And just to add one more layer to the confusion: Sen. Jim DeMint, a Republican senator from South Carolina, has come out in support of the coup. And strangely enough, his reasoning sounds very similar to that of Honduran bloggers.

via Huffington Post:

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) has come out in support of the military coup in Honduras, chastising President Obama in a statement for what he calls “a slap in the face to the people” of that country.

From his statement:

“The people of Honduras have struggled too long to have their hard-won democracy stolen from them by a Chavez-style dictator. The Honduran Congress, the Honduran Supreme Court, and the Honduran military have acted in accordance to the Honduran constitution and the rule of law. [...]

“I am hopeful that as President Obama grows in office, he will eventually turn away from despots like Ahmadinejad, Chavez, Castro, and Zelaya, and give the United States’ full-throated support to the people of any country who are fighting for the same values we cherish and defend in America. The people fighting for freedom around the world, in Iran and Honduras, should never have to wonder which side America will choose between freedom and tyranny.

“President Obama’s call for the reinstatement of Zelaya is a slap in the face to the people of Honduras. And the resolution written by the Organization of American States tramples over the hopes and dreams of a free and democratic people.

“The rule of law is working in Honduras. President Obama should not undermine the democratic institutions that guarantee freedom by forcing an illegitimate President back into power.

The big question now appears to be, who gets listened to in this case? Latino congressional members say boo! on coup. White conservative members say yay! Honduras appears to be saying yay as well, but the entire rest of world leaders say boo. Nobody likes the evil socialists, so capitalists say boo, but social justice people think that socialism is the lesser of two evils–so they say yay.

Everybody is screaming “rule of law”–but in Latin American nobody really has any clue what that means, and Indigenous peoples wish we would all shut up and get the hell out.

What is to be done?

Yes, Latin@’s you have stumped my ass again.