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April 26, 2012

The Costs of Killing Democracy


 After Manuel Zelaya was elected President of Honduras and took office early in 2006, he began supporting some reformist policies such as raising the minimum wage, reversing deceptive land ownership practices, and aligning with the international group of countries known as ALBA.  Shortly after pursuing these policies he was overthrown by the Honduran political class through a 2009 military coup d’etat.  Shortly after the coup, the European Union, the United Nations, and the Organization of American States opposed the new leadership, but within months the United States changed its position to support the military leadership. The United States also supported the elections in the fall of 2010 to replace the overthrown civilian leadership when other countries globally refused to recognize the new government.  And the U.S. renewed full military aid by February 2010, even though in the case of other coups in Nicaragua, Mauritania, and Madagascar the U.S. terminated aid agreements.