A letter to Peter Kent.

What follows is a letter I wrote to Peter Kent the Minister of State of Foreign Affairs (Americas).

I urge any and all readers to do likewise and stand up for Honduras and the rule of law.


Sir;

The reason I am writing you is to comment on the deplorable stance Canada has taken with regard to the situation in Honduras.

Again and again the legal and constitutional action taken by the Honduran government has been called a coup. If indeed this action is a coup would that there were more of them in the true Latin American dictatorships to our south.

Let’s take a look at some undisputed facts.

1. Article 239 of the Honduran Constitution states that a President that violates the principle of alternation of the Presidency or even proposes its reform, will "immediately cease in the exercise of office". So according to Honduran law the simple act of proposing this reform (which no one is arguing did happen) removes a President from office ispo jure (by operation of that law).

2. Article 42 of the constitution states 6 cases in which the. “The quality of citizen is lost:” Para 5, which deals with this situation states that a persons citizenship may be lost for; “inciting, encouraging or supporting the continuity or re-election of the President of the Republic.” In these cases the order for which will be handed down by the competent courts. This did occur, as the Honduran military acted on the authority of the legitimate Honduran government directed by the Honduran constitution and backed by the Honduran Supreme Court!

3. A coup d'état, is the sudden, unconstitutional deposition of a legitimate government, by a small group of the State Establishment — usually the military — to replace the deposed government with another, either civil or military.

Sir! The Honduran government has not fallen. The government is in place, the military is under its control and the rule of law is being upheld. Coup? What coup?

Since the end of the colonial era modern liberal democratic nations like Canada have bemoaned the fact that individual strongmen have seized power in South and Central America. They used weak governments, weak adherence to the rule of law and even weaker democracies to snatch the cloak of sovereignty for themselves, in their own name. Doing so they became the sovereign, the State, law and government became subservient to them.

Now in Honduras we have a situation where the rightful government, in keeping with its law and constitution have said, in effect, “the sum of this state is not one man” and Canada, the OAS and the UN are punishing Honduras for stating that fundamental of a mature democracy unequivocally!

I am ashamed that Canada is sitting back in the peanut gallery hurling stones at Honduras and urging them to take back a would be dictator. Are we in the business of creating the next Pinochet or Chavez now?

Sir, I urge you to stand up for the rule of law in Honduras, support their legitimate government against the would be tyrant Manuel Zelaya. Use your position within our government to open some eyes. Don’t judge Honduras by our laws, judge it on its own.

Sincerely,