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POLITICS: Obama Scores Regional Points with
Zelaya's Return
By Matthew Berger
WASHINGTON (IPS) - Following months of
dithering on the part of the U.S., a
delegation from the U.S. State Department
brokered a deal Thursday between the ousted
and interim governments of Honduras.
The deal, which is still subject to the
approval of the Honduran Congress and a
non-binding opinion from the country's
Supreme Court, finally resolved the one
issue on which talks had stalled the past
several weeks – the restoration of ousted
president Manuel Zelaya to the presidency
for the remaining two plus months of his
term.
The deal also represents a significant
foreign policy victory for the Barack Obama
administration. A U.S. delegation consisting
of Assistant Secretary of State for Western
Hemisphere Affairs Thomas Shannon, his
deputy Craig Kelly and senior White House
adviser on Latin America Dan Restrepo flew
into Tegucigalpa Wednesday to try to rescue
the then-foundering talks.
The U.S. had been subject to criticism both
from other Western Hemisphere countries who
felt the U.S. was not involved enough in the
Honduran crisis and from opponents in
Washington that supported the interim
government.
"In the end the U.S. realized the clock was
running out and the impasse was still in
place. They needed to move; to take a more
proactive position," Michael Shifter, vice
president for policy at the Inter-American
Dialogue, told IPS Friday. "Hopefully in
future situations they won't wait that
long."
Friday, congratulations rolled in for the
key role played by the U.S. negotiators in
the resolution of the crisis that had
dragged on since a coup ousted Zelaya on
Jun. 28.
"Of particular note is the contribution of
the United States and the Assistant
Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs,
Thomas Shannon, who, despite great personal
cost, became deeply involved in the search
for a solution to the problem," said
Organization of American States Secretary
General Jose Miguel Insulza in a statement
Friday.
Insulza also recognized the central roles
played by other governments and leaders in
the region, particularly Costa Rican
President Óscar Arias, who kicked off the
negotiations in San José earlier this summer
by proposing a set of "San José Accords".
Thursday's agreement is a revised version of
these accords.
Arias was similarly singled out by several
U.S. politicians and officials who saw the
deal as the successful culmination of an
inter-American effort to overcome a
government overthrow through peaceful means.
"This is a big step forward for the
Inter-American system and its commitment to
democracy as embodied in the Inter-American
Democratic Charter," said U.S. Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton Friday from Islamabad.
"I'm very proud that I was part of the
process, that the United States was
instrumental in the process."
The Obama administration had initially held
off formally labeling the overthrow a coup,
which would have meant automatically cutting
off all but humanitarian aid to the country.
In early September, the administration
changed course, officially calling the Jun.
28 events a "coup d'état" and cutting off
some aid.
The U.S., and other countries, also said
they would not be able to recognize
elections, scheduled for Nov. 29, that take
place under the de facto regime led by
Roberto Micheletti, previously the speaker
of Congress.
The firmness of the U.S.'s position on the
elections had been questioned by some
dissenting members of the U.S. Congress who
see the de facto government as legitimate.
More troubling for the U.S.'s effort to take
a clear position, though, was the
expectations placed on it by other countries
in the Americas who felt the U.S. should
have been taking a decisive and forceful
lead in straightening out the situation.
"The Latin American nations had been asking
the U.S. to work with them, to be a partner.
But when it came to the Honduran crisis,
they asked the U.S. to take the lead and use
a stick," said Shifter. "That irritated some
people in the Obama administration. I think
the fallout will leave kind of a bad taste
for the U.S."
Shifter feels the U.S. is going to take a
while to "find its niche" now that it is no
longer the clear and sole hegemonic power in
the hemisphere. "It's not calling the shots,
but it's also not sitting on the sidelines,"
he said.
Most importantly, he says, the Obama
administration eventually came to the
realization that the U.S. can be a member of
a coalition of countries and still take
decisive action.
"The lesson the Obama administration learns
is that the U.S. can support regional and
multilateral efforts" without being
relegated to the background, he said. "They
took some time finding that right role, but
clearly the message that was sent down made
a difference."
Amid the celebration of this unexpected
pact, several organisations have pointed to
the serious challenges that still remain –
both those that have arisen because of the
coup and those that existed prior to it.
"This is an important first step. It's a
resolution to the immediate crisis," Vicki
Gass of the Washington Office on Latin
America, a nonprofit that promotes democracy
and human rights in Latin America, told IPS
Friday. "But the underlying issues still
need to be addressed."
Among those issues, she says, are not only
the erosion of rights that has arisen since
the coup but the political exclusion,
impunity and inequality that not even
elections can immediately solve.
It also remains to be seen whether limits on
freedoms of the press, speech and
association that have been imposed, and then
partially lifted, since the coup will be
eased sufficiently to allow for fair
elections.
The first challenge, though, is simply
getting the deal all the way through
Congress and successfully implemented.
"Success will depend on rigorous
international monitoring of the accord's
implementation," said U.S. Sen. John Kerry,
a Massachusetts Democrat and chair of the
Senate Committee of Foreign Relations, in a
statement Friday.
"There's a long way to go," notes Shifter,
"and when it comes to Honduras anything is
possible."
The main message many in Washington are
taking from the agreement, though, is that a
coup in a region with a history of coups was
not allowed to stand and was overcome
through peaceful, diplomatic means.
"This shows that Latin America is not going
back to the days when U.S.-trained and
funded military forces could overturn the
will of the electorate," said Center for
Economic and Policy Research co-director
Mark Weisbrot Friday.
Clinton also saw a turning point for the
region. "I cannot think of another example
of a country in Latin America that, having
suffered a rupture of its democratic and
constitutional order, overcame such a crisis
through negotiation and dialogue," she said.
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