's actions did was to try and place in front of the people an opportunity to change the political Constitution. So if the ultra conservative Congress of Honduras wasn't going to do it, then who was?

So it all boiled down to a Congress that has no political will in seeing it's political stranglehold placed in jeopardy by potentially having its power overturned by the masses whom overwhelmingly are in favor of having a new constitution. So under these circumstances what could Zelaya and his allies do if they were unwilling to technically break the law in the name of bringing progress and economic justice to the masses?

The sad thing about the whole episode is that once again we see the public's understanding of what the real issues were being deliberately confused and distorted by a campaign of fear and misinformation by the status quo, and as usual Washington intervention was neither meaningful nor advanced the cause of democracy. Furthermore as an American living abroad in Latin America can attest, there is no democracy in Honduras as the majority is too impoverished and uneducated in order to participate in bringing about democratic change — thus the need for an honest president such as Zelaya to step in. Yet as a result of him having enrolled Honduras in the Chavez' alternative economic collation the year before, Washington was unwilling to support these bold moves at establishing some semblance of democracy in Nicaragua.

Thank you for enlightening us about Honduran politicing I noticed the many similarities to what is happening in Nicaragua influenced by Chavez and his constitutional reforms with unlimited presidential terms.
I would be curious to know what other plans the Honduran president has since Ortega’s organization manipulated local mayoral elections through control of community groups. Most Nicaraguans were scandalized by the mayoral elections here but the poor continue to slave away with machetes and the politicians continue to fatten themselves on foreign chaff. Since the majority of the population: the youth and the rural uneducated poor, may not understand the power of their voices united because so often they are gagged due to political favoring in the newly strengthened Sandinista community groups.
An example of Chavez/ALBA affects on the poor in Nicaragua: Last year the fertilizer was too expensive for most farmers to apply to their plantain fields so this year there is a very reduced harvest. This is a staple in the diet of most Nicas and is also exported.
I believe there are many similarities happening in other Latin American countries who are feeling the pressure of Chavez and ALBA memberships. It will be interesting to see what the new El Salvador President chooses to do for his citizens.
Remember the Venezuelans who are suffering even with the petro based economy …there are food lines and never enough to meet the demands. Nicaragua’s government has installed in Managua’s barrios staples stores with discounted products which are just a bit cheaper than the local shops but there are always lines and never enough to meet the demands. The prices of basic grains, along with cooking oils, sugar, and salt etc…continue to climb and the local shops cannot compete with ¨state-run stores¨ so will be forced to close and the locals will be forced to buy from the government with longer lines in the future.
This is familiar experience in Venezuela. Look out Honduras if you are headed in the same direction.

As a citizen of Honduras (born and raised in Honduras), I would like to thank you for your analysis, and would like to say that your explanation of the current situation in Honduras is thorough and accurate.

The president of Honduras is not a truly democratic leader, and in order to fulfill his dreams of perpetuity, has managed to create chaos, uncertainty, and more poverty in the country. By increasing the minimum salary (without any timely warning to business owners so that they could adjust their finances and afford the increase), has managed to bankrupt most of the medium to small businesses, increasing the unemployment rate to record numbers. He has managed to stop large projects financed by foreign investors, cheating our citizens from secure jobs in various industries.

As a democracy loving country, Hondurans DO NOT want a referendum to the constitution, we DO NOT WANT A FORTH BALLOT, we want elections (paid with our tax money), and most importantly; we do not want to give Zelaya the opportunity to stay a minute longer past his term, WE WANT CHANGE!!

Karen Bush(Tegucigalpa, Honduras)