I admit now that I was wrong, and that what happened on June 28, 2009 in Honduras was a coup d’Etat.

In this blog I have defended the thesis that in June 28, 2009 there was a constitutional succession in Honduras, and that Roberto Micheletti was a legitimate President. Although I initially said it was a coup, then I backed down, but I always kept expressing my doubts.

This is an issue that has been spinning round in my head, and I realize that my utter contempt for the figure of Zelaya led me to support a de facto regime in my country.

This is an issue I had in the back of my mind, but the new revelations of Wikileaks have made me see the Honduran crisis in a new perspective.

I do not know how reliable Wikileaks is, I argue that we should not believe something just because a cable published by Wikileaks says it, but the alleged reports of Ambassador Hugo Llorens make much sense to me.

It seems that there was no arrest warrant against Zelaya, the warrant was fabricated after the fact by the coup makers. The military simply decided to oust Zelaya and abort the referendum that was to take place that day. They had no authority to do so. It was a clear act of abuse of authority.

This argument of “necessity” of the military collapses, according to which they justified the expulsion of Zelaya under the guise of saving lives. How are lives going to be saved through a coup? It’s absurd.

The Zelaya’s resignation letter was an obvious forgery, a clumsy move of the coup makers. Congress was not authorized to remove a president, despite the twisted interpretation of a legal report of the US Library of Congress.

Article 239 of the Constitution has been used repeatedly to justify the coup. It was said that Zelaya was promoting the presidential reelection, so he was automatically dismissed from the presidency, so that when the military kidnapped Zelaya he was no longer president.

However, even if this is true, the Constitution also holds the principle of presumption of innocence. Every Honduran has the right to due process, but this right was denied to Zelaya when he was removed from the country. Therefore, Micheletti committed the crime of usurpation of functions and abuse of authority. Roberto Micheletti served as a de facto president, the legitimate president was still Zelaya.

Roberto Micheletti is not a hero who saved the country from falling into the clutches of communism. Roberto Micheletti grossly violated the Constitution while pretending to save it. There is no justification for the coup, none whatsoever.

It was said that Zelaya had planned to dissolve the Congress and the Supreme Court, and to immediately convene a National Constituent Assembly. This was the justification for the coup of Roberto Micheletti. To prove this they cite the decree PCM-020-2009, but that decree refers to the installation of a fourth ballot box in the November 2009 elections, it does not speak of immediately convening a Constituent Assembly. Micheletti therefore lied to justify the coup and probably conspired with the military to execute the coup. There was no imminent threat to justify such a serious crime.

I apologize to my readers for having supported a coup. I am not a follower of Zelaya, and never will be, but I maintain that the perpetrators of the coup and those who supported the coup also owe apologies to the people of Honduras.