Mixed Signals for Honduras

Over the weekend, the New York Times continued to lead with stories on Honduras. On Saturday, the Times published an article similar to Tyler Bridge’s last Friday in the Washington Post regarding the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s concern that U.S. support for ousted President Zelaya had weakened. In addition, the Senate Committee worries that a recent letter from the State Department sends confusing signals about U.S. support for negotiations to restore Zelaya to power. Despite the Obama administration’s original condemnation of the coup and support for a compromised offered by President Arias, the letter took a more critical stance on Zelaya, describing him as “taking provocative actions that contributed to the crisis,” causing the U.S. to “not [be] based on supporting any politician or individual.” This provoked a reaction as well from Zelaya, who said the U.S. could end the crisis in five minutes if it wanted to, leading President Obama to tell reporters Friday that “I can’t press a button and suddenly reinstate Mr. Zelaya.” The Times report noted that the Honduran business community viewed the situation as a softening of US policy – “their bark is worse than their bite,” said the president of Xerox in Honduras.

Another story in the New York Times appeared this weekend, about former Battalion 3-16 leader Billy Joya taking up a role as “national security adviser” in the Micheletti regime. Accused of death squad activities in the 1980s, he defends his actions: “The policy at that time was, ‘The only good Communist is a dead Communist.’ I supported the policy.” That someone like Joya has reemerged in Honduran political life only underscores fears about the military’s role. IPS’s Thelma Mejia has a must-read story that examines this situation, writing: “After breaking their silence and offering statements to just about any media outlet that crossed their path, in order to justify their role in Zelaya's ouster, the military brass have not beat around the bush, saying the country has entered ”a new era,” and that the armed forces are an essential pillar in the country's power relations.” The article also notes the irony that Zelaya himself helped resuscitate the military’s dominance -- defense spending in Honduras grew from 47.3 million dollars in 2005 to 96.1 million in 2008.

What some observers feel is perhaps the last, best hope for a political resolution of this crisis was stymied when, as the Associated Press reported Sunday, the Micheletti government cancelled a visit by a group of foreign ministers sent by the OAS (from Argentina, Canada, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Mexico and the Dominican Republic) to attempt to resolve the crisis. Today, however, both the New York Times and the Miami Herald explain that Micheletti then rescheduled the delegation, after downgrading to status of “observer” the participation of the chief of the Organization of American States, Jose Miguel Insulza, which the regime had criticized for his “lack of objectivity, impartiality and professionalism.”

Colombia

On Saturday, the Washington Post ran a story, “U.S. Plan Raises Latin Ire,” over the controversy generated by the clumsy roll-out of a new agreement that would give the United States access to Colombian bases from which to carry out vital counter-drug surveillance flights. "There just didn't seem to be any serious consultation beforehand," said Michael Shifter, a Colombia expert at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, adding that the controversy "was completely avoidable." Also reported this weekend, Venezuela returned Ambassador Gustavo Marquez to Colombia, signaling improvements towards resolving the “rising diplomatic tensions over weapons found in a rebel cache,” 11 days after recalling him, as published by the New York Times, the Washington Post, Reuters, and the Associated Press.

Tensions between Venezuela and Colombia have been high ever since Colombia accused Venezuela of providing weapons to the FARC. Although President Chavez recently claimed that he wouldn’t sever diplomatic threats with Colombia completely, tensions continue to rise as President Uribe met with seven leaders of other South American countries this week to discuss the increased U.S. military presence in Colombia. While Brazil, Chile, Peru, Paraguay and Uruguay, expressed respect for Colombian sovereignty, Argentina, Bolivia, and especially Venezuela and Ecuador criticized the Uribe administration and expressed concerns that additional U.S. troops would cause the conflict to spill over into other countries borders, threatening the region as a whole. Lastly, today, an article published by Reuters claims that Chávez accused Colombia of “sending an army patrol over their Orinoco River border and ending a Colombian gasoline subsidy.” An Associated Press article then said that Chávez told his military “to be prepared for a possible confrontation with Colombia.”

Summit and more

Also over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times published stories on President Obama preparing to travel to Mexico to meet with Mexican President Felipe Calderón and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper for a two-day summit to discuss economic, energy, climate, and security issues. More specifically, the leaders hope to solve the trade disputes involving Mexican trucks and "Buy American" provisions seen as favoring U.S. companies. The Summit, also known as the “Three Amigo Summit,” began yesterday. The LA Times describes that since relations among each country are strained by disputes over trade issues and travel restrictions, as well as the threat of the swine flu pandemic and the increasing activity of drug syndicates, issues are not likely to be solved any time soon. The New York Times stresses the fact that this Summit began four years ago as an attempt by the three countries to strengthen ties established from NAFTA, but the meetings have also exposed the disparities between them. One of these disparities includes immigration policy; whereas Canada has traditionally been more lenient in their policies towards Mexicans, the country now requires Mexicans to obtain visas when entering. However, the article stressed that due to each leader’s interest in issues concerning economic recovery and social stability, “it is crucial for the leaders to keep talking.”

In Cuba, a 339-page Fidel dictionary book consisting of speeches, essays, and interviews, now exists and is accessible to the public, according to an AP report. The book is aimed to provide guidance for Cuban thinkers, similar to Chinese communist leader Mao Ze Dong’s ''Little Red Book.” The book was compiled by Salomon Susi Sarfati, an oratory analyst at the Cuban Communist Party's high ideological school. The Wall Street Journal also covered Cuba in a story that doubted the Obama administration’s ability to close Guantanamo Bay by its January deadline. John Brennan, Obama’s senior counterterrorism adviser, defended Obama by saying that he is working towards “folding measures to combat terrorists into its broader effort to engage other countries and improve social conditions overseas.” Brennan also said the Obama administration is “neither totally discarding nor fully embracing the policies of Mr. Bush.” Several factors will affect when Guantanamo will officially close, including actions by Congress and the courts. It is also unknown how many detainees will be transferred in the next few months.

Mexican federal police captured a top lieutenant named Manuel Invanovich Zambrano Flores of the Tijuana-based Arellano Felix cartel over the weekend. Associated Press reported that Zambrano Flores is said to be responsible "for a large part of the organization's drug shipments to the United States and its finances." Associated Press also reported on drug cartels in Guatemala, claiming that prosecutors have stopped four former police officials linked to the disappearance of hundreds of pounds of cocaine from leaving the country, as they investigate their case.

Oppenheimer’s opinion piece in the Miami Herald on Sunday shed light on how Ecuador’s president Correa’s policies may be linked to childhood tragedies. Oppenheimer is skeptical of Correa’s anti-U.S. leftist policies, despite living and being educated in the U.S. Oppenheimer questions how Correa, who is a Ph.D. in economics, could implement policies that scare away domestic and foreign investments, which trigger capital flight and make the country poorer. One reason that has turned his away from the United States is perhaps what happened to his father, who committed suicide immediately after spending three years in a U.S. prison for smuggling Colombian cocaine. Correa has criticized the U.S. punishments for small-quantity drug smugglers by stating, “I lived through this, and these people are not delinquents. They are single mothers or unemployed people who are desperate to feed their families.'' Unsure whether the experiences of his father turned Correa into a radical anti-American leftist or if his policies stem from his sincere ideological belief, Oppenheimer concludes by not discrediting all of Correa’s policies and understanding why such a dramatic childhood experience would scar him for life. However, he iterates that it is important that Correa welcome foreign investment and “forget about settling old scores, no matter how justifiable they are in his mind.”