Micheletti to Revoke Decrees Suspending Civil Liberties

De facto president Roberto Micheletti has at last moved to revoke an earlier decree suspending civil liberties in Honduras. “It is my decision to rescind the decree, but we'll take the decision with the council of ministers today,” Micheletti said on Honduran television Monday, adding that the decision to “totally annul” the decree came because now “there is peace” in the country (and because the international community had condemned the move). The decision was not unexpected, however. Late last week the New York Times wrote that Micheletti was contemplating the move, even while security forces continued repressive crackdowns on Zelaya backers and media outlets. The paper reported: “About 200 Zelaya supporters demonstrated in front of the United States Embassy in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, on Friday, watched by 300 police officers and soldiers. On Friday, an advance team from the Organization of American States arrived in Tegucigalpa to prepare for a visit next Thursday by Latin American foreign ministers”…and “the auxiliary bishop of Tegucigalpa, Juan José Pineda, has been shuttling back and forth between Mr. Micheletti and Mr. Zelaya, who has taken refuge in the Brazilian Embassy, in a separate effort to establish conditions for talks.” Moreover, the move could signal an important step toward beginning dialogue between Zelaya and Micheletti. As El Heraldo reports, Mr. Zelaya said rescinding the decree was one of four conditions that had to be met for dialogue to occur. [Others include removing the military from the Brazilian embassy and returning Radio Globo and Canal 36 to their former owners.] According the OAS’s John Biehl, involved in beginning such a dialogue between the opposing parties, “There will be a call next week for dialogue between the acting government and the other side and it will be accepted. That has already been agreed.”

In addition, the delegation of U.S. congress members, led by Sen. Jim DeMint, arrived in Tegucigalpa over the weekend. The AP snapped a great photo of the group with Mr. Micheletti, and the BBC writes that they also held meetings with the Honduran Supreme Court and candidates running in November elections. Among those candidates, Porfirio Lobo told the Republican delegations that the electoral process is “a solution, not part of the problem” in Honduras. And the BBC adds that a group of Democratic congressman sent a letter to Honduran officials, coinciding with the DeMint delegation’s visit. “You have received visitors from our Congress, that represent the minority Republican Party and who express a perspective that is very different from that of the Obama administration and the majority Democratic Party,” reads part of the letter.” Also reporting on the Democratic congress members’ letter are Mexico’s “Informador,” Ansa Latina, and Politico, among others.

Amidst changes, however, have also come new charges against the Micheletti regime from international human rights groups. The International Red Cross visited some 40 individuals detained at the National Agrarian Institute for violating the Micheletti government’s decree against mass meetings. And the AFP reports that “three months after the coup, claims of human rights abuses have multiplied.” According to the president of the Comité de Familiares de Detenidos Desaparecidos en Honduras, at least 12 individuals have been killed in recent weeks, “the majority from police repression…”

In other news, the Washington Post highlights the story of a 22 year old Venezuelan student, Julio Cesar Rivas, imprisoned for protesting policies of the Chavez government. According to the piece, “there are more than 40 political prisoners in Venezuela, and 2,000 Chávez opponents are under investigation, the groups and human rights lawyers say.” The AP also reports on protests against the Chavez government, writing that “Some 2,000 people marched across Venezuela's capital Saturday to protest what they say is the persecution of President Hugo Chavez's opponents.” The AP also reports that Venezuela will soon be banning violent video games and toys.

Also, multiple reports over the weekend on Brazil after being selected to host the 2016 Olympic Games. The WSJ writes on how the selection boosts President Lula da Silva’s legacy, Foreign Policy writes “Brazil's win shows that effective presidential stewardship, fearless competition, and a bit of strategy pays off at the international level and at home,” and Reuters quotes Lula: “The South American countries are feeling they also won, because they will participate as never before. Can you imagine how many Argentines, Uruguayans, Paraguayans and Peruvians will go to Brazil? It is not only a Rio Olympics, it is Brazil's Olympics.” Meanwhile, Newsweek adds that Brazil’s selection means it must start changing its foreign policy. “Lula has opened embassies in 35 countries in six years, mostly in Africa and Latin America—each one a potential vote in Brazil's campaign to reform the United Nations. But coddling dictators can be risky: in recent months, Brasília has systematically balked or stonewalled when it came to speaking out on human-rights abuses in a number of authoritarian countries, including Sri Lanka and no-brainers like North Korea, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Sudan. It routinely passes on censuring repression in Cuba, where dissidents are muzzled and jailed.”