U.S. Policy on Honduras Puts Latin Ties at Risk, Brazilian Says

[Judi Lynn]

U.S. Policy on Honduras Puts Latin Ties at Risk, Brazilian Says
Published: November 25, 2009

BRASÍLIA (Reuters) — The United States risks souring relations with much of Latin America if it recognizes a presidential election in Honduras on Sunday, the foreign policy adviser to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil said in an interview on Wednesday.

The de facto leader of Honduras, Roberto Micheletti, has said he hopes the election will end a political crisis that began when soldiers placed President Manuel Zelaya on an airplane and sent him into exile on June 28.

The United States, which condemned the coup, has not announced an official position on the election, but American officials have implied that the Obama administration will support the outcome, saying that recognition of the presidential election was not contingent on Mr. Zelaya’s reinstatement.

“The United States will become isolated — that is very bad for the United States and its relationship with Latin America,” the Brazilian foreign policy adviser, Marco Aurélio Garcia, said after he had spoken on the telephone to the White House national security adviser, Gen. James L. Jones.

More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/26/world/americas/26honduras.html?_r=1&ref=global-home

[Judi Lynn]

1. Honduran Dictatorship Is A Threat to Democracy In the Hemisphere

Honduran Dictatorship Is A Threat to Democracy In the Hemisphere

Toward Freedom
November 23, 2009

A small group of rich people who own most of Honduras and its politicians enlist the military to kidnap the elected president at gunpoint and take him into exile. They then arrest thousands of people opposed to the coup, shut down and intimidate independent media, shoot and kill some demonstrators, torture and beat many others. This goes on for more than four months, including more than two of the three months legally designated for electoral campaigning. Then the dictatorship holds an "election."
Should other countries recognize the results of such an election, to be held on November 29th? Latin America says absolutely not; the United States is saying, well, "yes we can"- if we can get away with it.

"There has been a sharp rise in police beatings, mass arrests of demonstrators and intimidation of human rights defenders," since President Zelaya slipped back into Honduras and took refuge in the Brazilian embassy, wrote Amnesty International. Human Rights Watch, the OAS Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and human rights groups worldwide have also condemned the violence and repression perpetrated by the Honduran dictatorship.

On November 5, the 25 nations of the Rio Group, which includes virtually all of Latin America, declared that they would not recognize the results of the November 29th elections in Honduras if the elected President Manuel Zelaya were not first restored.

Why is it that Latin American governments can recognize this threat to democracy but Washington cannot? One reason is that many of the governments are run by people who have lived under dictatorships. President Lula da Silva of Brazil was imprisoned by the Brazilian dictatorship in the 1980s. President Michele Bachelet of Chile was tortured in prison under the brutal Pinochet dictatorship that was installed with the help of the Nixon administration. The presidents of Bolivia, Argentina, Guatemala, and others have all lived through the repression of right-wing dictatorships.

Nor is this threat merely a thing of the past. Just two weeks ago the President of Paraguay, Fernando Lugo, had to fire most of the military leadership because of credible evidence that they were conspiring with the political opposition. This is one of the consequences of not reversing the Honduran military coup of June 28th.

Here in the United States we have been subjected to a relentless campaign of lies and distortions intended to justify the coup, which have been taken up by Republican supporters of the dictatorship, as well as by hired guns like Lanny Davis, a close associate of Bill and Hillary Clinton. Perhaps the biggest lie, repeated thousands of times in the news reporting and op-eds of the major media, was that Zelaya was overthrown because he was trying to extend his term of office. In fact, the non-binding referendum that Zelaya proposed had nothing to do with term limits. And even if this poll of the electorate had led eventually to a new constitution, any legal changes would have been far too late for Zelaya to stay in office beyond January 29.

More:
http://www.globalexchange.org/countries/americas/honduras/6425.html

[Peace Patriot]

2. It is a very grave question, I think, WHY Obama is throwing over good relations with Latin America

for the "benefit" of forcefully retaining Honduras as a toady client state and US military base.

What possible reason could he have for not permitting the elected president, Mel Zelaya (who has a 67% approval rating in Honduras) to finish the last six months of his term?

Don't know if Obama was in on engineering the coup. I tend to think not. But he sure has been unwilling or unable to do the right thing, and ended up in outright treachery, stabbing Zelaya in the back a few weeks ago. The US "owns" Honduras. It should never, ever have permitted this violent rightwing coup to remain in power and conduct an utter farce of an 'election.' No one in Latin America--even the few remaining corrupt US allies--will ever trust his word again. He has destroyed his own stated policy of "peace, respect and cooperation," and thrown over the opportunity he had for good will throughout the region--and not just with this, but ALSO with the secretly negotiated Colombia/Pentagon agreement for SEVEN new US military bases in Colombia, creating an incendiary situation that is made-to-order for starting a war.

It's as if Bush were still in charge! And maybe he still is--or rather the global corporate predators and war profiteers who installed Bush as pResident of the U.S. Warmongers, traitors and scumbags seem to be running US foreign policy in Latin America.

It shouldn't go unnoticed that the most visible US operatives of the Honduran coup are Bushwhacks like John McCain, Jim DeMint, John "death squad" Negroponte et al (and possibly James "election fixer" Baker). If one of their goals was to sabotage any hope for peaceful, productive relations with Latin America, they have succeeded spectacularly. And it is one of their own--the Bushwhack ambassador to Colombia--who did the secret negotiations in Colombia (--an agreement that now has to come to the US Congress for approval). But, thus far, Obama has permitted them free reign. Does he have any power to stop these war preparations? Does he have any say at all as to their making as much trouble as possible in Latin America--and possibly even permanently alienating the entire region? Or does he agree with their dire schemes? It has become very hard to believe that Obama has good intentions in Latin America. Possibly--possibly--he has been boxed into a corner, and has sacrificed Honduran democracy (and the lives of at least a hundred leftists, and more to come, I fear) in a long term strategy to stop the seven bases proposal. But it is an immoral strategy, if that is the case--and also stupid, because Bushwhacks don't play a fair game. They are rotten to the core, and they will destroy Obama and proceed with their next oil war--in this hemisphere--if they are given one inch of leeway to do so, and Obama is giving them miles of it.

[Downwinder]

3. Military expediency. n/t

[Braulio]

6. But then there's Cuba

As long as Cuba remains a dictatorship, it'll be hard to have a clear definition of democracy in Latin America. This means the democracy in Honduras will be accepted.

[struggle4progress]

4. Brazil, US official discuss differences

MANAUS, Brasil — Brazil's foreign minister acknowledges differences with the U.S. government over Honduras and other issues — and says he spent more than an hour Thursday talking with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by phone.

Celso Amorim says there is no crisis in relations with the President Barack Obama's administration — even if an adviser to Brazil's leader said this week that he was "a little disappointed" by U.S. actions.

Obama recently wrote to Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva about sensitive issues and Amorim says Silva has written back, discussing climate change, trade issues, Iran's nuclear ambitions and how to deal with the coup in Honduras.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jOnjNnd6szBV-eZrNKlZeeI0fqOgD9C7DJI80

[Judi Lynn]

5. Brazil says won't recognize new Honduran government

Brazil says won't recognize new Honduran government
Fri Nov 27, 2009 12:11am IST

MANAUS, Brazil (Reuters) - Brazil will not recognize the winner of this weekend's election in Honduras as a legitimate president, Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said on Thursday, setting the stage for a potential showdown with Washington.

Honduras will hold elections on Nov. 29 in hopes of ending a political crisis that began when soldiers toppled leftist President Manuel Zelaya on June 28, installing Roberto Micheletti as the country's de facto leader.

Asked whether Brazil would recognize the president emerging from elections in Honduras, Amorim said: "No, it will not."

More:
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-44276220091126?rpc=401&feedType=RSS&feedName=worldNews&rpc=401