After "Bear Hug," Lula and Ahmadinejad Talk Trade, Nuclear Power, and International Diplomacy in Brazil

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad began his South American tour in Brazil yesterday meeting with President Lula da Silva. The Wall Street Journal reports that just hours before the two talked, Lula went on his weekly radio program to say Iran should not be isolated from the international community. “It's important that someone sits down with Iran, talks with Iran and tries to establish some balance so that the Middle East can return to a certain sense of normalcy.” After embracing in what the AP describes as a “bear hug,” the two mostly talked business, laying out new agreements for trade, agricultural, and scientific ventures while also agreeing to expedite the granting of diplomatic visas between their two countries over the next three years. Additionally, Lula also called for new international diplomacy aimed at peace in the Middle East, defended Iran’s right to peaceful nuclear energy, and both called for a reform of the UN which would give Brazil a permanent seat on the Security Council. But according to Harvard Brazilian expert, Kenneth Maxwell, the reality that Brazil can broker any sort of peace deal that involves Iran remains unlikely. “Ahmadinejad is not just any other world leader. Iran is currently in the middle of a major dispute with the U.S. and its allies. Ahmadinejad vociferously denies the Holocaust and calls publicly for the destruction of Israel,” Maxwell tells the LA Times. Eric Farnsworth adds critical words as well: “[The visit] should also give pause to those who recommend that the U.S. and Brazil attempt to manage the hemisphere together. Simply put, our views of the world are different and it's not at all clear that strategic partnership is the endgame.”

For his part, the AP also notes that the Iranian president never uttered the word “Israel” during his talks with Lula—a somewhat notable fact. Critics in Brazil, however, protested on the streets and maintained that Lula was squandering the country’s international clout by hosting the controversial Iranian leader. In an editorial Monday, José Serra, governor of Sao Paulo and likely the most high profile challenger to the PT in next year’s presidential elections, said the visit stood counter to “everything Brazil stands for.” Mr. Ahmaninejad will next visit Bolivia where he will celebrate the opening of a new hospital, as well as two Iranian-funded milk processing plants. He will then be off to Venezuela and West Africa. Lula added that he plans to visit the Middle East next year with a visit to Iran amongst his stopovers.

Around the region this morning:

· Beginning with the latest from Honduras, ousted President Manuel Zelaya spoke on Radio Globo Monday, calling Nov. 29 elections an attempt to “legitimize” his ouster. He also penned a letter to the international community, calling on leaders “not to adopt ambiguous or imprecise positions like the one shown now by the United States, whose final position has weakened the effort to reverse the coup, illustrating the division in the international community.” The words came as new U.S. Ass’t. Sec. of State Arturo Valenzuela spoke at the Permanent Council of the OAS in Washington Monday. He said de facto President Roberto Micheletti’s decision to step aside for a week of “reflection” (beginning yesterday) has opened “a space for compromise.” Mr. Valenzuela went on to call Sunday’s elections a “necessary” but not “sufficient” means of ending the Honduran conflict, offering a trace of hope that the U.S. will not close the door on the crisis all-together after this weekend’s poll. However, as the AFP adds, the OAS meeting at which Valenzuela spoke ended without achieving a common position on the elections among inter-American member states. With the exception of the U.S. and Panama (and potentially Peru and Colombia who remain undecided), all other countries in the Americas have said they will not recognize Sunday’s results.

· Meanwhile, with news on the ground in Honduras, the Miami Herald writes that the latest CID Gallup poll shows National Party candidate Pepe Lobo up 15 points on his nearest rival, construction company executive, Elvin Santos of the Liberal Party. On Saturday, the paper goes on to report, new decrees were issued by the executive branch (presumably Mr. Micheletti) declaring a national state of emergency for the elections and calling up 5,000 military reservists. The decree has been published in La Gaceta the official state record, according to other reports, and so it seems Sunday’s vote will occur under a state of siege. The National Police and Armed Forces also began disarming registered gun owners across the country yesterday, in compliance with last weekend’s executive order. Security Secretary Jorge Rodas Gamero justified the state’s actions with the usual rhetoric about international subversion. “We have information that groups supported and advised by international delinquents are trying to plant panic in the Honduran people.”

· Many of those opposed to the coup regime have stepped up a campaign to boycott Sunday’s vote. The Frente de Resistencia says it has organized boycott groups in 298 municipalities around the country, covering 18 departments. This according to AFP. Other reports indicate peaceful resistance will be the most active in the countryside. On Saturday, the UD’s candidate, Cesar Ham, broke with boycott calls, saying he would continue with his name on Sunday’s presidential ballot. But today, reports La Tribuna, it is expected that some 57 candidates running for public office with the social democratic PINU will pull their names off ballots around the country in protest. And one UD candidate for mayor in San Pedro de Sula, Samuel Madrid, has also announced he too is no longer in the running, arguing it is neither “prudent nor ethical” to participate in Sunday’s vote given current conditions.

· Also this morning, the Washington Post reprints an earlier story about Voice of America’s recent announcement that it will be increasing its media presence in Latin America. The paper confirms that Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Nicaragua are the countries to be targeted by the U.S. government-run station.

· In the Atlantic Monthly this month there is an in-depth feature piece on the drug war in Mexico by Philip Caputo, most recently the author of Crossers, a novel about life on the Mexican border.

· And finally, in an opinion, Carlos Montaner writes of Honduras in the Miami Herald. He provides five reasons why he believes the U.S. changed its position on Nov. 29 elections in Honduras and its earlier calls for the restitution of the ousted Mel Zelaya.