[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 125 (Tuesday, September 8, 2009)]
[House]
[Pages H9309-H9310]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            IMPLEMENTING A PROPER U.S. APPROACH TO HONDURAS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to express my deep 
concern regarding the most recent strong-arm tactics of the U.S. 
Government to coerce the people of Honduras into accepting the return 
of former President Manuel Zelaya into power.
  Have some U.S. officials forgotten what democracy really is? 
Democracy does not belong to nor is defined by one man nor one 
government. It cannot survive without respect for the rule of law. Yet 
this has been forgotten.
  The U.S. and the international community failed the Honduran people 
and Honduran democracy as Zelaya violated the constitution and took 
unilateral actions to extend his hold on power. Our government said and 
did nothing as democracy came under attack in the months leading up to 
Zelaya's removal from office. Yet when the Honduran Supreme Court, the 
Attorney General, the National Congress and the human rights ombudsman 
took the necessary steps in accordance with the constitutional tenets, 
then the U.S. and the amorphous international community quickly sprung 
into action to defend Zelaya and punish Honduran democratic 
institutions and virtually all of Honduran civil society.
  With no apparent regard for U.S. security or political or economic 
interests, the United States is doing all we can to ensure that Zelaya 
is put back in charge. The U.S. has terminated millions of dollars in 
U.S. assistance to the people of Honduras. We have stopped critical 
counternarcotics cooperation. We have suspended necessary visa 
services. Last week, the State Department declared that the 
presidential elections to be held in late November in Honduras will not 
be recognized unless Zelaya is returned to power.
  As the U.S. has been employing its harshest tactics against the 
Honduran government and the Honduran people, the U.S. has also at the 
same time eased restrictions on the Cuban dictatorship, pushed for 
engagement and dialogue with the Cuban, Syrian and Iranian regimes, 
while failing to hold Chavez and Correa accountable for the blatant 
violations of freedom of expression and other fundamental rights of 
their citizens.
  The U.S. has crossed a dangerous threshold by announcing, as I 
stated, that we will not acknowledge the upcoming Honduran elections 
unless the

[[Page H9310]]

current democratic government of Honduras accepts Zelaya's return to 
power. This threat not only deliberately ignores the rule of law and 
the checks and balances carefully crafted in the Honduran constitution 
to prevent the rise of tyranny, but it also seeks to replace them with 
mandates from outside actors who are carrying water for Chavez, for 
Castro, for Zelaya and the like. The U.S. position undermines the 
fundamental right of the Honduran people to elect their own leaders in 
multiparty, transparent democratic elections, free from coercion.
  How our present course of action serves our interests or supports 
Honduran democracy remains an important yet unanswered question. Elliot 
Abrams, currently at the Council of Foreign Relations and a former 
official with the Reagan Administration, recently wrote it was Zelaya 
who wanted to mess around with that election and hold a referendum on 
that date, allowing him to be reelected in perpetuity, just as his 
mentor Chavez had done in Venezuela, and now that Hondurans want to go 
back to regular elections, what does the U.S. do? The United States 
won't allow them to do so.
  The presidential candidates in Honduras, Madam Speaker, have not 
changed since Zelaya was removed from office. The dates of the election 
have not changed. The presidential term has not been moved or modified. 
The Supreme Electoral Tribunal is taking steps to ensure that this is 
the most transparent election in Honduran history.

                              {time}  2015

  The U.S. should be assisting rather than undermining the preparations 
for the upcoming elections to ensure that there is no interference with 
the democratic electoral process in Honduras. Mary Anastasia O'Grady of 
the Wall Street Journal wrote, ``A lot of Hondurans believe that the 
U.S. isn't using its brass knuckles to serve their democratic 
aspirations at all, but quite the opposite, the aspirations of a 
neighborhood thug. Though some in our country believe that being 
popular among Latin America's left-wing dictators is the key to a 
successful U.S. policy in our hemisphere, freedom must be and must 
remain our driving force.'' Freedom, Madam Speaker. If it is not, the 
U.S. would have not only forgotten the meaning of democracy but would 
have forgotten what our Nation is, what we stand for and what defines 
us. Freedom.

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