Of course, US Republicans would rather support brutal local dictators, who represent narrow wealthy oligarchic elites who abuse the general population, and even massacre them at times, and of course who also conveniently support American corporate interests in their "banana republics". That's why the USA under Republican leadership has always been so reviled in Latin America.

What happened in Honduras is an outrageous and unacceptable military coup d'etat, a great leap backwards in a part of the world that has painfully learned the value of democratic rule over dictatorship. There is absolutely no justification - no matter how popular or unpopular the actions of Zelaya. He was a lame duck President whose term would have ended in six months. Nobody is buying the military's sorry excuse for the violent overthrow. The Supreme Court in Honduras could have ruled that the (non-binding!) referendum was merely a private poll by Zelaya and had no bearing - but show me where in the Honduran Constitution the military has the right to violently invade the Presidential home, round up the democratically elected President in his pyjamas, and take by force his family, and his guards, and exile them out of the country. It's an outrage.

Every single country in the OAS, on the left, center, and right, has correctly condemned this coup, and thankfully so has the US gov't under Obama. For a change the US gov't is in step with the rest of the Americas, and is no longer giving support to right-wing murderers and military thugs in Latin America and that change is greatly appreciated.