Déjà vu? 1) De facto government of Roberto Micheletti shows signs that it may be willing to loosen its grip on power. 2) The OAS arrives in Central America for highly publicized meetings with Mr. Micheletti and ousted President Mel Zelaya. 3) Disappointment follows as Mr. Micheletti refuses to budge in the face of international pressure. And…repeat. Was Wednesday yet another showing of the same old tragedy? The AP’s coverage of Wednesday’s “Guaymuros Talks” would make it appear so. “Honduras' coup-installed leader resisted calls by diplomats from across the hemisphere to reinstate ousted President Manuel Zelaya, at one point angrily telling the visitors they “‘don't know the truth or don't want to know it,’” the wire service writes today. Reuters adds that “Police and soldiers armed with clubs and automatic weapons chased away demonstrators who shouted ‘Help us, OAS,’” just before the talks were to begin. Two people were injured, one by a rubber bullet and another by a gas canister, according to a local hospital. However, meetings did commence, first behind closed doors with representatives of both Mr. Zelaya and Mr. Micheletti [AP photos reveal that talks with Mr. Zelaya occurred in his Brazilian embassy “bedroom,” next to his inflatable bed] and later in public. It was the public meetings which the AP calls “a televised confrontation between Micheletti and the foreign envoys in the presidential palace.” Mr. Micheletti, “his voice bristling with rage,” went so far as to tell the OAS diplomats they must “reflect on the damage [they] are doing to a country that has done nothing to [them].” As the LA Times reports, the point of greatest contention for the coup government is whether or not Mr. Zelaya will be allowed to return to power. “We are not afraid of the United States, nor of the State Department, nor of Mexico or Brazil. But we are afraid and panicked when it comes to Zelaya,” roared Micheletti.
Nevertheless, OAS Sec. General, José Miguel Insulza, the head of the visiting delegation, insisted the inter-American group of 12 foreign ministers, plus U.S. Ass’t. Sec. of State, Tom Shannon, was not in Tegucigalpa for a debate with Mr. Micheletti. Rather they were seeking “concrete solutions to a situation that cannot be prolonged.” In this spirit, Insulza presented a proposal to both sides which would restore Zelaya as the head of a unity government until his term ends in January and would offer amnesty to both the coup leaders and the deposed president [Mr. Zelaya would also have to give up his attempt to hold a constitutional referendum, in the mark of the San Jose Accords of July].
The New York Times reporting on Honduras this morning looks at the de facto regime’s intense lobbying campaign in Washington, D.C. which has cost approx. $400,000 thus far, according to lobbying registration records. The campaign has “involved law firms and public relations agencies with close ties to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton (Lanny Davis) and Senator John McCain (John Timmons),” write Ginger Thompson and Ron Nixon, as well numerous individuals best known for their role in the Central American dirty wars of the 1980s (among them, Otto Reich, Daniel Fisk, and Roger Noriega). In the words of the Times, these men “view Honduras as the principal battleground in a proxy fight with Cuba and Venezuela, which they characterize as threats to stability in the region in language similar to that once used to describe the designs of the Soviet Union.” Testifying before Congress in July, Mr. Reich remarked that “What happens in Honduras may one day be seen as either the high-water mark of Hugo Chávez’s attempt to undermine democracy in this hemisphere or as a green light to the spread of Chavista authoritarianism.” [In an email to members of Congress after the coup, Reich wrote the following as well: “We should rejoice that one of the self-proclaimed 21st Century socialist allies of Chávez has been legally deposed by his own countrymen. According to Chris Sabatini of America’s Quarterly, “There’s been a leadership vacuum on Honduras in the administration, and these are the people who’ve filled it. They haven’t gotten a lot of support, but enough to hold the administration’s policy hostage for now.”
Finally, in other Honduras news, the AP reports on 12 indigenous Hondurans seeking exile in Guatemala out of fear that they are being pursued by Honduran security forces for their participation in anti-coup demonstrations [a colleague of mine recently remarked that you know things are bad when indigenous activists are asking for asylum in Guatemala, of all places!]. Pro-Micheletti news outlets in Honduras are reporting a very different tone in Wednesday’s talks. La Tribuna says OAS delegates showed their “satisfaction” with the first day of meetings. And El Heraldo calls Mr. Micheletti’s presentation to OAS delegates simply “energetic” [I recommend reading the whole article for many, many more Micheletti quotes. And Foreign Policy’s “The Cable” talks with Sen. Richard Lugar, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, about Sen. Jim DeMint’s trip south. Lugar said he supports the GOP trips to Honduras but not DeMint's holds on diplomats to Latin America. “On balance it may be helpful [for members of Congress to travel to Honduras]. Clearly there was an impasse there,” remarked Sen. Lugar. “Our foreign policy has tried to be mindful and consistent with the OAS and this has led really to our having really no representation in the country.” In fact, Lugar added that he himself intended to visit with de facto President Roberto Micheletti before the State Department pulled Micheletti’s visa.
In other news, the AP reports on a militant attack on a Colombian prison in Arauca Wednesday which freed a guerrilla leader accused of kidnapping two American journalists. The jailbreak occurred less than six weeks after Colombia’s Supreme Court denied a request from the United States to extradite Mr. Giraldo.
The Wall Street Journal speculates on a possible future political career for the head of Brazil’s Central Bank, Henrique Meirelles, a potential running mate for Lula da Silva’s chosen successor, Dilma Rousseff. The paper writes: “the notion of a central banker laying the groundwork for a potential political campaign while still on the job would create enormous controversy in the U.S. and other major economies, where the political independence of a central bank is crucial for its credibility. While some former Brazilian central-bank officials have criticized Mr. Meirelles's move, controversy surrounding his possible run has been confined mainly to a small group of economists who follow the institution.”
And in the Miami Herald, Marifeli Perez-Stable writes that the U.S. and Cuba are “taking baby steps toward each other.” Revisiting moments of thawing between the two countries, she says Cuba policy (both for and against the embargo) is now bipartisan, and argues, “so far so good, but I hope a lot more eyebrows -- here and there -- are raised.”
Wednesday State Dept. Briefing Re: Honduras
QUESTION: Okay. What’s Tom Shannon up to?
MR. KELLY: Tom Shannon.
QUESTION: Any interesting travel plans?
MR. KELLY: Yes.
QUESTION: He’s there, isn’t he?
MR. KELLY: He’s there. He is in Tegucigalpa. He is participating in the OAS mission of foreign ministers. Had arrived this morning and is scheduled to meet with all parties that can play a role in resolving the crisis. It is headed by Secretary General Insulza, plus 12 other foreign ministers and Mr. Shannon.
And of course, our goal is to help – or I shouldn’t say our goal. The goal of the mission is to encourage a meaningful dialogue between the parties that would lead to the implementation of the San Jose Accord.
QUESTION: What happened to your policy of limiting high-level contacts between your officials and the Micheletti government?
MR. KELLY: Yeah. I think our focus here is trying to get this internal dialogue going, and the way to do that is to have the two parties – talk to the two parties involved.
QUESTION: Yeah. So --
MR. KELLY: So we’re willing to talk with anybody who’s – who can advance this goal.
QUESTION: So you’ve backed down on this policy of not --
MR. KELLY: I don’t know that we’ve backed down on it. I mean, our goal is a resolution of this crisis. And so within this context of the OAS mission, we – I anticipate that they will sit down and talk with Micheletti and Zelaya.
QUESTION: Isn’t that meeting – I thought that meeting was actually scheduled for – I thought that there was a meeting scheduled among the OAS delegation and Micheletti today.
MR. KELLY: I think that’s probably – I know they’re – they arrived this morning, they had meetings this afternoon, and I think they leave around midday tomorrow.
QUESTION: Can you – is it possible for you to get us a readout from Assistant Secretary Shannon on how the meetings went?
MR. KELLY: I’ll see what I can do.
QUESTION: Thank you.
MR. KELLY: Thanks.
No comments:
Post a Comment