HONDURAS: STATE DEPT. KEEPS SLAPPING AN ALLY
REVIEW & OUTLOOK
JANUARY 25, 2010
Hammering Honduras The State Department keeps slapping an ally.
Honduras will inaugurate president-elect Porfirio Lobo this week, two months after one of the world’s most recently famous little countries held a successful democratic election. So we are left to wonder why the United States State Department is still trying to hammer anyone there who dared to participate last summer in the constitutional removal of President Manuel Zelaya from office.
The U.S. has formally recognized the November presidential election, and the State Department tells us it also recognizes the congress’s second vote to remove Mr. Zelaya. So what’s the problem?
It appears that State’s pettiness still flows from the refusal of interim president Roberto Micheletti and his cabinet, from June to December, to cave to the U.S. demand that they reinstate Mr. Zelaya. In earlier acts of pique, State stripped the U.S. visas of Mr. Micheletti, his advisers and cabinet officials and even the entire Honduran Supreme Court. Last week it yanked more visas from members of the interim government.
Insofar as Mr. Micheletti is leaving office January 27, the only explanations for this pistol-whipping would appear to be: Don’t mess with Uncle Sam’s regional agenda, which since April’s Summit of the Americas includes overtures to Hugo Chávez, Raúl Castro and Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega.
A day after the latest U.S. slap, Mr. Micheletti said he’ll withdraw from public appearances for the remainder of his term. “I am going home to my house, for the peace of the nation and because I do not want to be an obstacle to the new government,” he said.
Meanwhile, also under pressure from the U.S., President-elect Lobo said last week he will let Mr. Zelaya go to the Dominican Republic despite legal charges pending against him. The U.S. has been lobbying for a “get out of jail free” card for Mr. Zelaya. Mr. Lobo no doubt wants the foreign aid tap turned back on, so this arrangement benefits both sides. Prediction: Mr. Zelaya will join the Chávez network to make constant trouble for the region’s democracies. And his U.S. visa will remain intact.
The State Department has never explained its harsh treatment of Honduras, a democratic ally. And this latest bullying won’t help U.S. credibility with other Latin leaders who might help us, as opposed to assisting the chavistas.
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