But the kicker is, he says he is not the source of the intransigence, and he needs help convincing others in the Honduran regime to accept the fact that they have to back down. So Micheletti called Arias to ask for help, seeking others to convince those holding out, he says.
Do we believe this? for me, it underlines a problem with trying to mediate between a real elected government (Zelaya) and a regime that seized power extra-constitutionally. It has never been clear who could commit the Micheletti regime. Now, it would appear, one part of the answer is: not Micheletti, who reportedly
asked Mr. Arias to consider sending a prominent international political figure to help him stem the fierce opposition.Second point: why does Micheletti think it is a good accord? well, perhaps because the accord accepts as beginning postulates all the accusations made against President Zelaya. And perhaps because, instead of restoring the Zelaya government, it allows a negotiation in which those who seized power maintain toeholds for the next several months. Knowing the havoc being wreaked in at least one ministry by the ill-qualified person allowed to pretend to run it, this latter point makes any agreement under the San Jose Accord seem like a Pyrrhic victory.One of those mentioned as a possible envoy was Enrique V. Iglesias, the former head of the Inter-American Development Bank and current secretary general of the Ibero-American Cooperation Secretariat, which was created in 2005 to increase cooperation between Spain, Portugal and Latin America.
“Today is an important day,” said one of the officials who spoke about Mr. Micheletti’s call to Mr. Arias. “President Arias essentially has Mr. Micheletti calling to say he thinks the San José Accord is a good framework, but that to make the accord work, he needs help building political support inside the country.”
5 comments:
Radio America seems to have some confirmation of this. They report an AFP story about an interview with Oscar Arias in which he confirms Micheletti called him this morning and asked him to send Enrique Iglesias to talk with officials in Honduras.
So, just as your excellent "hug" post implies, the important thing for the U.S. government is that Arias not be seen to fail.
Because he's such a handy tool.
By the way, I'm leaning to Lugar as the Senator whose staff is waaay too involved in all this, based on remarks at this FP blog post.
Thanks for passing the word, RAJ. I'll post a link here.
I think there's a simple solution to the question of who's in charge. Pull all their visas, shut down all their bank accounts, and see who comes forward to cut a deal.
--Charles of MercuryRising
Nell, Lugar is generally regarded as one of the most pragmatic and least ideological Republicans, one of the ones most focused on trade. Now, that's a low bar. It's like being declared the world's tallest midget. But more to the point, Lugar did not obstruct the Iran-Contra investigation but was considered to be of assistance to John Kerry. I think Zelaya is talking to him because he thinks he'll listen. Eliot Engel is the guy I would wonder more about.
--Charles of MercuryRising
@Charles:
I'm retracting the Lugar guess because (via TR) Ana Baron in Clarin says the mil communique was drafted in negotiations between two young colonels and the aides of a Democratic senator.
Although it's possible for non-U.S. reporters to get the Senator/Representative distinction wrong, with something this big there almost has to be State Dept. blessing. That argues for a Democrat and a Senator (much more likely to have staff of the experience level to be entrusted with this).
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