29 June 2009

Coup d'etat in Honduras

This past weekend on Sunday 28 June 2009, the currently elected President of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, was taken into custody by Honduran soldiers and forced onto a plane and into exile.  He was replaced by congressional successor Roberto Micheletti.  According to news reports, President Zelaya is very unpopular among the Honduran people and is approaching the end of his elected term of office; however, the congress and courts allegedly couldn't wait and ordered his removal from office by force.  Can you imagine troops storming the gates of the White House?  Take a moment to be thankful for being an American.  Far to many people don't truly know or appreciate what that means.

Unfortunately, political and social stability have never been terms synonymous with Central America, although there hasn't been a successful coup in more than a decade and I think the last attempted (and unfortunately failed) one was against Hugo Chavez in 2002.  With a large quantity of the world's premium tobacco crop grown, and several makers in Honduras, I wonder what affect this may have on the availability and cost of cigars.  Additionally, the Obama administration has spoken out in protest of the coup which leads one to wonder whether economic sanctions may be imposed preventing the importation of Honduran products into the United States.  Lets hope things work out for the best, not only because of our love of premium cigars, but for the Honduran people who could use a break.

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