Speaking at George Washington University Wednesday, ousted Honduran President Mel Zelaya called for tougher U.S. action against the government of Roberto Micheletti, including the cutting of millions of dollars of U.S. assistance and the freezing of coup leader assets. While he thanked President Obama for his words of condemnation after the June 28 coup, Zelaya added that now “He’s risking his prestige in Latin America.” “We are not asking him to intervene. We are asking him to be consistent with democratic principles. And if he does that, Latin America will applaud.” The New York Times’ Ginger Thompson reports that the State Dept. took issue with Zelaya’s words that it had not done enough, saying no other country had exerted more pressure on the de facto regime in Tegucigalpa. But opinions remain mixed on the matter, and indeed go beyond the situation in Honduras alone to a more general critique of Obama’s foreign policy thus far. “If they can’t get the cast of characters in Honduras to behave the way they want them to, how are they going to deal with Afghanistan or Iran?, CFR’s Julia Sweig asks the NYT. The Washington Post’s coverage of the Zelaya speech focuses on the deposed leader’s claim that he would once again attempt a return to his native country, saying only that it would occur before December. He also added that he and his supporters were coming up with “fighting strategies” if negotiations continued to stall. Today, Zelaya will meet with Sec. of State Hillary Clinton. He is expected to ask for clarification about why the U.S. still has yet to formally label the events of June 28 a “military coup” while also asking the Secretary to condemn human rights abuses recently documented by Amnesty International and the Inter American Commission on Human Rights. In addition, the Post says he will ask Ms. Clinton to declare that the U.S. will not recognize the results of November elections if held under the current regime, something many other Latin American countries have already done.
One of those countries that has publicly said it would not recognize November Honduran elections is Mexico whose president, Felipe Calderon, addressed the nation on Wednesday. In his annual state of the union address, the Times reports that he “listed a catalog of misfortune that afflicted Mexico over the last year”—the economic crisis, swine flu, and the ongoing struggle with drug cartels among them. The speech particularly emphasized this latter issue with the president defending his government’s security policies. Newspapers have estimated that some 13,000 Mexicans have perished due to the drug war since Mr. Calderon assumed the presidency in 2006. But Calderon said under his watch, “the government has arrested 70 top traffickers, seized 50,000 weapons and almost 22,000 vehicles, and confiscated enough drugs to provide more than 80 doses to every Mexican between the ages of 15 and 30.” As the Post writes, the Mexican president also said the military would continue to lead the fight against drug gangs while his government would at the same time work to reform civilian law enforcement agencies and the Mexican courts. And interestingly, Calderon added that universal healthcare, new anti-poverty measures, and a reform of the telecommunications sector would be on his very full agenda as well during the coming year. Meanwhile, on the same day as the speech, the AP reports that violence of mass proportion struck Mexico once again as gunmen killed 17 at a drug rehab center in Juarez. The No. 2 security official and three other people were also murdered in the president’s home state of Michoacan.
In nearby El Salvador, violence also took the life of French documentary filmmaker Christian Poveda who had just finished a documentary, “La Vida Loca,” about gang violence in the Central American country. Poveda was found dead in his car in the rural region of Tonacatepeque on Wednesday. His film is particularly critical of “mano dura” police policies used against Salvadoran gangs and argued that the country’s lack of attention paid to the socioeconomic conditions of the country’s youth was a major factor in gang recruitment, writes the AP.
In other news around the major papers and wire services, the LA Times has more on Alvaro Uribe’s re-election bid after the lower Colombian House approved a referendum measure earlier in the week. A Simon Romero briefing in the NYT says Ecuadoran officials will investigate the alleged bribery scheme involving government officials in the Chevron case. As the debate over expanding U.S. military presence in Colombia continues, the Miami Herald reports on the rape case against a U.S. soldier who was previously stationed in the country. The case “remains in limbo,” however, as the soldier (and a Mexican contractor also charged with sexual assault) were taken out of the country by the U.S. under diplomatic immunity two years ago. And finally, the AP says a Chilean judge has put a figure on the secret assets of former dictator Augusto Pinochet, hidden in numerous overseas accounts. Judge Manuel Valderrama says the Pinochet family reached a value of $25,978,602.79 shortly before his death in December 2006 with $20 million of the money having “no justifiable origin.”
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