It's troubling the degree to which the media has misrepresented the Honduras situation and outright omitted important aspects of what's happened in the last few months. The only source of legitimate commentary on this has come from Mary Anastasia O'Grady with The Wall Street Journal.  

For those who haven't kept up with the news from Honduras, I've outlined what's happening here and here. 

President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton put together a team led by Thomas Shannon, to try and negotiate a deal between the two parties to put an end to the crisis. The negotiations came to a stand-still earlier this month because of one major point of disagreement. The interim government leaders argued that the decision on whether or not to re-instate Zelaya as President should be left to the Supreme Court. Zelaya disagreed and proposed that the decision should be made by Congress. The negotiations were dead until Shannon arrived in Tegucigalpa with a sense of urgency. Obama's administration came out strongly against the interim government and demanded that Zelaya be reinstated, blocking foreign aid otherwise. The interim government showed strength and determination to uphold their Constitution, and lamented the position of the international community. Obama's team continued putting more pressure on the interim government due to the fact that an election is scheduled for November 29; an election that the Obama Administration determined would not be "valid" unless Zelaya was re-instated first. Obama's Administration should have no business telling the Honduran Congress and Honduran Supreme Court how or whether they should follow their own constitution, but that's a judgement for the American people to make. 

The deal struck last night was due to American pressure and Hondura's need for international recognition. Let there be no doubt: the interim government strongly disagrees with the opinion of the American government, but in order to put the international community at ease, they obliged. The outcome was that the interim government agreed to allow the Honduran Congress to decide whether or not Zelaya should be re-instated before the elections next month (in which he supposedly cannot participate in, according to their Constitution). There are other aspects to the deal (which includes 9 major bullet points) including the creation of a Truth Commission in order to investigate the root of the crisis. All of this, you will likely hear over the next few days on the news.

Here's what you won't hear on the news. Zelaya's thugs have been violently traumatizing the Honduran population for the last three months. Non-union workers, or workers from other unions not tied to President Zelaya, have been regularly threatened and assaulted. Reporters, citizens, and politicians alike, have been under threat by the radical gang, followers of Zelaya. The Honduran people have been living in fear, and the American media and American government have done nothing but make matters worst. I have personally spoken to a number of Honduran citizens over the past few months, liberals and conservatives alike, all of whom overwhelmingly disagree with the position taken by the Obama Administration and by the nature of the media coverage of the crisis. 

Last week, the nephew of interim President Micheletti was killed; execution style. Also last week, the father of the Secretary of Defense was kidnapped and has yet to be found. Micheletti, as well as the Chief of the Military (who Zelaya fired before being deposed) have both received multiple death threats, which they have chosen to ignore.  

Even though the situation of the Honduran people is reason enough for all this to be reported, there's another reason why we should pay special attention to what's happening in Honduras. This is all happening while at the same time, in the nearby country of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega is successfully staging an actual coup.  The same exact kind of coup that Zelaya was trying to pull through his advocacy of "constitutional reform".  What has happened over the last week should worry any real advocate of Democracy. After an unsuccessful attempt to reform the constitution, Ortega organized a vote by the Supreme Court in which half of the members were not present, and a vote in which Ortega effectively nulled Article 147 of the Nicaraguan Constitution. Guess what that article says? Something about Presidential term limits? No re-election option? Hmmmm...sounds familiar. 

This is a very dangerous situation. It's safe to say that the pressure applied by the Obama administration for Zelaya to be re-instated has had an effect on what's going on in Nicaragua. This administration needs to realize that in other countries their words are used for propaganda, and while here in the US we see a divide between Republicans and Democrats over this issue, this is not a partisan issue in Nicaragua or Honduras. Micheletti is in the same liberal party as Zelaya. This is not right vs. left. This is not your everyday partisan disagreement. This is an all out attempt to overthrow the system of government and the political will of the Central American people; done by the radical leftist movement of Chavez/Ortega/Zelaya/Castro, of which now President Obama is (directly or indirectly) an advocate of. 

The Honduran Congress is going to vote soon on the reinstatement of Manuel Zelaya. We should watch this carefully. If the Congress votes against Zelaya's reinstatement, watch out for outrage and violence coming from Zelaya's supporters. If the Congress votes for the reinstatement of Zelaya, watch for him to attempt to put his name in the November 29 ballot. It will be curious to see what the Obama Administration does if the Honduran Congress decides not to reinstate Zelaya. Will Obama declare the result of the November 29 election valid? This is what the Honduran people need: to be given a legitimate opportunity to vote on their next President, without international interference, and without the threat of international backlash. Honduras is currently the most violent country in Central America, with Zelaya's thugs threatening the safety of every peaceful citizen of the poor country. Obama and his team need to wake up, look at what's happening in Honduras' neighboring countries, and realize that Democracy is under threat by a radical authoritarian movement under the mask of populism.