America’s pompous attitude at times is quite nauseating.
The Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was ousted from power on June 28 this year. On Sept. 3 the United States threatened to put Honduras “in a box” because they refuse to recognize the winner of the presidential election, according to The Washington Post in a report on Sept. 4.
U.S. officials have said that they will continue to shun the country unless the Honduran leaders reverted back to a negotiated plan for Zelaya to return to power with limited powers until his term expires in December, according to the report.
The country’s citizens ousted Zelaya after a constitutional succession, and the Honduran Supreme Court issued a warrant for Zelaya’s arrest for his “blatant violations of our constitution,” said Roberto Micheletti in a story published in The Washington Post this week.
The supporters of this coup feared that Zelaya would have introduced the socialist-style agenda that Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela and also the leader of an anti-America bloc in Western hemisphere, promotes.
Shortly after the country initiated this coup, the U.S. State Department fomally terminated the already suspended $30 million in aid that the Honduran government had been receiving.
The country has fair and transparent elections scheduled for Nov. 29, according to Micheletti. The United States stands by the decision to shun the country because if Zelaya is not returned to power, Honduras will be violating the San Jose Accords, which were negotiated in San Jose, Costa Rica. Honduras will be able to return to previous interactions with the United States “once the regime embraces and faithfully implements the San Jose Accord,” said Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) in The Washington Post.
If the Honduran people see fit to oust their leader from power because they do not believe him to be a competent leader for the country, then who are we to say that they are wrong?
The American government names itself the leading power in the world, and with its self-proclaimed title, it continues to force its opinions and policies onto unwanting recipients. The same government that proclaims freedom and equality for its people will not allow the same for countries and governments in which the United States ultimately has no say. If the Honduran people do not agree with the government that is currently in power, then they should be given the freedom to choose another leader. This seems logical to most people.
However, the American government acts as if a country behaves in a way that is against the wishes of the self-proclaimed greatest power in the world, then it has a right to not only speak out about these actions, but the right to shun them.
Imagine if you would wake up tomorrow and your roommate disagreed with your breakfast choice for the day and decreed that if you didn’t change your particular cereal choice then you would be shunned until the offense was righted. If you’re anything like me, you would look at your roommate like he or she was crazy. So why does our government think they have the right to do this to other countries?
America is not the world. We are one small piece of the world, and we need to start respecting other countries’ opinions and choices.
*Courtesy of The George-Anne
