US “playing footsie” with Honduran junta
Published: 12 November, 2009, 01:56
Edited: 15 November, 2009, 03:44
TAGS: Conflict, Election, South America, Protest, Politics, USA
The de facto government in Honduras is taking full advantage of mixed signals coming from the US, says RT contributor Wayne Madsen.
A senior US diplomat is in Honduras to try to solve the standoff between the ousted president and the self-imposed Micheletti government ahead of upcoming elections this month. The country has been in turmoil since Manuel Zelaya was forced to leave the Central American state in June.
“It is quite clear,” Madsen said, “that the gambit that the Micheletti junta is playing in Honduras is to run the clock out. They know that the elections are scheduled for the end of November.”
“Originally, the Obama administration sent signals stating that if Zelaya was not restored to power, the US would not recognize the outcome of those elections,” Madsen said. “It’s quite clear that the Obama administration has been playing footsie with the Micheletti junta and now the junta is taking the full advantage of this, of these mixed signals coming from the White House, State Department and also the Pentagon.”
11.11.2009, 20:51
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Where, exactly, do Wayne Madsen's ultimate national loyalties reside? With the United States of America? Or elsewhere?
The end goal is not to get Zelaya back into power, but rather to get the country back on proper democratic footing. Neither he nor the interim government seem to care more about that goal than their short-term political interests. Zelaya refused to give the interim government ministers because they wouldn't reinstate him, so the interim government went ahead and formed a government without Zelaya's ministers and therefore the US brokered compromise collapsed. And frankly, the US has limited influence in this arena; you complain about how we trounce around and inappropriately interfere in everyone else's business, but suddenly it is our duty to sort out Honduras. The end of the "American empire" literally entails that we limit our actions in this kind of scenario and let other countries sort their own political messes out. More often than not, when a foreign power gets heavily involved it does so to the detriment of its own reputation and even fortune. So we have kept our distance from it and simply tried to be a good arbitrator. It isn't our problem to solve, it is theirs. If the press is allowed to be free and left leaning candidates are allowed to run then the mess is over with if the elections are fair, regardless of what happened to Zelaya. The chief end of those involved in this, which involves the US at the world's behest, should be to clean up the mess and that is it. The left will know better than to defy the constitution by seeking to rule as a man rather than a party or coalition, and the military and supreme court will thereby lack an excuse to do what it did again. If the elections do turn out as I said above, then we should recognize the government. If they don't, then we shouldn't recognize it.
After October 30, 2009 we can see a black future in Honduras. Angry people. US recognizing elections playing together with the facto regimen. Democracy after elections? The elections are on hands of the facto government. People are not stupid and this cases the opposition will growing and growing and not for good. Many people already died.The only way to calm down the people was Zelaya' back to power.