Saturday, October 31, 2009
There's a compromise in the stand-off. Here's Dan Miller at PJM, which makes it sounds as though it was a loss for Honduras and a victory for leftist (including American) bullying: Zelaya Wins, Honduras Loses (Maybe ...)
Due to tremendous pressure applied by the United States Department of State, Zelaya is on the road to reinstatement as president of Honduras.
In its continuing efforts to denigrate constitutional government and the rule of law, the State Department -- represented by Mr. Thomas Shannon, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs -- has forced an agreement on the Honduran government which may or may not result in reinstatement of former President Manuel Zelaya.
Although the formal text of the agreement has not been released, it appears clear that the question of his reinstatement will be submitted to the Honduran Congress and that the Honduran Supreme Court will have a voice in the matter...
Go to the link for the points of the agreement and more analysis.
Meanwhile the Wall Street Journal bills this more as a win for tiny Honduras and a way for the US to back down from a huge error and still save face: Honduras 1, Hillary 0
A Honduran compromise provides Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with an elegant diplomatic exit.
The big news in Honduras is that the good guys seem to have won a four-month political standoff over the exile of former President Manuel Zelaya. Current President Roberto Micheletti agreed yesterday to submit Mr. Zelaya's request for reinstatement as president to the Supreme Court and Congress, and in return the U.S. will withdraw its sanctions and recognize next month's presidential elections.
Mr. Zelaya, whose term would have expired in January, isn't likely to be reinstated, given that the court has twice ruled against his right to remain in office. The Honduran Congress, which voted in June to remove Mr. Zelaya, will then use that high court's opinion to decide if he should be restored to power.
There is a risk that Venezeula's Hugo Chávez and other Zelaya allies will try to buy support for their man and stir other trouble. But Hondurans who have rightly stood up to enormous U.S. pressure to reinstate Mr. Zelaya aren't likely to be intimidated now...
From what I've seen (and it is little), the Journal's take seems to be correct. The agreement seems to be hazy enough for everyone to claim some sort of victory. What an embarrassment our own policy has been (and at times how petty our own politicians have been -- are you listening, John Kerry ?). Hopefully we can move on from this embarrassment with the proper end result. Just don't forget what happened, and whose policy choices brought us there.
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Supurb post Solomon (as are the previous entries). Let us hope that the Hondurans can vote in someone who will be a positive leader for that country and put this whole business behind them.
huge loss for Honduras and freedom, all the non-socialists I know from having lived there are seriously distressed over this horrible turn due to Obama's blackmail.