¿El Final?

Just in case you've been curious, an update on the Honduran coup...



On October 30th an agreement was reached between the de facto Honduran government and representatives of deposed president Manuel Zeleya. Talks to end the crisis were deadlocked as of Oct. 23, after 16 days of negotiations. Then a delegation from the United States headed by Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas Shannon joined the talks in Tegucigalpa on Oct. 28, and an agreement was signed just two days later. Before the delegation's arrival the Obama administration had consistently said that it would take a backseat in the negotiations, claiming the US wanted to avoid "intervention". "Who knows what would have happened if the [US] delegation had arrived earlier?" asked Eduardo Enrique Reina, the Honduran ambassador to the US (appointed by Zelaya in July).

However, the delegation that arrived on October 28th was certainly not the first group of U.S. politicians to arrive in the wake of the coup. In the beginning of October a group of House Republicans journeyed to Honduras to meet with the de facto government, flying in the face of the Obama administration's 'hands-off' stance. Additionally, days before the official delegation arrived, U.S. supporters of the coup were experiencing setbacks in their efforts to claim that the coup was legal and backed by a majority of Hondurans. Several legal experts had already dismissed an August report by the Law Library of Congress claiming that Zelaya's removal was constitutional. On Oct. 27 Sen. John Kerry (D-MA), chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA), chair of the House Foreign Relations Committee, sent a letter to Librarian of Congress James Billington calling the report "misleading to the Congress and the public" and charging that it "contains factual errors and is based on a flawed legal analysis". They asked for the Law Library to issue a corrected version including other views. The report had been requested by a Republican, Rep. Aaron Schock of Illinois, and Republican Congress members promptly charged Kerry and Berman with censorship. (The Hill, Oct. 27; Miami Herald, Nov. 1)

U.S. infighting aside, it now looks like there is an end in sight to the Honduran crisis. However, this coup has highlighted the core issue surrounding U.S. foreign policy in Latin America. "At its root, the fight in Honduras has been over whether Latin American nations will remain committed to upholding liberal democracy and the rule of law, not only at home but for their neighbors. The alliance led by Hugo Chávez [ALBA] is promoting a rival model of populist authoritarianism -- one that Honduras's deposed president, Manuel Zelaya, was attempting to adopt" (Washington Post, Oct. 31). As Chavez continues to promote ALBA [Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America] there will be more political tests of will like this. What is less certain is how the United States will respond to its hegemony being threatened in the region.

Related articles

What is ALBA? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolivarian_Alliance_for_the_Americas

Deal is struck http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1933603,00.html

A Win? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/30/AR2009103003360.html

Republican Trip http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/10/02/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5358973.shtml