Coup Knew?
I just wrote Edward Schumacher-Matos about the so-called “coup” in Honduras, so called, because the State Department has yet to decide if, legally speaking, it was actually a coup. Below is my correspondence with Mr. Schumacher-Matos, a writer syndicated by the Washington Post Writers Group, who, by the way, says the Hillary Clinton “declined to call the action a coup.” Not if you believe what she said on Monday, June 29 at a State Department Briefing.
Per the former Senator, in response to a reporter’s question: “Well, we do think that this has evolved into a coup.”
Any way, here’s my correspondence:
MR. KELLY: Right.
QUESTION: And therefore triggers the aid cutoff.
MR. KELLY: Yeah.
QUESTION: Is that review complete? You had also said you didn’t think it would take that long.
MR. KELLY: Yeah.
QUESTION: Is it complete, and have you made a determination?
MR. KELLY: Yeah. It’s always dangerous when you put any kind of time-related adverb on any statement. In point of fact, we have not completed our legal determination. As I said yesterday, though, our legal advisers are actively assessing the facts and the law in question, which we take very seriously. We take our obligations under that law very seriously. And of course, I’ll let you know as soon as this determination is made.
That’s on the legal side. Of course, there’s also the diplomatic side, which has been extremely active. We’re very focused on this multilateral process that’s taking place now, particularly through the Organization of American States. As you know, the Secretary General Insulza of the OAS has a mandate to get the government that – the self-proclaimed government down there to step down and restore the duly elected president, Mr. Zelaya. The Secretary General has, as you know, 72 hours to do this. And we, of course, are – want to play a constructive role in that process.
MR. KELLY: Yeah, I do have an update for you on that if you’ll just hold on a second.
The legal review is ongoing. We’re trying to determine if Section 7008 of the Foreign Assistance Act must be applied. In the meantime, we’ve taken some actions to hit the pause button, let’s say, on assistance programs that we would be legally required to terminate if it is determined – if the events of June 28 are determined to have been, as defined – I’m sounding more and more like a lawyer here – as defined, under the Section 7008 of the Foreign Assistance Act, as defined as a military coup.
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