Arcadia Foundation

Less than two weeks from the elections that will name the next president of Honduras, the deposed former leader of that Central American nation is aiming his sharpest criticism towards the United States and specifically against President Barack Obama. As reported by the Associated Press, and followed in an insightful commentary by the Orlando Examiner’s Blas Padrino, Mr.Zelaya lambasted President Obama for his administration’s apparent backpedaling regarding Zelaya’s re-institution. It seems more and more apparent that Mr. Zelaya will not be returning to power in any way, shape or form before these legal elections take place, and that no doubt has led the former President to show his truer colors, stepping out from behind a the veil of the victim.

His complaints against the U.S. took a more personal tone. In an interview with local station Radio Globo he said that Lincoln

“. . . gave an example to the American people that this [Obama’s] government doesn’t want to follow. These are not true heirs of Lincoln.”

Although State Department spokesman Ian Kelly denied yesterday that U.S. policy towards Honduras had changed and claimed that the Obama Administration continues to stay in contact with Mr. Zelaya, he avoided giving a direct answer to the question whether the United States still required his reinstatement to the presidency. He conceded that the State Department was still working on a response to Mr. Zelaya’s letter, two weeks after its receipt.

Mr. Zelaya’s problem is being compounded by the fact that the matter of his reinstatement has lost its importance in comparison with the question of the legitimacy of the next government, about to be chosen by the Honduran people through free elections. As Mr. Padrino states, “largely through Zelaya’s own blunders, a number of foreign countries aside from the U.S. are now committed to supporting the electoral process. As recently as yesterday, Ricardo Martinelli, the president of Honduras’ Central American neighbor Panama told the local newspaper La Estrella that his country will recognize the winner of the elections and urged the international community to follow suit.”

Given the fact that Zelaya himself rejects the possibility of his reinstatement under the auspices of the agreement that had been reached between him and current president Roberto Micheletti, we at the Arcadia Foundation adamantly believe that he leaves little reason for international support of his cause. Moreover, it takes away any sense of urgency by the Honduran National Congress to start deliberations on his reinstatement. After hearing Zelaya’s statements, that body’s vice-president, Ramón Velázquez commented:

“If it is Zelaya’s desire not to be reinstated, it appears that his supporters have lost the last argument they had, because what is the point of their demanding his restitution when he is saying that it should not happen?”

The one thing that has been made clear by the political crisis that has gripped Honduras is the emotional instability of Mr. Zelaya. The Arcadia Foundation has documented this slow regression, and Mr. Padrino agrees that “it is no surprise then that, prior to the events that precipitated the crisis, the leadership of his own Liberal Party had urged him politely to submit to a psychiatric evaluation.“

Comments