World Notes Honduras

The President threatened to declare a state of siege, and the national police's "Cobra" antiriot unit took up positions around the National Assembly and the Supreme Court in the capital of Tegucigalpa. Was the army about to take control again in Honduras, a U.S. ally that has been under a military dictatorship for all but three of the past 20 years? It was not, but President Roberto Suazo Cordova, who ordered the deployment of his security forces last week, nonetheless spoke of a "technical coup"--one carried out not by the army but by the legislature.

The power struggle was triggered by an Assembly vote to remove five of nine Supreme Court judges, all friends of the President, for alleged corruption. The high court is appointed by the legislature, and the dismissals were linked to political maneuvering in anticipation of national elections next November. After five new Justices were sworn in by a defiant Assembly, Suazo Cordova reportedly issued arrest orders for all of them; authorities detained Ramon Valladares Soto, who had been appointed Chief Justice, and charged him with treason. At week's end a Western observer described the situation in Tegucigalpa as "very fragile."