an analysis of the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Agreement

Background. Dr. Alvaro Albornoz has a doctorate in constitutional law. What follows is a portion of his analysis of the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Agreement:

[...] On the point concerning the head of the Executive, the parties recognize the legitimacy of Congress, as the representative of popular sovereignty, to be who determines the political future of Honduras. That is, congressional deputies must first consult the Supreme Court and other bodies such as the Attorney General, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal and the Commissioner of Human Rights, so that these entities may issue reports on the legality what happened on June 28. After receiving these reports, the Congress should meet and discuss under the law and the Constitution of Honduras, whether or not Mr. Zelaya is reinstated as President of the Republic. The Agreement clearly shows that Congress is not obligated to reinstate Zelaya or roll back the political situation. Congress should examine the reports of the other State agencies, which must ratify what has already been indicated as to the constitutionality of the presidential succession, and then validate or confirm its decision reached on 28 June.

This will be a historic session for Honduras and the world, where the deputies will give a lesson in civics and democracy to other nations, especially those ruled by corrupt despots. Voting should be compulsory, public, oral, and individual. Each deputy must loudly, fully identified with his name and political party to which he or she belongs and in front of television cameras, say if he votes in favor of the dignity and democracy to his people or betrays them instead and sells his country to international communism and drug trafficking. That vote should be based on personal conscience and not money. The people will watch and know who to charge electorally for any treason. Congressional deputies will have to demonstrate publicly their honor and decency.

It is important to highlight that Congress has no time limit for making this important decision, therefore with the administrative steps of prior consultations, this meeting may occur long after the general elections that will be recognized by the international community and which may not be suspended or blocked.

Furthermore, in no line or paragraph of the Agreement can one find the words "coup d'etat," thus tacitly acknowledging -- and I would even say explicitly acknowledging -- that there was no coup. The wording merely tries to calm the rudeness of international communists who do not understand how genuine rule of law with real independence of powers works.