Issue of July 10, 2009 / 18 Tammuz 5769
Things are not always as they seem, as anyone skilled in the art of sleight of hand can tell you — well, show you, actually.
When soldiers bundled Honduran President Manuel Zedaya onto a plane and expelled him from his country on June 28, it seemed like it was back to business as usual in Central America (yawn). Military coups are a longstanding tradition in that part of the world.
But something wasn’t quite right about this particular coup. The military immediately turned power back over to civilians, and the stated reason for the takeover was Zedaya’s ongoing effort to change a constitutional single term limit. Dictators are another longstanding Central American tradition. The Honduran courts called his actions unconstitutional, and the military apparently decided to nip in the bud the possibility of a new dictator, and hit the eject button on Zedaya a half year or so before his single four-year term was scheduled to end.
On Tuesday it was announced that Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, a past winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for mediating an end to Latin American civil wars, had agreed to mediate between Zedaya and the interim government of Honduras.
The Obama administration has come down firmly on Zedaya’s side — Secretary of State Clinton met with him in exile this week — notwithstanding the fact that Zedaya is a frequent critic of the United States. No matter, President Obama said. Zedaya was removed from office in an undemocratic manner and that’s all there is to it. While that is not a completely unreasonable position to take, several other factors also come into play.
First, from the politics-makes-strange-bedfellows file, is the fact that the Obama Administration’s position puts it right into bed, sharing a blankie, with Venezuela’s dictator-in-the-making Hugo Chavez. He is an ally of Zedaya’s but not previously known as a impassioned defender of democracy. Anything that puts Chavez and the United States on the same side of an issue, needs a careful second, third and fourth look. Odds are, something’s wrong.
Also, the United States has an unfortunate history in Central America, of propping up dictators when that realpolitik approach works to our advantage. Given that the United States will face a certain amount of international criticism almost no matter what we do, its better all around when we voice and demonstrate the same concern for democracy in other countries as we do in our own.
Honduras may have removed its president in less than perfect fashion, but given the recent history of that country and region, the position of its current leaders is also not altogether unreasonable.
Taking a big picture look at some of the positions President Obama recently has staked out on foreign policy we see him mostly declining to become too involved in the unrest in Iran — a wise decision overall, we believe — jumping in feet first in Honduras, and all but commandeering the offices of the local zoning boards in Yehuda and Shomron, where he demands a complete end to any and all building, including “natural growth.”
We much prefer the ‘I’ll mind my own business’ posture he took on Iran.
