 TEGUCIGALPA -- The Obama administration has backed away from its call to restore ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to power and instead put the onus on him for taking ``provocative actions'' that polarized his country and led to his overthrow on June 28. The new position was contained in a letter this week to Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., that also rejected calls by some of Zelaya's backers to impose harsh economic sanctions against Honduras.
| This is a pleasant surprise ... |
While condemning the coup, the letter pointedly fails to call for Zelaya's return. ``Our policy and strategy for engagement is not based on supporting any particular politician or individual,'' said the letter to the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
| What's next: reinstating aid to Honduras? Take that, Oogo ... |
The new U.S. position is likely to undercut diplomatic efforts to bring about Zelaya's return, analysts said. It may, in time, help the administration win confirmation for three top State Department officials President Barack Obama has appointed to deal with the region. Senate Republicans have put their nominations on hold to protest U.S. policy in Honduras.
| Ah-ha. Sounds like the Honduran lobbyists are having a useful effect. |
While condemning the overthrow and predawn expulsion of Zelaya, the Aug. 4 letter said that Zelaya, who is allied with Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez, was largely to blame for his plight. ``We also recognize that President Zelaya's insistence on undertaking provocative actions contributed to the polarization of Honduran society and led to a confrontation that unleashed the events that led to his removal,'' said the letter, signed by Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs Richard Verma.
`I think this could open the door for an alternative option as president,'' said Jorge Yllesca, a political consultant based in Honduras, meaning that interim President Roberto Micheletti might try to end the political crisis by stepping aside, not for Zelaya but for the president of the Congress or the chief justice of the Supreme Court.
| Wait for the November election and the problem solves itself. |
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a conservative Republican congresswoman from Miami, applauded the State Department letter. ``It seems that the U.S. is stepping a bit away from its unabashed support for Zelaya,'' Ros-Lehtinen said in a telephone interview. She would prefer that the Obama administration break ranks with the rest of Latin America and Europe and drop its support for Zelaya.
Republican senators angered by the administration's Honduras policy put a hold on Obama's nomination of Arturo Valenzuela to be assistant secretary of State for Western Hemisphere affairs, along with two key ambassadorial nominees. Lugar, in a July 30 letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, said he hoped that her explanation could ``improve the prospects'' of confirming Valenzuela this week.
| A senate hold is such a useful thing ... |
The Obama administration has taken a series of low-level steps to show its dissatisfaction with the Micheletti government. The U.S. has revoked diplomatic visas for five Hondurans associated with the Micheletti government. It suspended anti-drug operations from the U.S. military base in Honduras, withheld $16 million in defense aid and warned that it might not disburse the final 10 percent of money for Honduras under a $250 million aid program.
The U.S. also has strongly supported the mediation efforts of Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, who has proposed a compromise plan to reinstate Zelaya with limited powers. Micheletti has rejected the plan, while Zelaya has accepted it.
The letter to Lugar said U.S. officials wouldn't go much further. ``We have rejected calls for crippling economic sanctions,'' it said.
The letter comes at a time when Zelaya is expressing his unhappiness with the Obama administration.
| Just realized you're going to be spending your retirement in Caracas, eh sucker ... |
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