Don’t assume that Church leaders in Honduras agree with the Organization of American States in its efforts to return ousted former President Manuel Zelaya to power.

The American Spectator reports that Cardinal Óscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, speaking on behalf of all the country’s bishops, recently assigned all blame to Zelaya for launching the unconstitutional power grab that prompted his June 28 arrest and expulsion from the country.

The Spectator notes that little play has been given to Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga’s comments, which contradict the prevailing account in the American news media that echoes the Organization of American States in painting the leftist Zelaya as the victim of a reactionary coup:

“To the Organization of American States: We ask that you pay attention to all the was happening outside the law in Honduras and not only what happened starting on June 28,” Cardinal Rodriguez said, reading from a statement approved by the Honduran bishops. “The Honduras people are also asking why the warlike threats against our country have not been condemned,” he continued, by implication referring to invasion threats by Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez. “If the inter-American system is limited to protecting the system of ballot boxes but not to monitoring good governance and the prevention of political, economic, and social crises, a belated reaction in the face of these will be worth nothing to the international community.”

The Spectator article, which can be read here, explains that other Christian churches in Honduras have joined with its Catholic bishops supporting the actions undertaken at the instruction of the country’s Supreme Court and Congress in response to Zelaya’s bid to circumvent the constitutional requirement that he leave office next year.

This places the Honduran Christian leaders directly at odds with a number of U.S. Christian organizations that have sided with Zelaya, the Spectator reports:

Maybe thanks to the episcopal bishop in Honduras, the U.S. Episcopal Church did not join a “faith-based” coup condemnation by officials from other liberal led denominations and left-wing advocacy groups, including the United Methodist Board of Church and Society, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Washington Office, Church World Service of the National Council of Churches, the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, the Washington Office on Latin America, Witness for Peace, and School of the Americas Watch, among others.

“President Zelaya was forcibly removed from his home by the military and put on a plane to Costa Rica,” the activists complained. “The coup took place on the very day that a controversial non-binding referendum about the Honduran constitution had been scheduled.” The activists insisted that “actions by the Honduran military to arrest the president and force him out of the country cannot be accepted.” Included in the “faith-based” coup coalition were old and nearly forgotten groups not similarly excited since they lobbied for Central American Marxist insurgencies in the 1980s.