DeMint's view prevails

Sen. Jim DeMint had a big impact on reversal of U.S. policy toward the Honduras coup.

The Obama administration appears to have adopted a more pragmatic approach to the overthrow of the government in Honduras, and Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., played a key role bringing that about.

Immediately after the military coup on June 28, which removed President Mel Zelaya from office, the United States called for Zelaya's immediate reinstatement.

“We believe that the coup was not legal and that President Zelaya remains the democratically elected president there,” Obama said the day after Zelaya's ouster.

His reluctance to back the coup was understandable. The United States has a long history of supporting military dictatorships and strong-arm leaders in Latin America while helping them — both overtly and covertly — to quell popular uprisings.

Often, these relationships have been ones of expediency for the United States. But with the evolution of more democratic governments throughout the region, the United States has had to adjust.

Unfortunately, not all democratically elected governments in Latin America have been friendly to the United States. Honduran President Zelaya had aligned himself with Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, an outspoken critic of the United States and a close ally of Cuba's Fidel Castro.

Some, in fact, claim that Zelaya was bought and paid for by Chavez. When the coup occurred, Zelaya was campaigning to annul a constitutional clause limiting the president to a single term and to hold a referendum on the change. Chavez, similarly, has annulled term limits in his country, allowing him to seek office indefinitely.

DeMint was convinced that the coup was both constitutional and a boon to U.S. foreign policy. He has lobbied hard since the coup occurred and even has visited Honduras to consult with military leaders there.

His case was aided by a Honduran Supreme Court ruling, later approved by the Honduran Congress, that the military had followed constitutional provisions in removing Zelaya and installing Roberto Micheletti as interim president. Then, in August, a report by the nonpartisan Library of Congress concurred with DeMint, saying that Zelaya's ouster was legal.

And now, senior State Department officials have said that they will accept the outcome of Sunday's elections in Honduras. Neither Zelaya nor Micheletti will be on the ballot, but their political parties have leading candidates.

DeMint also said that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had given him her word that the United States no longer would insist on Zelaya's return to power. It appears DeMint's dogged insistence on supporting Zelaya's removal paid off.

The results of Sunday's election are hard to predict. Zelaya still has considerable support among segments of the population.

But it seems possible that a new government that is friendlier to the United States will emerge. And in the end, that would be a triumph for both practical U.S. foreign policy and the democratic process.