It looks like the political crisis in Honduras has been resolved. Ousted President Manuel Zelaya and his rival, Mr. Roberto Micheletti, reached agreement last week on a deal that will allow the deposed president to complete his term and permit the country to hold elections to replace him later this month. The agreement is a victory for constitutional order in Honduras and may even provide a foundation for broader national reconciliation. It is also a victory for the United States, whose energetic diplomacy produced the deal.
The crisis began four months ago on June 28 when Mr. Zelaya was roused from his bed in the early morning hours by the military, bundled onto a plane and sent to Costa Rica. He was charged with ignoring a Supreme Court order to abandon a planned referendum that would have allowed him to rewrite the country's constitution. His opponents allege that Mr. Zelaya was plotting a "coup" by changing the charter and lifting the ban on presidential re-election, an accusation that Mr. Zelaya denies.
Equally significant for his detractors was the increasingly close relationship the president had forged with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Mr. Chavez is a leftist firebrand who styles himself the regional leader of socialist forces throughout Latin America. It is hard to imagine a relationship that would provoke greater anxiety and anger in Honduras.