New Civil War!

Those defending the Honduran government for rousting the democratically elected President out of bed and into a plane leaving the country and installing a new leader always claim that Mel Zelaya was attempted to subvert the Constitution by seeking a second term, justifying the coup. Clearly, then, if Zelaya would give up that claim and agree to even earlier elections than required by law, there could be some common ground, right? As long as the Constitution was defended and all that. But no:

Talks to resolve the coup crisis in Honduras collapsed Sunday after the de facto government refused a mediator's proposal to reinstate ousted President Manuel Zelaya.

The failure of negotiations under the direction of Costa Rican President Oscar Arias dashed the most promising diplomatic effort aimed at ending the crisis and raised the specter of more violence.

"What is the alternative to dialogue?" a disappointed Arias said in San Jose, the Costa Rican capital. "Possibly . . . there could be a civil war, or bloodshed, that the Honduran people do not deserve." [...]

Carlos Lopez, representing the de facto Honduran government as foreign minister, said it would not agree to the brief reinstatement of Zelaya, the first of seven points proposed by Arias.

"I am very sorry," Lopez said to Arias, "but the proposals you have presented are unacceptable."

He said efforts to reinstate "petitioning citizen Mr. Zelaya" represented foreign interference in Honduran affairs. He likened Zelaya's purported violation of the Honduran Constitution to "a woman being raped by the person obliged to defend her."

So much for understatement!

In addition to reinstating Zelaya, the deal would have moved up elections, installed a "national unity government" with new cabinet ministers from all major parties, and gave amnesty for any coup-related crimes. That's everything the coup plotters say they wanted. What they actually sought was power through the barrel of a gun.