BACKGROUND

In the early morning hours of Sunday, June 28, 2009, the Honduran military violently entered the residence of President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras and took him by force, still in his pajamas, to Costa Rica.  The Chancellor of Honduras, Patricia Rodas, was also kidnapped later in the day and it wasn’t until Monday that her whereabouts was confirmed after Mexico granted her asylum.   The Ambassadors of Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua were at the residence of Patricia Rodas when masked military personnel beat them and took them by force, later forcibly separating the ambassadors from Patricia Rodas and dumping the ambassadors in the middle of the road.

The event preceding the coup, which the economic elite, the Honduran Congress and the Supreme Court opposed, was that President Zelaya had organized a non binding popular consultation for Sunday, June 28th, where the population would give their opinion regarding whether or not they were in favor of opening a citizen’s consultation for constitutional reforms.   Referendums are not contemplated in the Honduran constitution and the economic and political elite apparently felt vulnerable to opening doors to a popular consultation, although Article 45 of the Honduran Constitution states: “All acts which prohibit or limit citizens participation in the political life of the country are punishable”.