“It is beautiful here!” the television interviewer began. “This is a quiet country, and a happy country, and one of the most beautiful places all over Honduras,” the program’s guest responded, dressed up in his best Hawaiian vacation shirt. So began one of the most bizarre interviews I, for one, have seen in quite some time as de facto Honduran leader, Roberto Micheletti sat down with Fox News’s Greta Van Susteren on the Honduran coast. Speaking in English, Mr. Micheletti had a chance to tell his side of story for over 30 minutes, discussing the Honduran constitution and its apparent “un-amendability,” the pernicious influence of Venezuela in his country (including his claim that Venezuela manufactured the recent CIDH human rights report on Honduras), and, even the fact that President Mel Zelaya was forced out of the country in his pajamas (He was offered a suitcase with some clothes, says Micheletti). In short, the interview is a must watch. Also on Honduras, President Barack Obama once again insisted that both Mr. Zelaya and Mr. Micheletti support the terms of the San José Accords while doing an interview with Mexico’s Univision. But Mr. Obama did not seem to totally rule out supporting Honduran elections under the current regime, as Sec. of State Clinton hinted at two weeks ago. “I believe that this [accepting of the Accords] would make the coming elections much more legitimate,” Obama remarked. Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal is critical of the EU’s stance on Honduras, arguing that sanctions and the withdrawing of ambassadors from the Central American countries stands in stark contrast to its policy toward Iran, for example. WSJ columnist Mary Anastasia O’Grady writes this morning that the U.S. is “trying to force Honduras to violate its own constitution.” O’Grady says a new report by the Congressional Research Service declares the following: “Available sources indicate that the judicial and legislative branches applied constitutional and statutory law in the case against President Zelaya in a manner that was judged by the Honduran authorities from both branches of the government to be in accordance with the Honduran legal system.” And in the CS Monitor, Eric Farnsworth of the Council of the Americas, also writes critically of the U.S. policy toward Honduras, arguing the U.S.’s apparent decision to not recognize elections under the Micheletti regime could push the crisis “beyond its natural election season conclusion.”
Also this weekend, the last 15 U.S. troops left the Manta military base in Ecuador, writes the AP. But Ecuador insisted it would continue to cooperate with U.S. anti-drug efforts. “Relations with the U.S. remain very good. We have no problem in continuing to cooperate,” remarked security minister Miguel Carvajal. In Paraguay, the growing displeasure with the U.S. military’s presence in the region was also seen over the weekend as President Fernando Lugo announced his military would no longer undertake joint exercises with the United States in his country. While in Cuba, the Miami Herald says a new relationship is being forged between the Russian military and the Cuban military. According to reports late last week, Russian warships may soon arrive in the country along with Russian military officers who could help in the training of Cuban soldiers. And Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez responded to criticism of his country’s recent military purchases, calling U.S. Sec. of State Hillary Clinton’s words about the matter “cynicism without limits.” Mr. Chavez is expected to address the issue of arms purchases at the UN General Assembly this week.
From Bolivia, the AP reports that the U.S. will be closing “some democracy promotion programs at the request of the Bolivian government.” One of the programs, run by AID, has helped “train local leaders,” but has come under much criticism by the Bolivian government.
In Colombia, new announcements this weekend from that country’s government indicate that the controversial DAS, accused of domestic spying, will soon be dismantled and a new agency created. The majority of the department’s 6000 current employees will be transferred to the criminal investigative unit of the Colombian police. The Uribe government also appeared to change its position this week on the issue of hostage releases. Reuters writes that Uribe agreed “to rebel demands that [the FARC] be allowed to free hostages one at a time rather than all at once, a reversal in government policy that could speed up releases.” The AP also reports that a FARC guerrilla who unknowingly aided in the release of three American contractors in Colombia last year was sent to the U.S. Saturday to face terrorism charges in U.S. court. The LA Times’ Chris Kraul reports that Colombia’s security crackdown in the port city of Buenaventura has been a major success with the homicide rate cut by one third and drug money seizures on the rise. And in Colombia’s daily El Tiempo, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter sits down to discuss the situation in both Colombia and Venezuela.
In other stories this morning, an interesting piece by the AP looks at the drug war in Puerto Rico, which the news service says the U.S. is having trouble keeping up with. The AP writes: “While most of the drugs reaching the United States arrive through the southwest border, an estimated 30 percent come through the Caribbean -- and of all the islands, authorities say, Puerto Rico is easily the biggest transshipment point. As American soil, it is attractive because drugs leaving here do not have to clear customs to reach the U.S. market.” The Washington Post reports on the apparent success of Sunday’s “peace concert” in Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución, at which Latin pop superstar Juanes performed. And, in his opinion piece this morning, the Miami Herald’s Andres Oppenheimer, takes up the issue of Iran-Venezuelan relations. According to Oppenheimer’s reporting, Rep. Eliot Engel is expected to hold House hearings on the role of Iran in Latin America in October while certain members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee have asked U.S. intelligence agencies to look into the claims of increased cooperation between the two countries. For his part, Oppenheimer himself holds back on any definitive conclusion on the matter, but argues “we can't rule out that -- in his quest for global notoriety -- Chávez's ties with Iran could one day drag all of Latin America into an international crisis.”
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