A generation ago the spectacle of a Latin American president bundled out of the country in his pyjamas by rebellious generals would hardly have raised an eyebrow. Coups were a regular feature of the political landscape. The only surprise would have been that he had been sent into exile — albeit only in his nightwear. Most were simply shot.

President Zelaya of Honduras is the first leader in Central America to be overturned by a coup since the end of the Cold War. It is a measure of the extraordinary advance of democracy in a continent previously caricatured as the realm of strutting generals, with ever more vacuous medals on their chests, moving straight from the barracks to the presidential palace.

As if to underline the change Argentina held elections on the same day as Mr Zelaya was ousted. The vote dealt a heavy blow to President Kirchner, who may now be forced to reshuffle her Cabinet, adjust her economic policies and fight off Peronist rivals encouraged by this blow to the family dynasty. But nowhere is there any talk of the military waiting in the wings — as there was in Argentina 30 years ago — nor of an angry leader using military force to alter the political balance.

The Honduran coup was not quite as undemocratic as those that used to be spurred by a power struggle, military ambition or personal pique. For the past week, tensions have been rising in Tegucigalpa over Mr Zelaya’s determination to seek a second term, a move that was ruled unconstitutional by the country’s top court. The Honduran Congress said that it voted unanimously to remove the President for “apparent misconduct” and repeated violations of the constitution.

The military argued, therefore, that it was only enforcing the law on a president who was determined to get round it with a referendum. More importantly, the military was angered by Mr Zelaya’s sacking of General Romeo Vasquez after army commanders refused to distribute referendum ballot boxes.

Whatever the pretext, other Latin American leaders have refused to accept the legitimacy of the coup. Chief among the critics has been President Chávez of Venezuela, who threatened to “bring down” any successor government in Honduras.

There is rich irony in this. Mr Chávez first came to power by a coup — and was then briefly deposed by an abortive coup against him in 2002. Yet he recently adopted the same tactic as Mr Zelaya of changing the constitution to allow himself to run again and remain in power. And his threat of intervention hardly looks like a democratic response to events in another Latin American country.

President Ortega of Nicaragua also condemned the coup. He himself was a committed Marxist when he first held power, determined to change his country’s constitution — and became the target of a guerrilla movement financed by the Reagan Administration to overthrow him. The fact that he is now back in office but no longer under the Marxist banner, elected under democratic rules, says much about the political change in the region.

Other democratic leaders have also voiced their concern over Honduras. President Lula of Brazil said he could not recognise any other government than Mr Zelaya’s. Brazil, like neighbouring Argentina, was once the domain of the military, who regularly seized power if they objected to the policies of weak, and often corrupt, civilian rulers. A coup there would now be unthinkable.

Over the past generation the anchoring of democracy throughout Latin America has been remarkable. The Pinochet dictatorship has left deep scars in Chile, as have the generals who murdered some 30,000 people in Argentina. Both have been swept away. Bolivia and Peru have also seen the violent overthrow of established rulers. But few now see a threat of the military returning, even if the political balance in each remains precarious.

The military overthrew President Aristide of Haiti in 1991, who was reinstated with US aid in 1994 but ousted once again after a rebellion in 2004 in which soldiers participated. Haiti remains in a poor and precarious state and is the country where another coup is most likely.

The last full military coup in Central America was in Guatemala in 1993, when military officials refused to accept President Serrano’s attempt to seize absolute power and removed him. But military force rarely wins friends around the world or in the United Nations. Little wonder that Cuba has added its voice to the condemnation of Honduran soldiers: that, at least in propaganda terms, puts Havana on the side of democracy.

It may not be enough to restore Mr Zelaya to office and to his daytime clothes. But his rebellious generals will find it hard to win support for their actions. Coups and democratic credentials rarely go together.

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