An exit strategy for the Honduran crisis?
posted at 5:49 pm on July 7, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
Share on Facebook | printer-friendly
After seeing itself isolated in the hemisphere after expelling its president for a series of constitutional violations, the interim government of Honduras got a lifeline from its neighbor earlier today. Costa Rica has offered to mediate a solution to the standoff over Manuel Zelaya’s arrest and exile last week. Roberto Micheletti, the interim president, embraced the offer immediately:
Honduras’ interim government gave hints Tuesday of a possible solution to a crisis caused by a coup, expressing the first signs of flexibility about the possible return of ousted leader Manuel Zelaya.
Roberto Micheletti, who took over following the June 28 coup, applauded the announcement that Costa Rican President Oscar Arias has agreed to mediate efforts to end the standoff.
Arias “is a man with a lot of credibility in the world,” Micheletti told HRN radio. “We are open to dialogue. We want to be heard.”
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced that Arias would take part after met privately in Washington with Zelaya.
Micheletti said he would send a delegation soon to Costa Rica — a reversal from past days, when he said he would not negotiate until “things are normal.” Arias won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for efforts to help end Central America’s civil wars.
The parameters of a mediated conclusion would be difficult to imagine. Zelaya wants a return to office, albeit with restricted authority and a promise to stop pursuing constitutional changes. The interim government is thinking more along the lines of dropping political charges against Zelaya, but leaving 18 criminal charges in place. There would have to be something in the middle, but it’s hard to imagine that the legislature or the Supreme Court would agree to allowing Zelaya to return to office at all.
What changed? The US may have lost its taste for “meddling,” as more of the details of Zelaya’s actions came to light. Mel Martinez and Jim DeMint took to the Senate floor today to outline Zelaya’s attempts to thwart the Honduran constitution and seize personal power for himself. John McCain began using his Twitter feed to make the argument that the US had backed the wrong horse. Hillary Clinton refused to meet with a delegation from the Micheletti interim government, which created even more visibility to what has been a heavy-handed response from Barack Obama and his administration towards what would have been an internal matter for Honduras had they not expelled Zeleya. And it certainly didn’t help Obama at home to keep arguing on the same side as Hugo Chavez and the Castro brothers.
Costa Rica may have thrown a lifeline to more than just Honduras.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Blowback
Note from Hot Air management: This section is for comments from Hot Air's community of registered readers. Please don't assume that Hot Air management agrees with or otherwise endorses any particular comment just because we let it stand. A reminder: Anyone who fails to comply with our terms of use may lose their posting privilege.
Trackbacks/Pings
Trackback URL
Comments
Comment pages:
Obama doesnt have the gravatas to back anyone but his own hide. That is the only person in the world he would go to bat for.
Its delicious that Hugo and Daniel Ortega are being stiff by Obama. Im sure they will blame it on “Evil right wingers putting pressure on Obama”.
William Amos on July 7, 2009 at 5:52 PM
No kidding. It would have to preclude Zelaya from resuming office, and probably require him serving a sentence.
Vashta.Nerada on July 7, 2009 at 5:55 PM
-
Well… it depends who you ask on that one.
RalphyBoy on July 7, 2009 at 5:55 PM
Bambi and Hill will go for this, as it still sets the precedent they want…
ie… that your Consitution does not really mean anything, and outside powers can have authority over you.
Romeo13 on July 7, 2009 at 5:55 PM
<a href=”http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=301741&version=1&template_id=43&parent_id=19″Delicious !
William Amos on July 7, 2009 at 5:56 PM
Bambi won’t like this because he will be pushed to the side
Defector01 on July 7, 2009 at 5:56 PM
Jeez Costa Rica, thanks a lot.
Guardian on July 7, 2009 at 5:56 PM
Sorry messed link up its here
William Amos on July 7, 2009 at 5:56 PM
Ummmm – no.
Vashta.Nerada on July 7, 2009 at 5:56 PM
being deeply concerned is obamatron’s strategy
blatantblue on July 7, 2009 at 5:57 PM
Universally it is being proven that he is not the one we have been waiting for unless FUBAR was your intended goal.
Cindy Munford on July 7, 2009 at 5:57 PM
So he is all for Osama ? They made him a leader. Hitler was elected as well.
William Amos on July 7, 2009 at 5:58 PM
I sort of miss the days when an issue like this could be resolved by the Ferdinand Marcos method: let your opponent come home, walk out of the airplane and…bam!
As Stalin used to say, “No man. No problem.”
guntotinglibertarian on July 7, 2009 at 5:58 PM
That’s a keeper. Can be used on many threads.
Vashta.Nerada on July 7, 2009 at 5:58 PM
And to think…our dear President and Secretary Persona Non-Grata Clinton couldn’t figure that out for themselves.
Priceless!
lovedinthekeys on July 7, 2009 at 6:00 PM
How does Micheletti have the authority to give a foreign mediator the power to amend the Honduran Constitution? Does this mean that Obama has the authority to allow Supreme Court decisions to be overturned by a foreign mediator?
Buddahpundit on July 7, 2009 at 6:00 PM
Costa Rica has a more adult leadership than the United States. How sad
jp on July 7, 2009 at 6:01 PM
And to hell with the Honduran Constitution.
And the US Constitution, for that matter.
guntotinglibertarian on July 7, 2009 at 6:01 PM
Heavy-handed. And we were told Bush was the cowboy.
Go figure.
rogersnowden on July 7, 2009 at 6:02 PM
Obama and Hillary, poster children for inept foreign policy.
I can just hear Sally Struthers pleading for more help ‘for the children’; save the world, please, help the children.
Skandia Recluse on July 7, 2009 at 6:03 PM
Then I will be as predictable as our president, but without the disastrous implications. It does indeed fit almost everything he does though.
Cindy Munford on July 7, 2009 at 6:05 PM
Can’t find any mention of this in Google News. I take it this is yet another story spiked by the MSM because it reveals Obama to be an appeaser and supporter of tyrants and tyrant wannabes.
Loxodonta on July 7, 2009 at 6:06 PM
Perhaps Barry will consider Oscar Arias for US Secretary of State. Arias might take it with a stipulation that Barry stay out of foreign affairs.
GarandFan on July 7, 2009 at 6:09 PM
The US may have lost its taste for “meddling,” as more of the details of Zelaya’s actions came to light.
Well you can’t expect the VP, the CIA and the State Department to know all that stuff that smart conservative bloggers know a week or more ago, can you? They only know the talking points they read in the MSM, probably. Or maybe they knew the whole story, but strangely nobody bothered to ask them before taking a position?
drunyan8315 on July 7, 2009 at 6:12 PM
In the end, the media will tell us that this was an Obama success.
myrenovations on July 7, 2009 at 6:13 PM
Oscar Arias is a hero in Costa Rica for winning the Nobel Peace Prize because of his leading the negotiations to end the El Salvador/Nicaragua/Honduras insurgencies of the 80’s.
And with this latest effort, he may win another one.
ExUrbanKevin on July 7, 2009 at 6:13 PM
McCain on Twitter? You don’t mean his daughter?
Attila (Pillage Idiot) on July 7, 2009 at 6:14 PM
Nope. It’s the Senator.
Loxodonta on July 7, 2009 at 6:20 PM
You’re dreaming, Ed. Had they imprisoned Zelaya it would have fueled the propaganda effort of Obama and his dictator cronies. They’d be condemning his unlawful arrest and calling, “Free Zelaya!” Bumper stickers and t-shirts would flourish. He’d become a celebrity.
At some point Honduras would let Zelaya out of prison and he’d become an instant left wing cult figure, like Che, Mandela, Castro, Obama and Chavez.
It would have been a mess.
And if your arguing that they should not have expelled him or imprisoned him, Ed, then what do you think they should have done? Let him continue with his plans unobstructed?
FloatingRock on July 7, 2009 at 6:21 PM
Here’s McCain:
Military takeover in Honduras?
Buddahpundit on July 7, 2009 at 6:23 PM
Exactly what happened to Chavez after his failed 1992 military coup. Honduras learned from history.
Buddahpundit on July 7, 2009 at 6:25 PM
Where did she come from?
If she saw her shadow, we are going to have six more weeks of summer…
right2bright on July 7, 2009 at 6:26 PM
.
Yeah, like us. Darn it, this is important. Obama agrees with the socialista who wants to be “president for life” for a reason. Obama has no problema with dispensing with the Honduran constitution, and perhaps our own, for his own reasons…
Not to be a raving paranoid truther, but I think we need to pay attention to where our “red diaper baby” Obama is coming from on constitutional issues.
marybel on July 7, 2009 at 6:28 PM
I don’t think the Honduran government is going to budge very much on Zelaya returning except to prison. That Arias has stepped into the fray may defuse critics and calm the water, which is most likely in the interests of all, except the Marxists, if they will lose.
Bama will claim a victory, whatever tales he has to tell and facts he has to invent. Now that his creds are shredding (see last Ohio polls) more people are wise to the farce and it will be less effective than he hopes.
The egregious hypocrisy of Bama and Hill, comparing their “values” and what they do, speaks loudly enough that fewer people are hearing what they say, and will only ramp up in decibels.
Stepped on his wanker with his golf shoes, he may have…
Harry Schell on July 7, 2009 at 6:29 PM
Arias is an old reliable lefty from way back. Why not have Uribe mediate? Somehow I don’t think Hugo Obama would allow that.
Clinton and Obama are pigs. Actually, she’s a whore, for doing his bidding. It really didn’t matter that he won and she lost.
JiangxiDad on July 7, 2009 at 6:29 PM
I’m a broken record, but OPPOSE OBAMA ON EVERYTHING!
Never give him the benefit of the doubt on anything. Destroy this piece of sh*t.
Sic semper tyrannus.
JiangxiDad on July 7, 2009 at 6:31 PM
They did know. The Obama admin was assisting Zelaya days before he was ousted.
FloatingRock on July 7, 2009 at 6:33 PM
Ed, by this do you mean that had Zelaya been allowed to stay in Honduras after the supreme Court decision there would have been no response from Obama’s administration because it was just internal or it woud have just been muted? If so, why?
do you feel other countries would have also stayed out of it? Are you suggesting there are no ideological ties between the U.S. administration and Zelaya?
a capella on July 7, 2009 at 6:33 PM
Note that the Associated Press referrs to Manuel Zelaya as President, but not Roberto Micheletti, as if he might be part of the military coup. Yet, President Micheletti is a civilian, was selected by the Honduras Congress to replace Zelaya, and was previously the President of the National Congress and a member of Zelaya’s own party.
Loxodonta on July 7, 2009 at 6:37 PM
I do not think for a moment that it was “more of the details of Zelaya’s actions came to light” as there was plenty enough already that “had come to light”. I think it was because Martinez, DeMint and McCain spoke out and the latter day Hitler wanting to restore the later day Mussolini to power in the later day Italy felt that he would be exposed to too much daylight.
MB4 on July 7, 2009 at 6:37 PM
Hey, the pubbies were sure he was going to wipe Obama out on foreign plicy during the debates. Positively brimming with confidence.
a capella on July 7, 2009 at 6:38 PM
Thanks for reminding me of how much I despise McCain. He was starting to look pretty good, given our present situation.
guntotinglibertarian on July 7, 2009 at 6:38 PM
I groaned when I read that. Honduras has a lawful civilian government. It would be good if the Senator & MSM reported this.
Loxodonta on July 7, 2009 at 6:41 PM
He just can not seem to help himself. Even when his instincts appear to be right he has just got to get at least a few toes in the other camp.
MB4 on July 7, 2009 at 6:42 PM
Just because the military does the correct thing, directed by the legislature, doesn’t mean the Honduran president wasn’t in the wrong.
McCain is a moron, but Obama is a flaming socialist from his mother’s flaming red knee. Still justifies the vote, but a moron is a moron is a moron.
marybel on July 7, 2009 at 6:49 PM
If Zelaya calculates that his own soft coup prospects are cratering, why would the remaining 6 months of his term be much of a prize in their own right? His family fortune is in land and fixed assets in Honduras. Like one former governor of Illinois, his office as a bargaining chip against criminal charges and a return from exile has an expiration date.
Barnestormer on July 7, 2009 at 6:49 PM
Most, likely, because he’s lying. If they reinstate him he’ll probably at least try to use Chavista thug tactics to retain power, or at least fix the election for one of his partners in crime. At minimum, it would create a precedent in international law that the checks and balances of constitutional republics are invalid and that a president can’t be impeached and removed from power under any circumstances. So even if the precedent dose not help Zelaya in the short term, (which it probably would), then it would still be useful to Chaves and Obama down the road.
FloatingRock on July 7, 2009 at 6:56 PM
Dose = does, of course…
FloatingRock on July 7, 2009 at 6:58 PM
Exactly. Either way the situation moves, he can say he was on the side of the winner.
Here is an excellent youtube of Tom Coburn spelling out the Honduran situation perfectly today:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRGCkac8FlU
Buddahpundit on July 7, 2009 at 7:05 PM
I really do appreciate your evolution on this, Ed, and I don’t mean to beat a dead horse … but why wouldn’t you just call that “Zelaya’s attempted coup”?
Bravo to DeMint, Martinez and McCain for finally starting to set the record straight in Washington. I would press them on the same point as I have been hounding you, that they should have just called it “Zelaya’s attempted coup” to lay out what the situation really is and place the ruling junta, here in Washington, on the side of supporting the only coup attempt that occurred in Honduras. I trust that DeMint knows the exact situation. The other two … not so much, though their coming out on the right side, anyway, is laudable.
progressoverpeace on July 7, 2009 at 7:12 PM
For example, if a “democratically” elected president can’t be removed from office even if he blatantly violates the constitution and ignores the other branches of government that have rules against them, as well as violating a number of criminal laws, and all of this because the will of the majority is most important, then how can term limitations, which prevent people from voting for a candidate, be justified?
That’s one possible way that reinstating Zelaya would create a precedent that may actually help him in the short term, in spite of any agreement Zelaya may make to get back into the office that he defiled.
FloatingRock on July 7, 2009 at 7:16 PM
Jim DeMint for President, 2012.
AZCoyote on July 7, 2009 at 7:21 PM
Might explain why Obama backs this idea
William Amos on July 7, 2009 at 7:21 PM
Thanks for the link. It’s DeMint’s YouTube account, which if followed includes his remarks on the topic, which I haven’t watched yet.
FloatingRock on July 7, 2009 at 7:27 PM
Ed, you really aught to watch DeMint’s remarks on YouTube. He outlines the history of this issue and responds to your criticism of how Honduras handled the matter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjiKvUJXpm8
FloatingRock on July 7, 2009 at 7:44 PM
Imagine in 2012, Mitt Romney is running for president, and neo-nazis in Germany are killed, a laptop is recovered, and it is told that officials from the embassy in Austria were contact with the group and it stated: “The next president of the USA will be Mitt Romney and we can expect his support…”
What kind of investigative reporting and 24hr newscycle questioning would ensue?
Would it look anything like what happened in March 2008 when Obama was mentioned on Raul Reyes’ laptop? You know the deafining sound of crickets chirping…
James on July 7, 2009 at 7:50 PM
DeMint:
…[A]s Honduras has no prison capable of withstanding a mob riot of the sort they feared Chavez and Ortega might whip up…
At every step in the process the legitimate democratic government strictly adhered to the Honduran Constitution and civilian leadership of the military still remains intact. The military did not execute a coup, it thwarted the coup plotted by Hugo Chavez and implemented by Manuel Zelaya.
FloatingRock on July 7, 2009 at 7:51 PM
Perhaps, but I’m guessing reinstatement is out of the question and that Zelaya realizes that. The tables have now turned, Zelaya has more to lose than public office (his fortune and freedom, if he returns and is prosecuted)and his best bargaining chip has a 6-month life and counting.
Meanwhile back in the U.S., Republicans are finally articulating facts that reveal Obama’s position for the left-wing lunacy that it was. Time is not on Zelaya’s side.
Barnestormer on July 7, 2009 at 7:56 PM
DeMint is a rock. Not a FloatingRock, but a rock, nonetheless. Thanks for the transcription.
progressoverpeace on July 7, 2009 at 7:59 PM
Here’s DeMint’s statement from July 2nd on Honduras:
Look at that! Hoping that O will eventually turn away from despots!
INC on July 7, 2009 at 8:02 PM
That was awesome! DeMint takes no prisoners.
Buddahpundit on July 7, 2009 at 8:03 PM
Demint:
What happened in Honduras last week was not a tragedy, it was a triumph —of democratic courage and the unyielding determination of a free people to stand up to despotism. The tragedy, Mr. President, has been the failure of the west, and of our own government in Washington, to stand for justice and freedom in Latin America.
FloatingRock on July 7, 2009 at 8:10 PM
good one!
ctmom on July 7, 2009 at 8:41 PM
Extortion…plain and simple.
Honduras is now being compelled to violate their own Constitution, established to prevent Zelaya’s and others from promulgating continuismo – the tendency of heads of state to extend their rule indefinitely – and it has been the lifeblood of Latin American dictatorships for well over a century.
The Obama Administration, in condemning Honduras is throwing the excrement of continuismo in the faces of Honduras, and all of Latin America, the world, in fact, and laughing about it.
I would hope Honduras sticks to their Constitutional system of law and checks and balances…sort of what we should be doing here at home.
coldwarrior on July 7, 2009 at 10:42 PM
What an outrageous slight by Clinton and the State Dept.
It’s just not believable. They have the exact same facts as the Senators in the videos. In fact Clinton openly admitted they were involved for weeks through our embassy in Honduras. Something must have happened, behind closed doors, to elicit this behaviour/position.
On the positive side at least some Repubs are stepping up. I think the suggestion of a fact finding mission would be a great idea for Repubs.
patrick neid on July 7, 2009 at 10:42 PM
Unfortunately, my guess is that DeMint’s comments will receive no mention from our press. It would be nice if they could draw some attention to the plight of Honduras. Maybe some prominent Republicans could travel there on a fact finding mission of their own. And perhaps Fox News could see fit to reassign some of their useless Jacko reporters to cover the trip.
FloatingRock on July 8, 2009 at 1:08 AM
By starting my comment above with “unfortunately”, I didn’t mean to infer disagreement.
FloatingRock on July 8, 2009 at 1:10 AM
Doesn’t matter what the issue, we simply cannot expect the Messiah & Co. to do anything in a competent manner.
n0doz on July 8, 2009 at 1:51 AM
Does anybody know if the Honduran Army regularly enforce domestic law?
darktood on July 8, 2009 at 3:37 AM
An authoritative (as distinguished from authoritarian) spokesperson such as Supreme Court Justice Rosalinda Cruz could do the cause some good with a few high profile appearances in the U.S. Fox and Rush come to mind.
Barnestormer on July 8, 2009 at 6:52 AM
“The parameters of a mediated conclusion would be difficult to imagine. Zelaya wants a return to office, albeit with restricted authority and a promise to stop pursuing constitutional changes…”
STOP THE PRESSES!
Maybe we can get Costa Rica to mediate in the US Congress.
percysunshine on July 8, 2009 at 7:51 AM
No, not routinely…there was a crime sweep a few years ago, “Operation Thunder” where the Honduran national Police and the Honduran Army joined forces to go after private armies and large crime families and companies.
But, for the most part, the Army does not engage in domestic police operations. This is also a result of major Constitutional changes brought about back in 1982 to try to prevent Honduras from being another tinpot dictatorship. Limits on presidential terms (one) and limits on who controls the Army (not the President), et al..
Zelaya “fired” the head of the Honduran Armed Forces for not releasing referendum ballots to Zelaya supporters (the Army having the duty to distribute and collect election materials) just prior to the Honduran Congress, acting under a ruling of the Honduran Supreme Court, called the Army to arrest Zelaya, and convey him to another country, as he was no longer (under the Constitution) a Honduran citizen.
But, in general, since 1982, Honduras works to maintain a distinct separation of powers and duties of the armed forces from those of the national police force.
coldwarrior on July 8, 2009 at 8:17 AM
Violating the constitution doesn’t necesarilly mean that you are wrong????
MarkTheGreat on July 8, 2009 at 9:39 AM
I’ve learned a lot through this thread. Thank you all. I have to say though, that my favorite post so far was:
I would support him 100%, and of the candidates I can think of, is easily my favorite.
aelhues on July 8, 2009 at 10:09 AM
Maybe there are adults on Twitter. His daughter is a twit.
Steve Z on July 8, 2009 at 10:23 AM
Why is it that “Constitutional Law Professor” B. Hussein Obama supports a foreign President who flouts his country’s Constitution? Is there a pattern here?
By the way, Adolf Hitler was democratically elected as Chancellor of Germany…
Obama and Hillary welcoming Zelaya in Washington reminds me eerily of Ayatollah Khomeini being harbored in France by the government of Valery Giscard d’Estaing, and we all know where THAT led. Except maybe our President doesn’t know. He was only in high school at the time.
Steve Z on July 8, 2009 at 10:38 AM
And then, after appointing complaint judges, and swaying the population with promises and hopes of a better, greater, peaceful and new modern 20th Century Germany…he pushed through the Nuremberg Laws of 1935…and then went about selectively replacing members of government who were not of his liking.
The people? Accepted all of it. After all, it was the Jews and auslander who were the root of Germany’s problems, and Hitler was such a nice guy, loved children, and was making Germany a modern nation…and he posed no threat to any “real” Germans…new peoples cars (the VW Bug) and new fast highways, new improved infrastructure, building new high speed German rail, building modern airports, building huge housing projects for German workers, and suborning German industry with sets of laws controlling what they produced, when they produced it and how much they charged the government for products versus how much they charged non-government entities…and a whole bunch more that is starting to sound familiar of late.
And that democratic election? Wasn’t so democratic to begin with, but was the last national election held in Germany until the end of the Occupation in 1948-49.
Hitler set himself up to the German people by 1939-39 as too big to fail…or allow to fail.
coldwarrior on July 8, 2009 at 11:07 AM
dammit…
complaint judges = compliant judges
coldwarrior on July 8, 2009 at 11:08 AM
If you think about… Obama has good reason to hesitate in endorsing an ousting of a President over Constitutional violations!
I mean really… who do these peasants think they are? /sarc
dominigan on July 8, 2009 at 12:58 PM
Mounting proof that Chavez may have planned a massacre for Honduras during Airport protest.
Here
AverageJoe on July 8, 2009 at 5:48 PM
Considering that Chavez was out in front, all over television, even as Zelaya was still airborne on his way to Costa Rica…yeah, Chavez was a major player long before Zelaya was introduced to the Honduran army and stripped of his “presidency” while still in his jammies.
Good catch, by the way.
coldwarrior on July 8, 2009 at 7:26 PM
Comment pages: