Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was arrested this morning by the Honduran military and taken out of the country (apparently to Costa Rica). Zelaya was insisting on moving forward with an "opinion poll" scheduled for today (Sunday, June 28) that had been declared illegal by the Honduran judiciary, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, and the Honduran Congress (parliament). The poll would have asked Hondurans if they approved or not of the placement of a "4th urn" in the November 2009 general elections that would be used to officially poll citizens regarding the establishment of constitutional assembly to change the country's constitution. The current constitution (1982) forbids any action to replace it and labels such actions as sedition. The President's insistence on carrying out this dubious poll was in direct conflict with his oath of office to abide by the constitution and protect it. The constitution limits presidents to one 4-year term. It is widely assumed that, among other things, Mr. Zelaya wanted to get rid of this term limit and continue in power (a la Hugo Chavez). If the Honduran Congress declares Mr. Zelaya unfit to serve, he would be replaced by the President of the Congress -- Roberto Micheletti -- for the remainder of his term, which ends in January 2010.
Here in the islands everything is calm. We are just doing our best to keep updated on the events in Tegucigalpa. It's just another coup d'etat. No big whoop.
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