Word: zelaya
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That's been most apparent in Honduras, where the country's congress this week refused to reinstate democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya, a leftist who was ousted in a June 28 military coup. The Obama Administration condemned Zelaya's overthrow as an affront to Latin America's fledgling democracies. But conservatives led by GOP South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint - who blocked Valenzuela's confirmation to protest Obama's stance - and Bush Administration holdovers such as the U.S.'s ambassador to the Organization of American States, Lewis Amselem (who was finally replaced this week), pushed Obama into brokering a deal...
International media first focused on the small Central American nation in June when the Honduran military ousted then-President Manuel Zelaya while he was attempting to reform the national constitution—over the objection of the Supreme Court—to allow him to serve another term in office...
...crisis intensified when the United States, following the lead of some Latin American countries and the Organization of American States, refused to recognize the new government. Leaders of these countries sought to restore Zelaya to power, even though the Honduran Congress and Supreme Court had sanctioned the ouster...
...consensus of the Hondurans was that they did not like Zelaya, and that murder and drug trafficking rates increased under his presidency,” Baker said. “They did not want him restored to power...
...Zelaya had sought to address such problems in Honduras, where 70% of the population lives in poverty and the richest 10% owns more than 40% of the wealth. But measures like a minimum-wage hike irked the political and business élite who fear Zelaya's ties to firebrand Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. Zelaya overreached in June when he defied a Supreme Court order not to hold a referendum asking if a constitutional-reform assembly should be held. But instead of trying him legally for that crime, Zelaya's foes committed their own - flying him off to exile...