- 18 52. Several international organizations, including the OAS General Assembly and Permanent Council and the UN General Assembly condemned what happened and classified to it as a coup d’état.69 53. In the case of the OAS, on June 25, 2009, the Government of Honduras, through its representative to the OAS, requested that the Permanent Council be convened urgently to examine “the risk to the democratic institutional political process and/or the legitimate exercise of power in the Republic of Honduras.”70 On June 26, the Permanent Council issued a resolution in support of democracy and the rule of law in Honduras and resolved to call on “all the political and social actors involved to ensure that their actions respect the rule of law, in order to avoid a disruption of the constitutional order”; and to “instruct the Secretary General to establish a Special Commission to visit Honduras as a matter of urgency, with a view to analyzing the facts and contributing to broad national dialogue aimed at finding democratic solutions to the current situation, and to report back to the Permanent Council.”71 54. On June 28, 2009, the Permanent Council held a special meeting in which it resolved: “[t]o condemn vehemently the coup d’état staged this morning against the constitutionally-established Government of Honduras, and the arbitrary detention and expulsion from the country of the constitutional president José Manuel Zelaya Rosales, which has produced an unconstitutional alteration of the democratic order,” demanded the immediate return of the President, and declared that no government arising from this unconstitutional interruption would be recognized.72 55. On July 1, 2009, the OAS General Assembly issued a resolution that also strongly condemned the coup d’état, instructing the OAS Secretary General “to undertake, […], diplomatic initiatives aimed at restoring democracy and the rule of law,” and warning that “[s]hould these prove unsuccessful within 72 hours, the Special General Assembly shall forthwith invoke Article 21 of the Inter-American Democratic Charter to suspend Honduras’ membership.” 73 56. In view of the fact that the diplomatic initiatives undertaken by the OAS Secretary General were unable to achieve the reinstatement of President Zelaya, on July 4, 2009, implementing article 69 Cf. Resolution of the OAS General Assembly on the Political Crisis in Honduras. OEA/Ser.P AG/RES 1 (XXXVII-E/09), of July 1, 2009. Available at: http://www.oas.org/consejo/sp/AG/37SGA.asp#inf; Resolution of the OAS Permanent Council on the Current situation in Honduras. CP/RES. 953 (1700/09), June 28, 2009. Available at: http://www.oas.org/consejo sp/resoluciones/res953.asp, and Resolution of the United Nations General Assembly on Situation in Honduras: democracy breakdown, A/RES/63/301, July 1, 2009. Available at: http://www.un.org/es/comun/docs/?symbol=A/RES/63/301. 70 OAS, Permanent Council, Timeline of recent OAS engagement in Honduras: June-November 2009. OEA/Ser.GCP/INF.5938/09 corr. 1, November 23, 2009. Available at: http://www.oas.org/consejo/Documents% 20INF2009.asp. 71 Resolution of the OAS Permanent Council on the Situation in Honduras. CP/RES. 952 (1699/09), of June 26, 2009. Available at: http://www.oas.org/council/resolutions/res952.asp. 72 Cf. Resolution of the OAS Permanent Council on the Current Situation in Honduras. CP/RES. 953 (1700/09), June 28, 2009. Available at: http://www.oas.org/council/resolutions/res953.asp, and minutes of the special meeting of the OAS Permanent Council on June 28, 2009. Available at: http://www.oas.org/consejo/sp/actas/acta1700.pdf 73 Resolution of the OAS General Assembly on the Political Crisis in Honduras. OEA/Ser.P AG/RES 1 (XXXVII-E/09), of July 1, 2009. Available at: http://www.oas.org/consejo/sp/AG/37SGA.asp#inf. Article 21 of the Inter-American Democratic Charter stipulates that: “[w]hen the special session of the General Assembly determines that there has been an unconstitutional interruption of the democratic order of a member state, and that diplomatic initiatives have failed, the special session shall take the decision to suspend said member state from the exercise of its right to participate in the OAS by an affirmative vote of two thirds of the member states in accordance with the Charter of the OAS. The suspension shall take effect immediately. The suspended member state shall continue to fulfill its obligations to the Organization, in particular its human rights obligations. Notwithstanding the suspension of the member state, the Organization will maintain diplomatic initiatives to restore democracy in that state.”