Ass’t Sec. of State Tom Shannon, accompanied by President Obama’s Latin America adviser on the NSC, Dan Restrepo and Deputy Ass’t. Secretary of State, Craig Nelly, arrive today in Tegucigalpa for talks that are expected to last about two days. Reuters reports that the diplomats plan to meet face-to-face with both Mel Zelaya and Roberto Micheletti during their visit as the U.S. seems to be playing a most active role in the negotiation process. State Dept. spokesman, Ian Kelly, called the need to reach an agreement in Honduras, “quite urgent” on Tuesday, a marked change in tone from earlier DOS statements on the crisis. “We want to see an election, which is coming in about exactly a month, to enjoy the kind of international legitimacy that these people of Honduras deserve for their government,” Kelly added. In Honduran papers, La Tribuna is stressing that the Shannon-led delegation will urge “flexibility” among both parties to the conflict. But for his part, Mr. Zelaya said Tuesday that he would be unwilling to accept a “tercería”—that is a third individual, that is not himself, to replace Mr. Micheletti until November election. Zelaya said such a partial resolution would not be accepted by the international community and would, in essence, be a “second coup d’etat.” Earlier in the day, Micheletti had said he would be open to the idea of a “tercería” but per usual, emphasized that the restitution of Zelaya to the presidency is not up for discussion. And in a report filed early this morning, the AP now reports that Micheletti is saying negotiations about the crisis should wait until after November elections, saying dialogue at the current moment “is not going to fix anything.”
In other reports and opinions on Honduras this morning, I recommend another absolutely fascinating article about life inside the Brazilian embassy, written by AP writer Esteban Felix. Here’s some of the best excerpts:
“Day or night, through every window, police officers and soldiers stare in at me and the other journalists through binoculars….Troops and police have erected platforms so they are at eye-level with the windows. The other journalists and I stare at them. They stare at us. Right now a police officer is staring at me through his binoculars. ‘Hi,’ I think.”
“The Zelaya supporters have put up a curtain to block the floodlights and covered windows with newspapers, but that has made little difference. Soldiers bark like dogs, meow like cats and crow like roosters just as my REM cycle gets going and I'm jolted awake almost nightly. Troops last week blasted us with music from 1:30 a.m. until 7 a.m. The playlist included the grating Spanish ballad ‘Two-legged Rat,’ an accordian-laced tirade against an ex-boyfriend made famous by Mexican singer Paquita La del Barrio. Its lyrics begin, ‘Filthy rat, crawling animal, scum of all life ...’ and it got worse from there.”
In the New York Times, Otto Reich and Dan Fisk both write letters to the editor about the paper’s coverage of pro-coup regime lobbying efforts. According to Reich, “All my testimony, op-ed essays, articles and media interviews are my own doing. No one directs me, and no one reviews my statements before publication. I do so because I see it as the duty of a citizen in a free society to dissent from his government’s policies when his conscience so dictates,” and both men say they oppose holds placed on Latin American diplomatic nominations in the Senate. Reich also has a piece in Foreign Policy this week, saying President Obama should handle Honduras in the same way Reagan dealt with Grenada in 1983. In short, for Reich, that means using the Honduras as a means to stop Venezuelan expansion. And finally, an interesting opinion at Real Clear World by Mark Feierstein, a former DOS official and now vice president of the GQR polling firm that conducted the most recent surveys on Honduran opinion regarding the coup. He says the poll numbers show that Hondurans desire a resolution to the crisis which would include 1. Michelleti leaving office 2. The holding of a constitutional convention 3. The holding November elections to choose a new president and 4. Some sort of unspecified agreement about finding a non-Micheletti option as president in the interim period.
In other news around the region this morning:
· The Wall Street Journal reports on the insurgent candidacy of the young Marco Enriquez-Ominami in Chile. The paper writes: “Analysts say even if Mr. Enríquez-Ominami is unable to beat the odds and win, his campaign will have lasting effects on the local political culture, leading to more democracy within parties and to more-open debates on social issues.”
· The LA Times says the United States’ Cuba policy still “faces a world of expectation” as the United Nations casts its now annual, ritual vote against the U.S. embargo today. According to the Inter-American Dialogue’s Dan Erikson, “the Obama administration is moving very slowly and incrementally . . . but when you add it all up there has been a lot of activity, most of it under the radar but all toward greater engagement with the island.”
· On the drug war in Mexico, the AP reports the arrest of a man said to be the head of “La Familia” operations in the state of Michoacan state. The Mexican military, meanwhile, also uncovered a major drug/migrant smuggling tunnel—complete with electricity and an air supply—just 100 feet from the California border. And the LAT’s Ken Ellingwood writes about how the drug war has created a whole new “drug vocabulary” in the Mexican media.
· In Venezuela, the AP writes that President Hugo Chavez claims to have captured two Colombians who he says were conducting espionage on Venezuelan territory while purporting to have been investigating the killing of 10 soccer players earlier this week.
· Finally, in two Miami Herald opinions, an editorial says Haiti could be headed for disaster as lawmakers attempt to oust Prime Minister, Michele Pierre-Louis. The paper argues that “Ms. Pierre-Louis has apparently won the confidence of international groups and potential investors. Her removal would destroy momentum to rebuild Haiti with support from abroad.” And an opinion by the vice president of B’nai B’rith argues there is a rising wave of anti-Semitism spreading across Latin America by way of Venezuela-Iran ties.
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