At what the New York Times calls a “marathon session” of the Organization of American States, diplomats to the inter-American body agreed very late Tuesday night to suspend Honduras from the OAS if Manuel Zelaya was not reinstated as president within 72 hours. According to the report, many diplomats involved in the special session said rarely had they ever seen so much agreement amongst various nations of the hemisphere. Meanwhile, OAS officials also were seeking a resolution with the newly installed Honduran government, and Sec. General José Miguel Insulza also heads to Tegucicalpa today to further negotiations with so-called moderates within the de facto regime who took power after the Sunday coup. There remains widespread opposition to Mr. Zelaya in the Honduran Congress, and the unrecognized president of the country, Roberto Micheletti, has continued his fiery rhetoric, saying Zelaya will be arrested if he returns to Honduras. In addition, the Micheletti-led government stomped out street protests and has limited the work of free media after issuing an emergency decree, reports the Washington Post. For its part, the U.S. announced it had stopped all joint military operations with the Honduran armed forces, but added they would not officially label Sunday’s actions a “coup” until Mr. Insulza issued a report on the matter on Monday. Thus, U.S. development and military aid to Honduras would remain until at least that point. Micheletti seemed confident that the U.S. and Europeans would not cut aid to his government, but on Wednesday, the IADB followed the World Bank’s move to suspend assistance, perhaps paving the way for others to cut aid as well.
While there seems to be consensus among regional leaders about the coup, there is still not total unanimity on the pages of many U.S. papers regarding the innocence of Manuel Zelaya in the matter. Honduran Col. Herberth Bayardo Inestroza Membreño tells the NYT that “a coup is a political act. It requires the armed forces to assume power over the country, which didn’t happen, and it has to break the rule of law, which didn’t happen either.” In the Miami Herald, reports again focus on the fact that Manuel Zelaya had long antagonized his critics in Honduras. And on the paper’s opinion page, Eduardo Gamarra, professor at Florida International University, argues that the so-called “survey” that Zelaya intended to carry out last Sunday, sparking military unrest, was much more than a poll. He condemns the coup but says Zelaya is not innocent of trying to dupe Hondurans and the international community. And, writing his second opinion piece this week in a major U.S. paper, Alvaro Vargas Llosa, says Zelaya himself deserves primary blame for Sunday’s coup. Again, adding the obligatory words of condemnation for the coup itself, Vargas Llosa walks a fine line. He calls Sec. General Insulza “a poodle” of Hugo Chávez for saying nothing of what precipitated the military takeover. And he provocatively argues “The gravest threat to liberty [in Latin America] comes from elected populists who are seeking to subject the institutions of the law to their megalomaniac whims.”
In other news this morning, there is more fallout from Argentina after the defeat of President Cristina Kirchner’s political faction in elections on Sunday. Kirchner’s transportation secretary resigned yesterday, the second cabinet minister to quit since Sunday’s elections. The now ex-secretary, Ricardo Jaime, was considered by many to have been one of the most influential members of the Kirchner government. The president’s health minister also resigned earlier this week, amidst a swine flu outbreak. And now many health officials in the country are critical of the government for even holding legislative voting last week given the gravity of the health crisis.
From Panama, the MH writes that businessman Ricardo Martinelli was sworn in as the country’s new president yesterday. He vowed to make Panama the best place to do business in all of Latin America. And, interestingly, ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was present at Martinelli’s inauguration as well.
Finally, Bolivia’s Evo Morales spoke out forcefully against the U.S. and President Obama, particularly, one day after the U.S. ended trade benefits with the country. Many say the move will cost Bolivia thousands of jobs. The U.S. says Bolivia continues to not do enough to control coca cultivation and thus import duty waivers were ended.
A Note to Readers: I will likely not be publishing a daily briefing tomorrow, Friday, July 3, as I will be traveling out of town all day. However, I will recap all the weekend’s events on Monday, per usual. Thanks.
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