And Yet Again..."The Dialogue [in Honduras] Has Been Obstructed"

Over one week of talks in the setting of the so-called “Guaymuras Dialogue” officially stalled late Monday with no accord reached between negotiators representing the de facto government and Mel Zelaya. As the LA Times reports, both sides had said Monday ought to be a deadline (of one form or another) for reaching an agreement, which never materialized. Late Monday Zelaya’s team said it had no intention of returning to the negotiating table until the Micheletti side produces a more serious resolution to the crisis [for a full statement from the Zelaya team as they left talks click here]. Last week, Micheletti argued it should be the Supreme Court, not the Honduran Congress, who decides whether or not Mr. Zelaya should be reinstated. The Supreme Court has long opposed the return of Mr. Zelaya. According to long-time Latin American diplomat, Enrique V. Iglesias, head of the Ibero-American General Secretariat, “We had great hopes [last week], but it seems things have bogged down again.” Victor Meza, who only days ago seemed to indicate that a solution had been reached between the two sides, spoke with little optimism Monday. “Micheletti has not shown any political will. He is using the talks as a distraction tool to win time. He is trying to drag out the process with inadmissible and insulting proposals.”And for his part, Mr. Zelaya himself told reporters via telephone Monday that “the dialogue has been obstructed.”

This latest impasse came as the Micheletti government both accused Zelaya supporters of once again planning an armed insurrection and finally lifted an emergency decree that had curbed civil liberties for weeks [the Micheletti government rescinded the decree nearly two weeks ago but never had published the move in the official Gazette until yesterday]. Soon thereafter a pro-Zelaya television channel (Canal 36) and radio station (Radio Global), which had their offices closed and equipment confiscated, went back on air, reports the BBC and others. As AFP writes the decision to restore constitutional guarantees would make it appear the Micheletti government is paving the way for November elections. A debate between five presidential candidates (including close ally of Mel Zelaya, Cesar Ham, of the UD) in Tegucigalpa Monday also gave the impression that electoral politics were moving forward despite the lack of a resolution to the ongoing crisis. And, as mentioned yesterday, there are now murmurs within the State Dept. that the U.S. too may be rethinking how it can recognize Honduran elections.

Around the region this morning:

· A major announcement from the Justice Dept. Monday indicated yet another small step toward a new U.S. drug policy. The memo (click here) says the DOJ will no longer focus on prosecuting individuals who comply with state regulations on medical marijuana use. Coupled with the announcement late last week that the House Western Hemisphere sub-committee will help create a 10-member panel to review U.S. drug policy in its entirety, there seem to be some major drug policy shifts occurring at the present moment [For a breakdown of the newly created panel’s objectives, see Boz here].

· After an outbreak of drug violence in Rio de Janeiro that has now taken the lives of at least 21, the Wall Street Journal reports that President Lula da Silva has announced he will deploy federal police to the area and allocate some $60 million in aid to the city. After meeting with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Monday, Lula added that “it will take time to resolve the problems of the gangs, organized crime and the drug traffickers in Rio de Janeiro.”

· Also on violence in the region, El Faro writes this morning that the UNDP plans to present a new report on Central America today which will argue that the sub-region is the most violent in the world, with an average of 33 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants. The most dangerous area remains the northern triangle of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. In the words of the report, “Central America has become the most violent region in the world. With the exception of those areas such as southern Africa, the countries of Central America as a whole have the highest homicide rate on the planet.”

· In Nicaragua, Reuters reports that the constitutional arm of the Supreme Court has lifted a ban restricting reelection. According to the news service, “The move by the country's highest legal power means Ortega could run as a candidate in the 2011 presidential election without having to seek national assembly backing to change the constitution or hold a public referendum on the issue.”

· As Uruguay approaches a weekend presidential election, the Supreme Court there also made an historic decision Monday, calling a two-decades old amnesty law unconstitutional. In addition to choosing a new president Sunday, voters will also be deciding whether or not the impunity law (the “ley de caducidad”) should remain on the books. According to former VP Gonzalo Aguirre, Monday’s ruling “supports the conviction that on Sunday the law should be annulled by popular vote and that this will lead to the reopening of dozens of cases that could not be prosecuted because of the amnesty.”

· A Miami Herald report on Cuba says that after 9/11, Cuba sent over 20 supposed diplomats to U.S. embassies around the world to offer information on “terrorist threats,” all of which were eventually deemed to be fabricated. Now, according to MH reporting, “two former U.S. government experts on Cuba say the post-9/11 ‘walk-ins’ were part of a permanent Havana intelligence program -- both before and long after 9/11 -- that sends Cuban agents to U.S. embassies to mislead, misinform and identify U.S. spies, perhaps even to penetrate U.S. intelligence.”

· And in The Guardian this morning, Ariel Dorfman comments on what President Barack Obama can do for Latin America touching on Cuba, Honduras, drug policy, Plan Colombia, immigration policy, and more.