The Big Winners in Honduras Are Lula and Brazil's New Moral Authority in LatAm

[Judi Lynn]

The Big Winners in Honduras Are Lula and Brazil's New Moral Authority in LatAm
Written by Gregory Melus
Friday, 18 December 2009

Five months since the coup d'état and the situation in Honduras only complicates itself further. After the elections on November 27 there are now 3 President in Tegucigalpa: a deposed president, an interim president and a president elect. The U.S. and a few Latin American partners recognized the elections and negotiations now seem just a formality to the resolution of the crisis.

Even President Zelaya seems to accept the reality that he may never hold power in Honduras and will be lucky to live there. However the crisis ends, the most striking development is the emergence of an independent Latin America foreign policy. Led by Brazil, it is insistent on resolving its own issues with a moral authority that questions the U.S. role in the region.

The Obama doctrine made its first statement in Latin America. Despite assurances from the head of Southern Command Lt. General Douglas Fraser that U.S. forces stationed at the Palmerola air base were unaware that President Zelaya would be deported from the airbase, many in the region remain skeptical. Secretary of State Clinton did not dispel suspicions delaying to describe the events as a coup.

More:
http://www.brazzilmag.com/content/view/11587/

[Downwinder]

1. No credit to the Honduran people. I disagree:

The most striking development is number and variety of groups that came together to form an organized and disciplined resistance.

[Braulio]

2. Resistance?

How romantic, as if it were France in 1943. Who won the election?

[Downwinder]

4. What election? They still don't have a government recognized

Internationally or domestically

[Peace Patriot]

3. I agree. The grass roots organization is the most significant development of the coup

and will have the most lasting significance.

There are many flaws in this article. One of them is criticizing Zelaya for signing a loophole-filled agreement.

"After being confronted with a lesson in realpolitik in his pajamas at 3:00 A.M. the morning of June 28, it can be questioned if he learned anything. Trusting the Supreme Court that legitimized his ouster and the Congress from where the interim President (in the same party no less) served shows either President Zelaya's ignorance in international political affairs or his desperation to move the situation forward.

The forces behind the coup already showed their indifference to the rule of law; to assume that they would respect anything but cynical real power was naïve."

They omit why he signed it. Thomas Shannon LIED TO HIM that the US was guaranteeing his reinstatement. Zelaya would never have believed oral assurances of the golpistas. I think weariness likely played a part in Zelaya believing him. Zelaya was imprisoned in the Brazillian embassy, by the Honduran military outside, and had been sleeping on a cot for months. They were cutting off his phone conversations at 40 seconds and inflicting all kinds of other harassment, including sound weapons. He was easy prey for Shannon. It is rather shallow and petty of this writer to call Zelaya either ignorant or desperate. He was smart, savvy and brave. Anyone can be stabbed in the back. And that's what happened.

--------------------

This is interesting:

"The story emerging from the corridors of Capitol Hill is that the State Department was obligated to surrender any moral opposition to recognizing the election in exchange for Republican Senatorial approval of ambassador appointments in Latin America.

Whether the U.S. State Department was coerced by Republican legislative maneuvers or was always insincere of Obama's campaign rhetoric is irrelevant. This administration has lost much of its credibility in the region and reinforces perceptions of U.S. imperialism."

And what a prize Valenzuela turned out to be! --as the "price" of Honduran democracy. He's already stirred up major shit in Argentina, apparently by design, making uncalled for and unjustified remarks about "legal insecurity" for business corporations in Argentina. Latin American has some major US rats running around--on Obama's watch.