Word: zelaya
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...angry crowd pushes against the soldiers who surround Congress's headquarters in the Honduran capital. The protesters with sun-scorched faces and hardened hands cry out about the misery of the Honduran poor. And they chant the name of the one man they say has helped them: President Manuel Zelaya, whom they fondly call "Mel." One hundred yards away, marchers in neat white T shirts and designer sunglasses calmly sing the country's national anthem. They accuse Zelaya of being a polarizing class warrior. And they applaud the troops who stormed his house the morning of June 28 and flew...
...mustachioed, sombrero-wearing Zelaya makes for an unlikely leftist hero. A 56-year-old former rancher and timber merchant, he took office in 2006 after campaigning on a centrist platform. But once in power, he drew close to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and quickly copied his formula for popularity: giving handouts to the poor and blaming all the country's problems on the rich. Amid rising crime and a spluttering economy, the establishment turned on Zelaya. The flashpoint came in June, when he called for a nonbinding referendum on changing the constitution to allow Presidents to stand...
...another flashback to '80s politics, supporters of the ouster have denounced Zelaya as a communist who planned to turn the nation of sweatshops and banana plantations into a Soviet-style fortress. One of his worst crimes, allege the self-proclaimed patriots, was raising the minimum wage to $290 a month. "With this action, he declared war on business," says entrepreneur Jesus Sabat, 23, as he waves the nation's blue-and-white flag during the demonstration...
...midterm defeat, says Corrales, may have leaders like Chávez "asking if they should ease up on their ideological hard line or ramp it up to neutralize opponents before it's too late." In Honduras, a coup on the day of the Argentine vote forced leftist President Manuel Zelaya into exile. Zelaya's foes accuse him of presidential overreach...
...this latest emergency, Obama may well need to do more than keep his cool. The U.S. recently argued that Cuba should be reinstated in the Organization of American States (which convened an emergency meeting over Honduras on Sunday) only when it demonstrates a commitment to democratic norms. Zelaya's defiance of his Supreme Court may not have been the behavior of a leader who respects the rule of law; but when soldiers in Latin America haul a democratically elected President out of his palace and into exile, the U.S. has no choice in this day and age but to roundly...