U.S.: Honduras Coup a "Lesson" for Zelaya Not to Follow Venezuela's Path
July 23rd 2009, by James Suggett
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4652
excerpt:
Mérida, July 22nd 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) -- The military coup that ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya last month should serve as a "lesson" for Zelaya to steer clear of Venezuela's Bolivarian Revolution and President Hugo Chavez, according to U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Philip Crowley.In a press conference on Monday, Cowley stated, "We certainly think that if we were choosing a model government and a model leader for countries of the region to follow, that the current leadership in Venezuela would not be a particular model. If that is the lesson that President Zelaya has learned from this episode, that would be a good lesson."
On June 28th, the Honduran military kidnapped Zelaya and deposited him in Costa Rica, and Roberto Michelleti, a fellow party member of Zelaya and head of the Congress at the time, took over as de facto president.
Coup government officials have cited Honduras's entrance into the Venezuela-led fair trade group known as ALBA (Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America) last year, and Zelaya's initiative to allow Hondurans to elect an assembly to re-write the nation's constitution, as motivations for the coup.