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GAO-12-9R 1 (2011-10-20)

handle is hein.gao/gaobacfkf0001 and id is 1 raw text is: GAO Acona ity * Integrity * Reliability United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548 October 20, 2011 Congressional Requesters Subject: Review of U.S. Response to the Honduran Political Crisis of 2009 On June 28, 2009, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was detained by his country's military and flown to Costa Rica. Zelaya's removal from Honduras followed several months of political polarization within Honduras in response to a number of controversial actions taken by Zelaya, including efforts to hold a national poll on June 28, 2009. Zelaya's stated purpose for the poll was to ask Hondurans if there should be a referendum on whether the country should convoke a national constituent assembly to approve a new constitution. However, Honduran officials from other government institutions stated that they believed Zelaya would use the results of the poll to suspend the Honduran constitution. Immediately following the removal of Zelaya, the Honduran National Congress voted in Roberto Micheletti, President of the National Congress at the time, to replace Zelaya as President of Honduras. U.S. policy toward Honduras in the months preceding Zelaya's removal was to support the rule of law and the Honduran constitution, and to encourage Honduras' political actors to resolve their differences consensually and within Honduran law. In response to Zelaya's removal, U.S. officials characterized the events of June 28, 2009, as a coup. On the day of Zelaya's removal, President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton released statements calling on Hondurans to respect democratic norms and the constitutional order, and to resolve their political disputes peacefully and through dialogue. The U.S. Ambassador to Honduras characterized Zelaya's removal as a breakdown of the constitutional order and noted that President Obama would only recognize Zelaya as the legitimate president of Honduras. U.S. policy after Zelaya's removal was to assist Honduras in reaching a legal, constitutional, and negotiated resolution to the political crisis, which would include allowing for Zelaya's return to the Honduran presidency. As the crisis persisted, U.S policy also sought to ensure that the already scheduled November 2009 presidential election would be conducted in such a way that the international community could accept the results and recognize the winner as the legitimate president of Honduras. In response to your request, this report provides unclassified information we obtained to describe U.S. actions in response to President Zelaya's removal, GAO-12-9R Honduran Political Crisis 2009

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