A plan that would have allowed ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to leave the Brazilian Embassy for Mexico ran into some obstacles late Wednesday night. According to Mexican authorities, says the New York Times, stalled negotiations over Mr. Zelaya’s “safe passage” were the cause. Zelaya spoke with Mexican TV station, Televisa, after the agreement fell apart and said the de facto regime had placed “denigrating” conditions on his exit. Later the Mexican government said it was petitioning for Zelaya’s exit from the country as a “guest” rather than seeking “political asylum.” The AP has more with an updated report filed early this morning. “Honduran officials said the interim government agreed to let Zelaya go if he was willing to accept political asylum, but Zelaya said he would not accept a departure under those terms. Speaking to Radio Globo, Zelaya remarked: “I want to leave as a distinguished guest, not as political refugee like the interim government wants.”
The difference is more than semantic it seems since the status of “guest” in Mexico may allow Zelaya to continue his “political actions from abroad,” a right he insists he still has as the legitimate president of the country. And that appears to be exactly what the Micheletti regime refuses to accept.
“If the government of Mexico wishes to give him asylum (emphasis added), we will consider that petition as long as it fulfills all the requirements,” Micheletti’s interim interior minister Oscar Matute told CNN en Espanol late yesterday.
Micheletti foreign minister, Carlos Lopez Contreras went so far as to acknowledge that a plane had been sent from Mexico to pick up Zelaya but was diverted by the de facto regime to El Salvador after talks broke down.
“Honduras will only offer a safe-conduct pass to Zelaya to travel to another country as a political refugee, and not in any other way,” Lopez Contreras said Wednesday.
RAJ has more…including news that Zelaya played the guitar and sang on Radio Globo sometime either before or after he discussed the possibility of leaving for Mexico. La Tribuna reports Zelaya was planning to settle his family in Mexico City, meet with Felipe Calderon in the morning (today) and then head to Cuba for the upcoming ALBA Summit, scheduled for December 14. And the LA Times reports that Zelaya supporters amassed around the Brazilian Embassy after news leaked that Zelaya may be leaving the country. That, presumably, would explain the masked anti-riot police spotted moving metal barricades around the Embassy yesterday.
With more on Honduras, U.S. Sec. of State Hillary Clinton felt the need to make a statement about Honduras Wednesday—out of the blue and during a press conference with Ukraine’s foreign minister, of all people.
“Before I turn to the issues that the minister and I discussed and the shared objectives the United States and Ukraine are working toward, I’d like to say a few words about Honduras. President-elect Lobo has been meeting this week with President Arias of Costa Rica, President Martinelli of Panama, and has been in touch with other leaders throughout the hemisphere to advance regional cooperation with respect to Honduras.
Ever since the June 28 coup, the United States has remained dedicated both to our democratic principles and our determination to help Honduras find a pragmatic path to restore democratic and constitutional order. We condemned President Zelaya’s expulsion from Honduras as inconsistent with democratic principles and the Inter-American Democratic Charter, and we have taken significant steps to signal our determination… We stand with the Honduran people and we will continue to work closely with others in the region who seek to determine the democratic way forward for Honduras.”
Later, press spokesman Ian Kelly, noted that Ms. Clinton had a conversation with Oscar Arias the day before, during Pepe Lobo’s visit to Costa Rica (EFE notes that Lobo’s visit to the DR has been cancelled, perhaps because of negotiations about Zelaya’s future back home). Kelly said the U.S. “supports other international efforts such as the efforts of the Costa Rican and Panamanian presidents,” presumably meaning their (unsuccessful) coaxing of other Latin American countries to recognize the Nov. 29 elections. Also, Kelly said Arturo Valenzuela may be paying a visit to MERCOSUR member countries next week. Notably, the bloc—which includes Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, and associate member, Venezuela, said they do not recognize the Nov. 29 elections in a statement earlier this week.
Lastly, as Greg Weeks notes, there are new stamps in Honduras with the image of Roberto Micheletti. No further comment necessary.
In other news today…
Police Killings in Venezuela
Following earlier stories this week about police and military abuses in Mexico and Brazil, the Miami Herald reports this morning on “extrajudicial killings” committed by the Venezuelan police. More than 7,000 people were killed by uniformed members of the security forces between 2000 and 2007, according to figures from the public prosecutor's office. However, less than 3 percent of more than 6,000 suspects were actually sentenced. A new national police force has recently been launched by the Chavez government in an attempt to halt the country’s out of control murder rate. But human rights activists still have concerns.
“We have to give them the benefit of the doubt,” said Rocio San Miguel of the defense and human rights group Citizens' Control. “But the ideological element in the launch [of the National Police] is a very bad sign. And there is no mechanism for democratic supervision.”
Paraguayan President between Rock and Hard Place
The AP reports that President Fernando Lugo’s decision to send special forces to the north of the country to track down those responsible for the kidnapping of a wealthy ranch has him in a very tough spot. The opposition is calling for Mr. Lugo’s impeachment, given former his ties to members of the suspected group, the so-called “Paraguayan People’s Army.” And his base argues he has violated the rights of the landless poor by sending in police armed with U.S.-provided anti-terror equipment.
Frustration over Elections in Haiti
The AP also writes that opposition to President Rene Preval are threatening to disrupt upcoming legislative elections in Haiti, arguing the president is trying to stack the deck in his party’s favor. “Frustrations center on decisions by the nine-member, presidentially appointed provisional electoral council seen as giving an unfair advantage to Preval's newly created Unity party, which in just weeks has absorbed Cabinet ministers, the presidents of both parliamentary chambers and almost half the members of the lower house,” says the wire service.
New WOLA Report
The Washington Office on Latin America has a new report, “Development First,” arguing that alternative livelihoods must be established first for those currently involved in the harvesting of coca and opium, if eradication programs have any hope of succeeding.
Opinions
Finally, and LA Times editorial comments on the startling revelation that Eduardo Frei was murdered by Pinochet agents in 1982:
“The desire to move on is natural, and in many ways Chile already has, with an independent judicial system, free elections and, quite possibly now, the peaceful transfer of power to the opposition. But the brutal past still haunts a scarred and divided society. Many crimes of the dictatorship were exposed but never punished; some, such as the killing of Frei Montalva, are just being revealed. Rather than drag Chile backward, though, this case and others like it are actually part of the nation's painful reckoning.”
And in the Miami Herald Andres Oppenheimer writes on new changes in U.S. anti-drug policy. He writes:
“Earlier this week, in a tacit admission that current U.S. anti-drug policies are not working, the House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill to create an independent commission to review whether the U.S. anti-drug policies of the past three decades in Latin America are producing positive results.”
The columnist goes on to cite last winter’s Drugs and Democracy high commission report and argues that “Washington is on the verge of beginning a taboo-free discussion on its drug policies that was unthinkable a few years ago.”
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