On Sunday morning of June 28, the then president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, was taken by force by a group of soldiers who put him on a plane and sent him to Costa Rica.

They had received an arrest warrant in order to put him at the orders of Honduran legal authorities; however, what they did was to send him to Costa Rica.

How is this justified? Was this not illegal? Who gave the order to send him to Costa Rica?

According to Colonel Herberth Inestroza Bayardo, legal adviser of the Armed Forces, the decision to send him to Costa Rica was taken by the Armed Forces. They disobeyed the court order even though they knew they were committing a felony: “We know there’s a felony. At the time we took him out of the country there was a felony”. However, this decision was taken to prevent a tragedy in Honduras. “If we had left him here we would now be burying a lot of people.” “What was more beneficial, to take this man out of Honduras or to take him to the Public Ministry where a mob would storm, burn and destroy, forcing us to shoot at them?”

This decision was made based on the legal principle of necessity, which states that is best to choose a lesser evil. This principle is “a defense in the Criminal Code, article 24.” The military hoped legal authorities will know of these circumstances, and then “we will have a justification and a defense that will protect us.”

This being so, there is no sign of a military coup. The military took a decision based on justice.

See interview at elfaro.net.