Democrats begin to change stance on Ousted Honduran President Zelaya

When Honduran President and Chavez ally Manual Zelaya was first removed from power, Democrats were outraged and called for his immediate reinstatement. A hasty meeting with Secretary of State Clinton was arranged. Now, some democrats have gone from demanding he be reinstated to pointing out he was ignoring his country’s own Supreme Court, legislature and political party.

From The Hill:

There are tentative signs from Democrats in Congress of support for the forces that removed Honduras President Manuel Zelaya from power at the end of June.

Rep. Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), chairman of a key House subcommittee with jurisdiction over Honduras, roundly criticized both factions at a Friday hearing. But he also stopped short of calling for Zelaya’s immediate reinstatement, which he’d done in previous statements.

While Engel said the United States and its allies in the Western Hemisphere could not tolerate what appeared to be a military coup, he said Zelaya had ignored his country’s own Supreme Court, legislature and even members of his political party when he sought to change the constitution by seeking a second term as president.

“When the entire political establishment speaks and expresses dire concerns, the President needed to listen. From everything I can see, he did not,” Engel said during the hearing of his House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere.

In a statement on June 29, a day after Zelaya was removed, Engel called for Zelaya’s immediate reinstatement.

“I strongly condemn the removal of President Zelaya and believe that he should be reinstated without delay,” Engel said in the statement.