At approximately five in the morning on June 28, 2009 Honduran soldiers stormed into the residence of the democratically-elected president Manuel Zelaya in Tegucigalpa and forcibly exiled him to Costa Rica. Later that day, the National Congress installed Roberto Micheletti, the Speaker of the House, as the de facto president of Honduras.

The breakdown of democracy in Honduras in an issue of extreme importance to the Organization of American States (OAS). In this committee, delegates will address how this crisis affects the hemisphere. How will the OAS strive to prevent breakdowns of democracy in the future? Can the OAS work to ensure that the Cold War tradition of military takeovers of democracies does not resume in Latin America? The future of Latin America is in the hands of delegates, who will address issues such as social inequality in order to ensure that democracy is preserved in the region.

Chair: Katie Tongalson,