The Day of the General Elections has Arrived!

President of Honduras, Roberto Micheletti casting his vote. Photos: El Heraldo, Honduras

Nonetheless an atmosphere of political tension following the removal from office of then President Manuel Zelaya Rosales, a total of 4.6 million of Hondurans out of its total population of 7.326.496 were called on this day of the general elections in the capital of the nation, Tegucigalpa.

"The threats, bombs and gunfire were insufficient to prevent citizens leave their homes to vote," said the President, Roberto Micheletti, after exercising his political duty. The president has done that civic duty minutes after 9:00 am at a school in El Progreso, Yoro, in the company of family, friends and presidential security. "Let's go and vote, demonstrate the world that we are different, our duty is to build a better country," he said during his trip to the polls.

Regardless the fact that the international community has threatened in not recognizing the results of these elections and an unprecedented media campaign by the repudiation to the constituted authorities from 28 June, the mission appears to go uphill.

The OAS suspended Honduras after the so called ‘coup’ last June, but since then had failed to reach common positions to the crisis in the country. Asked about the support and the recognition of the election expressed by Costa Rica, Panama and Peru, Insulza, general secretary of the OAS said, "I understand that nobody is considering recognizing the de facto government, that governments are talking about after 27 January", when making possession of the elected government on Sunday.

Immersed in the worst political crisis in its modern history, the new authorities in Honduras relieve the executive and legislature, in a race where the organizers are in the moral and ethical obligation to ensure that they are transparent and clean. No matter who wins, what matters is that Hondurans will be manifested in the elections.

What is the Catholic Church’s position about the political turmoil in Honduras?

Card. Oscar Andres Rodriguez. Photos: El Heraldo, Honduras

In an interview published by the Wall Street Journal, on November 16, the Cardinal of Honduras, Oscar Andres Rodriguez shared some of the difficulties the Catholic Church is going through since earlier this year when the whole political commotion of the constitutional removal of the president, rose up in that part of the world.

Due to the misleading Mass Media coverage, which has played an essential role in accusing the church leadership as golpistas, Card. Rodriguez explains the Church’s position in the whole turmoil. As explained by him, the church has not become involved in the political process surrounding Mr. Zelaya's fate, and for good reason.

"There are many people who are zelayistas in good faith because he was promising a lot of things to the poor."

Now, understanding the whole picture from this point of view then, yes, the Catholic Church has found itself necessarily involved. For the Church has a mission; to bring about unity through reconciliation.

Even though Card. Rodriguez is a respected national figure and his words carry weight, his moral duty with regards to the faithful hasn't been so easy to carry on. The reason, very simply as he himself states it:

"In Latin America, when you have money, you can buy justice." Such corruption is what led to "the implosion" of political parties in Venezuela," he says.

To the surprise of the rest of the world, however, Honduras did not believe in the message of the messiah, Chávez. Card. Rodriguez confirms that supporters of Mr. Zelaya, (the corrupt ex-president), have put pressure on the church, but despite "constant death threats" he says, he has not changed his position.

Micheletti assures Honduras is ready for the upcoming elections.

The interim president of the country, Roberto Micheletti has stated to HRN, that the upcoming presidential elections of November 29 are what people look to in the future of the nation. After the last four months of political upheavals, Honduras is more than ready to face the upcoming elections।

The last statistics show that the National political party is taking the lead by 16 points with its running candidate, Porfirio Lobo Sosa। Interesting enough, Lobos run during the previous presidential elections loosing against Zelaya. Now with “Pepe” Lobo ahead, the National Party has become for the first time in several years the favorite party of the people.

Elvis Santos, on the other hand, stands to represent the Liberal Political Party। It is clear how this political crisis has favored the National Party. Nonetheless, the crisis will not be resolved with political discourses, but with their actual actions.

The classification of the national soccer team to South Africa has been experienced as a sign of new hope and better days ahead for the country. In the same way, these presidential elections are awaited by the people who are hungry for justice and continue to struggle for democracy to prevail.

Basics of the political crisis in Honduras

Hondurans in a manifestation to defend their democracy. Photo; El tiempo, New Orleans

Every international news media, following CNN's lead, has spoken out in favor of Mel Zelaya, saying the Hondurean government has executed an illegal coup, and Zelaya should be re-instated. All these outlets seem to have forgotten that Zelaya broke the law by defying both the Hondurean National Congress and the Supreme Court, and that he planned to throw out the constitution in favor of a new socialist manifesto.

Every national, Hondurean news outlet has swung to the opposite extreme, saying that there has been no coup d'état, and everything that's happened in the past four months is "completely constitutional." It's true that Roberto Micheletti, as president of the National Congress, would succeed the president if, for some reason, the president couldn't fulfill his duties, but how justified were the Hondurean armed forces in using force to oust the president and effectively drop-kick him to Costa Rica? Why didn't they recognize that they were giving Zelaya a golden opportunity to form a dangerous alliance with Chavez and every other socialist leader in Latin America?

A bit of background:

President Zelaya was elected democratically in 2006. During the first two years of his presidency, he seemed to be keeping his promises to the Hondurean people. Then he started haging out with his new buddy Hugo and - surprise, - surprise - his ideology started to morph into something akin to socialism, diguised, of course, as democracy: as he dines it, "the rule of the people." Zelaya then decided, obviously at Chavez's urging that he needed to stay in power longer thatn his 4-year term allowed in order to bring his plans to completion. He decided to hold a vote for the "Cuarta Urna" in order to give the people the option of re-electing him next year - something strictly forbidden by the Honduran constitution. The tide of public opinion had already begun to turn against Zelaya when boxes of already-marked "YES" votes were found just days before the vote was scheduled to take place. Then the whole country seemed to turn against him. The whole country, that is, except the poor whose votes he'd bought.

On Saturday morning June 27, Zelaya held a teleconference with Chavez, in which Chavez congratulated him for pushing the Cuarta Urna and urged him to see it through to the end, "no matter what it takes!"

Thus, president Zelaya broke the law by defying both the Hondurean National Congress and the Supreme Court, and something needed to be done about it. Instead of arresting the president and trying him in an orderly manner, the Hondurean armed forces broke into his house early Sunday morning, moved him into a plane at gunpoint while still in his pijamas (as all of the left-wing news outlets love to point out) and dropped him off in Costa Rica. There, Mel garnered sympathy by appearing on international news-still in his pijamas, of course and explaining how he had been kidnapped in a most horrible and inhumane manner.

Meanwhile, the Hondurean National Congress, allegedly following the order of succession outlined in their constitution, swore in a new president, Roberto Micheletti, former president of the National Congress. The national (Hondurean) news outlets, after having been mysteriously cut off all morning, suddenly got back on the air and began airing pro-Micheletti propaganda.

Now the whole country's up against a wall, since both Zelaya and his opponets have acted shamefully and no one seems to have a comprehensive idea of things, Something needed to be done about Zelaya, that was certain - if no one would have acted out against him, no telling what would have happened on June 28. But why couldn't the legislative and judicial branches arrest and try the president in an orderly manner? Though they will never admit it, they did execute a coup, and such actions can in no way be called "democratic" Now, was that coup justified? That's the million dollar question....

The latest:

After meeting with Chavez ad other Latin American leaders in Nicaragua and in the United States, Zelaya managed to re-enter in Honduras on September 21. He returned surreptittiously and took refuge in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, in order to avoid arrest by the government.

The next presidential elections are to be held this upcoming November 29 and we are praying that as the current and constitutional president Robert Micheletti, convokes them, the international comunity will recognize the results. We also hope that the international press stars to recognize what's really been going on there.