Honduras Natives Glad President Manuel Zelaya was Ousted, Though Not by Military Coup

The recent military coup of President Manual Zelaya of Honduras has been getting its share of the media attention this week. Pictures of soldiers brandishing their guns and wearing fierce scowls are dominating the news and making the Honduran military look like the Axis of Evil.

But what is really happening in Honduras from the people's perspective, and why has all of this happened? I spoke with a few people in Honduras this morning and got their side of the story, and it was nothing like what I expected.

What is all this about a military coup in Honduras, and why President Manuel Zelaya?
To start, I would like to give a rundown from the people in Honduras as to what this conflict is all about.

Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, a less than popular government figure in Honduras who is believed to have allowed a great deal of cocaine smuggling out of the country and into the United States, is nearing the end of his term. In an attempt to hold on to his power, Manuel Zelaya attempted to change the Honduran Constitution to allow himself another term.

In an effort to hold on to the Constitution of Honduras and to allow elections to run as they should, the Honduran military removed Manuel Zelaya soil in order to "protect democracy."

How do people feel about the military coup?
When I asked my contacts in Honduras how they and the rest of Honduras felt about the military coup, they said that the overwhelming majority of people were happy to see Manuel Zelaya gone. Zelaya had been viewed as a corrupt leader, and only 3-4% of people actually still support him.

Manuel Zelaya called for peaceful protests after being removed from power. One of my contacts in Honduras said that the largest of those protests involved less than 200 people in Tegucigalpa, the second largest city in Honduras.

How has the military coup affected the people of Honduras?
When asked how they had been affected by the military coup, many Hondurans say that everything is "life as usual." The man who replaced Zelaya after he was ousted had already been serving in a role much like that of the American Vice President, and is much more well respected.

"People are glad to be rid of (Zelaya)," said one Honduran. "We're all just hoping that everything will die down in the next couple of days."

Military coup not what Hondurans had hoped for
The one thing that my Honduran contacts agreed on was that a military coup might not have been the best way to keep Manuel Zelaya from exercising his power over Honduras. However, while a military coup might not have been the best method of ousting president Manuel Zelaya, the Honduran people are still glad to have gotten rid of their president.