The U.S. State Department will not impose economic sanctions on the de facto government of Honduras, nor has the Department decided if the deposing of Mr. Zelaya constituted a coup d’etat, over one month after his ouster. In a letter from the State Dept. to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee’s top Republican, Sen. Richard Lugar (R-IN), Asst. Sec. of State for legislative affairs, Richard Verma, says the U.S. has “energetically” opposed the ouster of Manuel Zelaya on June 28, but said no further sanctions on the country should be expected. Additionally, in the words of the Wall Street Journal, the letter provides the “harshest criticism yet of Mr. Zelaya’s own actions that preceded his removal from office.” According to the Inter-American Dialogue’s Michael Shifter, “Washington's wavering will be seen as a sign that the government can wait it out until the elections and that the costs they are bearing for international isolation, while considerable, are preferable to the risks of allowing Zelaya to return, even for a limited time and with his authority curtailed.” The letter, which many in the State Dept. seemed to have been unaware was even written, came at the request of Sen. Lugar who asked for the administration to clearly explain its policy on the Honduran crisis. Conservative Republicans like Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) were pleased with the formulation of State’s position on Wednesday. “I'm glad to see the State Department is finally beginning to walk back its support for Manuel Zelaya and admit that his 'provocative' actions were responsible for his removal,” DeMint told the WSJ. The statement by the Department will likely irk the deposed Manuel Zelaya as he continues his international campaign, demanding more forceful action that would lead to his restoration. The Washington Post reports on Zelaya’s trip to Mexico with the headline “Honduras’s Ousted Leader Calls U.S. Response Tepid.” Zelaya spoke to the Mexican Congress Wednesday after visiting with Felipe Calderon on Tuesday, saying the United States response to the coup in Honduras was weak. After his speech, he told reporters that the United States “could end the coup in five minutes . . . with only one hand” if it pressured Honduran business interests, adding that 70 percent of the Honduran economy depends on trade and funds from the United States. It was unclear, however, if Mr. Zelaya had yet heard about the letter from the State Dept. to Sen. Lugar when making these comments. Meanwhile, in Honduras, violent crackdowns once again dispersed pro-Zelaya student groups demonstrating against the coup government. Some 400 students gathered near the Autonomous University of Honduras, some throwing stones at riot police. At least four were arrested as security officials shot tear gas and rubber bullets at the demonstrators. More protests beginning in different parts of the country are expected to converge on Tegucigalpa on August 10 while 15,000 hospital workers also joined public school teachers on strike this week, reports Al Jazeera.
Also this morning, the AP reports on Colombian President Alvaro Uribe’s tour of Latin America where he is trying to explain his country’s decision to up the U.S. military presence on its soil. Uribe, writes the wire service, has remained publicly quiet about his meetings with various Latin American heads of state (he spoke to reporters in Argentina for exactly 33 seconds, writes the AP, while offering a simple wave of his hand after talking with Paraguay’s Fernando Lugo!), but some statements by the governments he has already met with seem to indicate that the Colombian president was being persuasive. Chile said the matter appears to be an internal one for Colombia to deal while Peru said it strongly stood behind Uribe’s decision. Bolivia’s Evo Morales, however, was not the least bit won over. Still on the tour’s agenda are Uruguay and Brazil. And next week the continent’s leaders meet in Quito, Ecuador for a major UNASUR summit where the topic of military bases will no doubt come up again. In the Miami Herald, columnist Andres Oppenheimer writes on the bases debate, saying it may turn out to be simply great hype with little substance. That is, Oppenheimer believes it’s important to note the difference between the U.S. controlling an entire military base (as it did in Ecuador and as it does in Cuba) and simply “increasing U.S. military cooperation -- mostly in surveillance and intelligence matters” at a Colombian operated base.
Also from Colombia, reports that a Colombian businessman, David Murcia Guzman, was convicted yesterday in the notorious pyramid scheme that is responsible for stealing some $2.4 billion away from investors.
In Venezuela, the AP writes that the country’s journalist association is calling for the resignation of Venezuela’s s top law enforcement official, Attorney General Louisa Ortega. The group cites the Attorney General’s “media crimes” law, presented in the National Assembly last week but recently tabled, as its primary complaint against Ortega.
An interesting piece in the LA Times looks at deceased Nicaraguan boxing legend Alexis Arguello. Arguello, a reluctant Sandinista, was elected as Managua’s mayor six months ago. But, the LA Times writes, his relationship with President Daniel Ortega soured quickly. He was apparently stripped of many of his substantive powers and mysteriously committed suicide on July 1, one day after a top lieutenant of the president paid a visit to Arguello’s office. The LAT’s Tracy Wilkinson describes the larger political situation in Nicaragua quite eloquently: “In the small world that is Nicaragua, internecine political battles are almost always personal and familial. Former Sandinistas hate the current Sandinista leadership; the offspring of former Contras, the U.S.-backed rebels who fought the Sandinistas in the 1980s, are now married to onetime revolutionaries. Family after family is divided in its loyalties to a left that promises prosperity for the poor (only to merely enrich itself) or to a right that promises foreign investment and jobs for all (only to merely enrich itself). And so, in a country where almost everyone knows everyone (or is related to them, or was once married to them), theories simmer over the fate of Managua's mayors.”
Finally two other notes of interest. The WSJ reports that state oil giant Petroleo Brasileiro SA is likely to receive a key role in developing recently discovered deep water oil reserves found off the Brazilian coast. The find could soon turn the emergent economy into one of the world’s largest petroleum producers. And as many as 270 U.S. citizens have stepped up protests against the U.S. travel ban on Cuba by illegally traveling to the country. One activist, Erika Crenshaw, a 40-year-old financial advisor from LA, says she would like the government to fine or charge her for her actions, forcing a courtroom showdown on whether the ban is constitutional.
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