Rep. Ros-Lehtinen: The "strong-arm tactics" of the U.S. in Honduras Share This /

U.S. Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Florida) spoke on the floor of the House of Representatives yesterday to express her "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." Here are some excerpts from her speech. The full text can be found here.

• "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."
• "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."
• "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 current democratic government of Honduras accepts Zelaya's return to power.... 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."
• "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."
• "...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."