Honduras' Would Be President-for-Life Leaving the Country

According to Reuters (h/t Legal Insurrection) Honduras' would be president-for-life Manuel Zelaya will leave Honduras (he's been in in the Brazilian embassy for four months and has claimed Israeli mercenaries were shooting him with thought altering gas or radiation, or something).

From the article:

"Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya will end his four-month refuge in the Brazilian embassy and leave the country next week, when his term would have ended, his closest adviser said on Thursday.

"Zelaya, a leftist who was ousted in a coup on June 28, accepted an agreement backed by the government of the Dominican Republic to travel to the Caribbean country, close Zelaya aide Rasel Tome told Radio Globo radio.

"Tome said Zelaya would remain politically active, but leaving the country effectively ends his career as a meaningful leader in Honduras."

[...]

"Zelaya failed to return to office and reverse the coup despite support from the United States and many Latin American countries."

[...]

"Zelaya was ousted on an order from the Supreme Court after he angered the country's business leaders and members of his own party with a bid to change the constitution, which is illegal under Honduran law.

"His critics accused him of trying to stay in office past his term, following in the footsteps of Venezuela's socialist President Hugo Chavez, a charge Zelaya denies."

Notice the wording here again-- coup. Well, at least they weren't saying it was a "military coup" this time. Just to remind people, Zelaya was removed by the military under the full backing of the Honduran Supreme Court, the Honduran legislature, and the Honduran Constitution. Some coup, huh?

Obama, the US State Department, various European governments, and Venezuela's strongman Hugo Chavez all battled mightily to reinstate Zelaya. Yet, Honduras bravely held its ground despite US imposed sanctions and penalties, domestic turmoil and foreign pressures. Honduras' stalwart defense of their domestic law and Constitution should not be overlooked, written off, nor forgotten.