U.S. to Increase Pressure
on Honduran Interim Regime
By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services
The State Department signaled Thursday the Obama administration is ready to take tougher action against the defacto leadership in Honduras because of the political impasse over President José Manuel Zelaya's ouster in June. An Organization of American States diplomatic mission to Tegucigalpa this week returned empty-handed.
Officials here say Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to make a formal determination as early as Friday that the ouster of Zelaya was an extra-legal coup, action that would set in motion deep cuts in U.S. aid, and other steps against the interim government.
Obama administration officials have been saying since the democratically-elected Zelaya was arrested by the Honduran military and deported to Costa Rica June 28 that the action amounted to a coup, despite the fact that officials of the successor administration maintain they acted within the law.
But the State Department withheld a formal determination of a coup, which carries with it harsh aid penalties mandated by Congress, in hope that diplomatic efforts led by the Organization of American States could restore Zelaya to power.
Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, tasked by the Organization of American States to mediate, has offered a proposal under which interim Honduran President Robert Micheletti would step down and allow Zelaya to return and serve out his term which ends in January.
But at a news briefing, the assistant secretary of State for public affairs, P. J. Crowley, said Micheletti and his supporters categorically rejected the plan when a team of foreign ministers visited Tegucigalpa this week, prompting the United States to consider further sanctions.
"The OAS delegation that went there this week made what we thought was a very direct offer and entreaty to Honduras, to the defacto regime, that they should sign on to the San José accords. They have made it categorical that they have, as far as their position today, is that they have no plan to do that. And we are now evaluating based on what we've heard since the delegation has come back to the OAS, and were consulting with the OAS. We're taking stock of that and we'll make some decisions here very soon," he said.
The Obama administration has already suspended several non-humanitarian aid programs for Honduras that it would have been required to halt, if a formal coup determination had been made.
If Secretary Clinton as expected, goes ahead and signs off on such a finding, the aid cuts, worth more than $18 million, would become permanent and other assistance would be affected including a multi-year $215 million U.S. Millennium Challenge Corporation program to boost the Honduran farm economy and roads system.
Earlier this week, the State Department said it was suspending non-emergency visa service for Hondurans seeking to visit the United States in another move aimed at pressing the interim government to accept the Arias plan.
Interim President Micheletti has said he does not fear sanctions and that Honduras can get by without international aid. Micheletti and supporters say Zelaya, a political ally of leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, was ousted because he was trying to illegally change the country's constitution to extend his term in office.
Micheletti, who has the vocal support of some U.S. congressional conservatives, says Honduras will hold elections in November even if other countries do not recognize the result.
A senior State Department official who spoke to reporters said a coup finding by Secretary Clinton would give U.S. sanctions more bite and importantly, foreclose a resumption of aid without an acceptable resolution of the Honduran political impasse.
Our reader's opinion
What is the Rush to Cut
Funds for Honduran people?
Dear A.M. Costa Rica:
One has to ask: On whose side are financial international agencies in this ouster of Honduran president Zelaya? The Central America Bank of Economic Integration just announced it was holding back aid to Honduras’ interim government, joining others doing the same. The U.S. is one of them. Good move. Politicized bureaucrats, delay the infrastructure programs aimed to help the poor Honduran people, and make their situation even worse!
With presidential elections coming up in November, and the newly elected president taking in January, what’s the rush to judgment? Can’t you wait until then — only five months — before taking sides in a matter that is none of your concern. National sovereignty is respected in Latin America, unless there is a non-leftist leader involved. Is that the explanation about whose side you are on?
Walter Fila
Ciudad Colon
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