As the Associated Press commented, “Many Hondurans saw Zelaya’s attempt to hold a referendum asking voters if they wanted a constitutional assembly as a backdoor way of erasing the ban on re-election and heading toward socialist rule like that of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.” The interesting phenomenon is that this proposed suggestion was rejected by every major institution in Honduras, including the Honduras Supreme Electoral Tribunal, the Supreme Court and even by Congress, which is controlled by members of Zelaya’s own political party.

It should be noted that in Honduras the military is responsible for logistics and security during elections, which led to the immediate event precipitating the coup d’état. On June 24, President Zelaya dismissed General Romeo Vasquez, the head of military command, after he refused to pass out election materials because the Supreme Court declared them illegal. In solidarity with Vasquez, the Honduran defense minister, as well as the respective heads of the army, navy and air force resigned. Furthermore, the next day the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Vasquez be reinstated. Congress began discussing how to impeach Zelaya from office, and voters were instructed not to vote in the referendum, which was scheduled to be held on June 29, 2009.

According to the New York Times, the Attorney General of Honduras issued an order to detain and, ultimately, to remove President Zelaya from office, for “acting against the government, treason, abuse of authority, and usurpation of power.” In the early morning of June 28, soldiers stormed the presidential residence in the capital Tegucigalpa, awoke the President and immediately sent him on a plane to Costa Rica.

The Supreme Court later that day announced that it had ordered the armed forces to remove President Zelaya from office, stating “…the armed forces, in charge of supporting the constitution, acted to defend the state of law and have been forced to apply legal dispositions against those who have expressed themselves publicly and acted against the dispositions of the basic law.”

The actual definition of a coup d’état according to the dictionary is “a sudden and decisive action in politics, esp. one resulting in a change of government illegally or by force.” The removal of the Honduran President by force was wrong, and it is quite clear that the armed forces made a crucial mistake by exiling Zelaya from the country. The judicial order was to detain and remove him from office, not to awaken Zelaya in the early morning hours and exile him at gunpoint. In the eyes of the Honduran Constitution, that was a clear-cut violation—an act that I completely condemn.

Following this timeline, the present de facto government of Honduras has become completely isolated from the international community. The United Nations General Assembly unanimously called for the reinstatement of Zelaya, and the Organization of American States formally suspended Honduras.

In addition, not a single outside country has recognized this de facto government, which has implications ranging from military assistance to economic aid; in fact, the United States has now suspended all non-humanitarian aid, as well as the visas of several coup officials, including former Speaker Roberto Micheletti, the de facto president. In the end, the chances of Manuel Zelaya resuming his presidential duties are becoming quite close to nil as time passes. However, the removal of a democratically-elected president sets a dangerous precedent for the entire region, an action that should be strongly condemned.