Commentary: Mixed feelings about Honduras happenings

Several of my friends, knowing that I lived and worked in Latin America for 20 years during my diplomatic career, have asked me what I think about the recent military coup in Honduras. I have mixed feelings about it, and here's why.

Although I spent 20 years promoting democracy in Latin America, I sometimes doubted whether our neighbors to the south were ready for U.S.-style democracy after several centuries of Spanish-style "caudillo" (strong man) rule. In 1987, my late friend, Venezuelan author/intellectual Carlos Rangel, wrote that "the new Latin American republics were born without a tradition in the exercise of freedom," adding that "we Latin Americans inherited our dislike and incomprehension of the market economy" from Spain.

Obviously, that's a major difference in U.S. and Latin American world views. Much as I dislike wishy-washy "on the one hand, but on the other hand" opinion columns, that's where I'm at on the Honduran coup because there are two conflicting points of view, both of which have some validity.

Ultra-leftist Manuel Zelaya was the duly elected president of Honduras when he was overthrown and shipped out of the country by the military on June 28. Coup organizers including interim President Roberto Micheletti, a member of Zelaya's own Liberal Party, said they acted because the president had violated the constitution by pushing for an illegal referendum to permit him to remain in office beyond his present term in office, which ends next January.

Zelaya, a fervent admirer of Venezuela's Socialist dictator wannabe Hugo Chavez, camped out along the Honduras-Nicaragua border before moving to Managua early this month. He's demanding that the international community intervene to return him to power in Tegucigalpa. Zelaya argues that he was deposed illegally and the Obama administration seems to agree because it has refused to recognize the Micheletti government and has endorsed mediation efforts by former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias.

In a July 27 Wall Street Journal op-ed piece, Micheletti argued that Zelaya was deposed because "he had violated our laws and our constitution (and) the Supreme Court . . . ordered the Armed Forces to arrest him. Thus, his arrest was at the instigation of the nation's constitutional and civilian authorities, not the military." I think Micheletti made a valid point.

So that leaves the Obama administration in a bind because the president doesn't want the United States to be blamed for the coup. As a practical matter, however, the situation will be resolved in November when Hondurans go to the polls to elect a new president. That's good enough for me. Sorry to be so wishy-washy.

• Guy W. Farmer, of Carson City, is a retired diplomat who believes in "beer diplomacy."