The New York Times' Love affair with the Honduran Coup

"Hondurans know their coups, having experienced a string of them — in 1955, 1963 and 1972. This latest ouster of a president, though, was far more complicated than previous military raids because it included legal opinions, a court declaration and congressional resolutions, as well as guns pointed at the president when the army shuttled him out of the country in a predawn raid. “I’ve lived through coup d’états and this wasn’t that,” said a Zelaya foe, Thelma H. Enriquez, 83, who was awakened early Sunday morning when commandos stormed the president’s home, which is not far from her own. “I was surprised that he was removed like this, but he was a criminal and when I found out he was gone I was thrilled.” Many Hondurans had reached their wits’ end with Mr. Zelaya, who was elected in 2005 by the smallest margin in Honduran electoral history, less than 4 percentage points. As he has drifted to the left, and allied himself with President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, his support has plummeted, to somewhere around 30 percent, according to recent polls."