The stakes in Honduras’ political crisis have always been bigger than the country’s tiny size would suggest — and so it follows that the breakthrough engineered last week by the Obama administration is more than a minor diplomatic triumph.

At its root, the fight in Honduras has been over whether Latin American nations will remain committed to upholding liberal democracy and the rule of law, not only at home but for their neighbors. The alliance led by Hugo Chavez is promoting a rival model of populist authoritarianism — one that Honduras’s deposed president, Manuel Zelaya, was attempting to adopt. When the Honduran army arrested Zelaya in June and illegally deported him, it, too, violated democratic norms, thus providing Chavez and his client with a convenient means to rally support.

Not just Venezuela’s satellites but every other member of the Organization of American States joined in censuring Honduras. The subsequent intransigence of the de facto government of Roberto Micheletti — and the unthinking support it received from some Republicans in Congress — only added fuel to Chavez’s fire.

The beauty of the U.S.-brokered deal is that it is founded on democratic process — the very thing the Chavistas want to destroy. The Honduran Congress will vote on whether to restore Zelaya to office for the three months remaining in his term. Zelaya says he has the votes to return as president, but if he does, he will head a “government of reconciliation,” and the armed forces will report to the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, a presidential election previously scheduled for Nov. 29 will go forward with international support and regional recognition for the winner. Neither of the two leading presidential candidates supports Zelaya or his agenda, which means that Honduras’s democracy should be preserved, and Chavez’s attempted coup rebuffed.

Continued U.S. involvement will be needed to ensure that the deal is implemented. If it succeeds, the Obama administration will have the standing and the obligation to insist that the OAS start paying attention to other breaches of the Inter-American Democratic Charter. A good place to start would be neighboring Nicaragua, where would-be strongman Daniel Ortega is entrenching himself in power through fraudulent elections and orchestrated violence.

(This editorial first appeared in the Washington Post.)