More developments from Honduras: President Manuel Zelaya has been exiled to Costa Rica, not Venezuela as reported last night. Following the coup, the Supreme Court announced that they had ordered it:
"Today's events originate from a court order by a competent judge. The armed forces, in charge of supporting the constitution, acted to defend the state of law and have been forced to apply legal dispositions against those who have expressed themselves publicly and acted against the dispositions of the basic law," the country's highest court said.The Honduran Congress has since voted to accept a "resignation letter" of dubious provenance, then voted to oust Zelaya anyway and installed its Speaker, Roberto Micheletti, as President (he's next in line anyway, the Vice-President apparently being just someone who gets a fancy title). All of which begs the question: why didn't they do this before kidnapping the President in his pyjamas and forcing him onto a plane? Why did they do that at all, rather than simply lawfully and constitutionally removing the President from office? Again, the military's efforts to "defend" the constitution and rule of law have instead undermined them.
