Valenzuela Dreams

Arturo Valenzuela represented the United States at the closed session of the OAS today. In it, he openly broke with the majority of the OAS representatives by urging them to accept the results of the November 29 elections in Honduras. Only Panama and the US spoke in favor of recognizing the elections.

It appears that Mr. Valenzuela is something of a dreamer with an active fantasy life. EFE reports (and again there are as yet no English language sources) that Valenzuela said the Micheletti's little vacation opened a space that should help expedite the formation of a unity government.

"We value this step and urge that it facilitate the formation of a national unity government, such as is established in the accord of October 30."

Exactly how does this expedite the formation of a unity government? What actually does Valenzuela think has changed? Micheletti is still in charge of the de facto government. Its not as if anyone else is now calling the shots.

I'm sure Mr. Valenzuela knows that Micheletti's "vacation" does not actually open any space for anything to happen in Honduras, but I guess he can dream....

....but that's not how foreign policy should be made.

"Magical realism" meets Lew Amselem's "real world"

As we noted in a previous post, the US representative at OAS, Lew Amselem, continues to be the sole OAS member to argue for recognizing the Honduran elections despite the evident manipulations of mediation attempts by the Micheletti regime.

Now the New York Times' report on the same meeting crystallizes something we have not quite been able to put a finger on: Amselem's attitude toward Latin America is fundamentally dismissive and disrespectful.

The Times suggests Amselem was pushing for a more "pragmatic" position than that of people like Paraguay's Hugo Saguier Caballero, who is quoted as saying

Paraguay is not only not going to accept the outcome of the elections, it will not even accept that the elections are held...These elections for us simply will not exist.

Evidently frustrated with such declarations, Amselem is quoted as saying

I’ve heard many in this room say that they will not recognize the elections in Honduras...I’m not trying to be a wise guy, but what does that mean? What does that mean in the real world, not in the world of magical realism?

This would actually seem to illustrate the very definition of being a wise guy.

For those of you who didn't catch it, Amselem is displaying his cultural knowledge here: "magical realism" is of course a distinctive literary mode that is closely associated with Latin American literary pioneers like Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Amselem is in part responsible for the continual muddying of the purported US position, and thus is either part of an incompetent State Department, or-- as many Latin American observers think-- part of a devious neocolonial enterprise based on disrespect for other nations as political actors.

So perhaps before he makes what he thinks are effective digs at the irrealism of principled positions like that articulated by Paraguay, he might want to review one of the resources about magical realism out there on the web (assuming he is not up for reading a book about Latin American literature; I can recommend the 1995 collection Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community, edited by Lois Zamora and Wendy Faris).

He might learn something. He apparently thinks "magical realism" is something like a belief in fairies: but that would be the US State Department position on Honduras, in which Craig Kelly will fix everything.

In fact, magical realism includes a serious awareness of the impossibility of entirely representing the point of view of another. Ambiguities and contradictions, including those of theories of causality (rationalism and irrationalism both motivate people in magical realist works) abound, as they do in the world most of us inhabit, where people are not always pragmatic and predictable. Latin American magical realism depicts the world of post-coloniality, shot through with contradictions between rich and poor, powerful and weak, persistent indigenous presence and only partly coherent European histories of colonization.

Most pertinent, as Lindsay Moore puts it on a webpage Emory University maintains,

The idea of terror overwhelms the possibility of rejuvenation in magical realism. Several prominent authoritarian figures, such as soldiers, police, and sadists all have the power to torture and kill....Characters rarely, if ever, realize the promise of a better life. As a result, irony and paradox stay rooted in recurring social and political aspirations....The reality of revolution, and continual political upheaval in certain parts of the world, also relates to magical realism. Specifically, South America is characterized by the endless struggle for a political ideal.

Based on this description, a little "magical realism" might be a useful addition to Mr. Amselem's understanding of the culture of Latin America of which he was so dismissive, and the histories that present-day Latin Americans want to ensure never come back again-- as the age of dictatorial coups has so tragically in Honduras.

US Pushes OAS to Recognize Elections

The Bush holdover and, in my opinion, idiot, Lew Anselem, today urged the OAS to recognize the results of the November 29 elections. "The Hondurans have a right to choose their leaders with the guarantees of the Election Tribunal for "just, free, and transparent' elections and with observers from the OAS," Anselem is quoted as saying in a Mexican press report.

He then went on to blame both sides in Honduras and urge them to avoid unilateral naming of governments, slowdowns in the process, or calls to violence. Odd, since no one is calling for violence, that this continues to be a US talking point.

On the elections he said we have the responsibility to avoid the sabotage or veto of the Honduran elections before they can occur; that we should not yield to the hostile conduct of the few politicians that seek to undermine the accord. Seeking to undermine the accord?! What planet does he live on? Carlos H. Reyes and the Frente have waited patiently, peacefully protesting, and urging both sides to comply with the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord. They've never tried to undermine it. It's the de facto government that delays and undermines the accord, and urges us to recognize the elections. Clearly Anselem, and apparently the State Department, lives in backwards world.

The United States position was immediately rejected by the representatives of Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina, Guatemala, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, and others who indicated they would not recognize the results of the elections. Brazil called the events in Honduras "a badly written soap opera"; the Mexican and Dominican delegations called for compliance by both sides with the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord.

The United States is on a collision course with the rest of the governments of this hemisphere with regards to the recognition of the election results in November. It sure looks like it only takes $600,000 to buy the US foreign policy in Hillary Clinton's State Department.

(Dis)Unity Government

Roberto Micheletti Bain has unilaterally formed a "National Unity Government" whose conformation he announced at 11:45 PM Tegucigalpa time.

"I am proud tonight to announce that we have finalized the formation of the Government of Unity and Reconciliation within the limit established by the calendar of the Tegucigalpa/San Jose Accord. This formation is representative of the broad ideological and political spectrum of our country complying strictly with the letter of the accord."

“Me enorgullece esta noche anunciar que hemos finalizado la conformación del Gobierno de Unidad y Reconciliación dentro del límite establecido dentro del cronograma del Acuerdo Tegucigalpa/San José. Dicha conformación es representativa del amplio espectro ideológico y político de nuestro país cumpliendo estrictamente con la letra del acuerdo”.

"I repeat my profound thankfulness to the government of the United States, and the members of the OAS for the support they are giving to the objectives of the Tegucigalpa/San Jose Accord with which we give important steps in the strengthening of our democracy."

Rafael Pineda Ponce said that Micheletti will preside over the new government. Micheletti will present the new government in a national broadcast this morning.

Spain's Secretary of State for Latin American Affairs, Juan Pablo de Laiglesia has called this a flagrant noncompliance with the accord. In their editorial this morning, El Tiempo, called the Accord, "aborted" because it had not passed its first test of installing a government of Unity and Reconciliation.

We are Idiots

Yesterday in the OAS session about Honduras, the backup US ambassador to the OAS, Lew Anselem, and Bush era appointment, said "Zelaya's return to Honduras is irresponsible and foolish and it doesn't serve to the interests of the people nor those who seek the restoration of democratic order in Honduras. Everyone will be better if all parties refrain from provoking or inciting violence." He also said of Zelaya, "The president should stop acting as though he were starring in an old movie."

You can find an excellent review of just what a lowlife Lew Anselem is from Al Giordano.

The "foolish" comment became translated in Spanish as "idiot" in all the Honduran press and was widely covered. It has done irreparable harm to the US message in Honduras, if their desire, as stated, is a return to democracy. The question I increasingly find myself asking is: Are they really not aware of how their message is being received in Honduras? Do they not know how their convoluted words are being seized on as signs of support? Can they really not manage to be clearer?

I increasingly find myself concluding that they know what they are saying, that the Micheletti regime really does have the support of the US State Department, that they will support the results of the November 29 elections, whether or not democracy is restored to Honduras; that they just want all of this to end, to go away, a return to the status quo. That's not going to happen. Honduras will never be the same again.

I can parse a statement from the US State Department as an American, and I can parse the same statement the way a Honduran does. I have to think that the State Department can do both parsings as well. Ian Kelly's (State Department Spokesperson) statement yesterday basically ignored Anselem's vulgarities yesterday. Anselem's actually suggested in the OAS session that the US would recognize the results of the November 29 elections, whether or not anything changes in Honduras, and was part of a faction that included Canada, Panama, and Columbia that took that position and blocked an OAS resolution to not recognized the results. We aligned ourselves with the right wing governments of Latin America. The State Department and the Obama White House have not repudiated Anselem's actions in the OAS.

Hugo Llorens, US ambassador in Tegucigalpa, spent the morning trying to deliver a clearer message in Honduras. He said "We support democracy in Honduras and in any other country."

I wanted to include whatever statements Phillip Crowley made in the daily press breifing today, but the State Department website is so broken that they've posted a link to the video, but it doesn't seem to play on my computer, and of course, they don't post the full text transcript until many hours later, except for those willing to pay the subscription fee to the Federal Transcription Service.

Either our State Department is incompetent, or we are idiots for believing them. Either way, Honduras loses.

Talks Hit A Speedbump

Oscar Arias announced today that he had no intention of going to Honduras to negotiate a solution to the political crisis any time soon. He said he spoke with President Jimmy Carter, and he wasn't inclined to go either. Arias said that the OAS ministers needed to do the preparatory work before it would be worthwhile for him to come to Honduras. Roberto Micheletti had announced last evening that Oscar Arias and Juan Carlos Varela, Panamanian Vice President, would come to negotiate, and that he preferred to negotiate with them before the arrival of the OAS delegation.

In other news, the OAS announced that there was no date yet for their group of Ministers to visit Honduras. Oscar Arias told the Associated Press that the de facto government told the OAS that they would not be welcome any time before next week. José Miguel Insulza said "We'll come in the next few days," but he indicated there were difficulties. "The communications are terrible, there are no flights, and the roads closed," Insulza indicated. He also noted that he hoped that the preperatory group could arrive either today or tomorrow to prepare for the mission.

UPDATE 4:00 PM PDT: Oscar Arias, in an interview with Telesur, said that the intransigence of Roberto Micheletti on the issue of returning power to Manuel Zelaya, is the obstacle that is keeping there from being any advances in the negotiations for a solution to the crisis in Honduas. "There is no possibility that they will admit the restitution of Zelaya before the elections (of November)."

Arias further said that the Micheletti government is blocking the arrival of the OAS foreign ministers. He said the OAS was told that the ministers would not be allowed to enter the country.

False Dialogue?

Will the real Carlos Lopez Contreras stand up. Last evening, Carlos Lopez Contreras, Foreign Minister for Roberto Micheletti, said "Neither the OAS nor the international community should intervene," that the crisis should be solved by Honduran's using Honduran law. This seems very clear. It's a response to the OAS President José Miguel Insulza's offer to come to Honduras to facilitate dialogue between Micheletti and Zelaya.

However, unreported in Honduras, but reported in the English language press, today Carlos Lopez Contreras "invited a representative group of foreign ministers" from the membership of the OAS, US State Department spokesperson Ian Kelly informs us. These foreign ministers are invited to travel to Tegucigalpa for talks. Ian Kelly says the US "welcomes this announcement and looks forward to supporting that initiative."

Either Carlos Lopez Contreras has had a complete change of heart about the OAS and dialogue, or this has another meaning. I'd like to believe he's had a change of heart, but I don't. As I outlined in our posting Non Talk Talks, this is not really an effort at dialogue to resolve the issues in any way the international community would recognize; this is more of their "get people to listen to us" program. While details are scarce at this point, it appears that Carlos Lopez hand picked the group of foreign ministers, and I'd be surprised if he doesn't try to control their contacts once they're in Honduras.

UPDATE 5:24 PM PDT: Clarin, an Argentinian newspaper, reports that the OAS delegation will consist participants from Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, Argentina, and the Dominican Republic, and be headed by José Miguel Insulza.

An Interview with President Zelaya

La Jornada de Mexico has the first published coverage available on the internet from the recent interview with Zelaya at the Brazilian embassy.

Possibly the biggest news item in the press interview is Zelaya's statement that OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza will travel to Honduras to mediate face-to-face talks.

Yo he regresado con el fin de buscar un arreglo pacífico de frente, para que el diálogo sea en mi propia tierra y en mi propio pueblo.

I have returned with the purpose of seeking a peaceful arrangement face to face, so that the dialogue will be in my own country and among my own people

Las fuerzas armadas deben apuntar sus rifles a los enemigos del pueblo y no contra el pueblo

The Armed Forces should point their rifles at the enemies of the people and not against the people

While the US State Department may have preferred him to stay out of Honduras and wait for non-existent progress in the moribund Arias mediated "negotiations", Zelaya makes an important claim here: even the worst coup apologists have had to admit his expulsion from the country was a constitutional violation.

The Supreme Court order for his detention June 28 actually was based on a claim he was a flight risk. Pro-coup apologists delight in claiming that President Zelaya cannot return because he would be arrested on both this order and a trumped-up list of 18 "charges" since the de facto regime was installed. But this ignores his actual desire to return to the country, where he would have the right to due legal process and to fight the charges against him, which many constitutional law professors have argued are procedurally and factually flawed. As noted here, the Supreme Court had not yet arrived at the point of trying, much less convicting, Zelaya, and while there were administrative charges that could be argued to have some basis, representing these administrative issues as the basis of charges of "treason" was overwrought.

The amnesty provision in the San Jose Accord is as much, or more, about protecting the coup architects from prosecution.

With Zelaya back in the country, negotiations could proceed without the baggage of that proposal, which gave away so much to the coup regime that it hardly made sense for Zelaya to agree to it. His presence in national territory allows for the participation of civil society in ensuring that there are negotiations; it raises the pressure on the Armed Forces, which desperately wants not to be smeared by their participation in the coup; and it may open a way for the factions within the coup and de facto regime that have tried to open up some breathing room to move more decisively away from Micheletti.

Lies, Lies, and More Lies

RNS pointed me to an article published in today's issue of La Tribuna, attributed by them to ACAN-EFE, that "distinguishes the reality of the micheletti regime from the reality of the OAS and calls the Micheletti spokesperson's comments into subtle doubt." This is consistent with a pattern we have been noticing of dissonance even in the pro-coup press; at some point, keeping all the big lies in the air becomes too difficult and the stories fall apart. Read on for attempted white-washing of the OAS visit cancellation and rescheduling, and for the troubling claim of Micheletti regime access to the US State Department.

That this is at the very least an exaggeration, if not a truly big lie, is suggested by a current AP article, that clarifies that the delegation is meeting with the US representative to OAS, not, as implied, with other State Department officials:

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Sara Mangiaracina said Thursday that a group representing Micheletti was scheduled to meet with Lew Amselem, the U.S. representative to the OAS.

Mangiaracina did not know the names of the Honduran officials but said they were not part of the de facto government. She said OAS head Jose Miguel Insulza asked that Amselem meet with the delegation to further negotiations. She had no other details.

It would be interesting to know who counts as a member of the de facto government in the eyes of the US State Department, because the Honduran government thinks the delegation does represent them.

So, how did the same story play in the Honduran press? Repeat after me: "lies, lies, and more lies":

The government of Honduras affirmed today that the "suspension" last Tuesday of a visit by an OAS delegation to learn about the political crisis in the country "avoided putting at risk the security of the Chancellors" that would have made it up.

Comment: they would not have been in danger if the regime were not violently repressing the demonstrators; and oh yeah, what about the claims that there are no more than a few dozen demonstrators, or that everything is peaceful?

[Deputy Foreign Minister Marta Lorena] Alvarado said that the topic of the OAS delegation is "pending the conversations in that regard that... [a] Honduran mission that is visiting Washington will have". In addition, the suspension of the visit of the OAS envoys "impeded the registering of more acts of violence that, thanks to the prudence of the forces that maintain public order, did not lead to loss of Honduran lives, nor in major damages to property".

The protests by thousands of Zelaya followers Tuesday and Wednesday in Tegucigalpa ended in disturbances on coming face to face with the Police. The incidents left dozens wounded and detained, and the burning of a bus and a fast-food restaurant, among other material damages.

In other words-- lies, lies...

Alvarado also said today that the delegation of foreign ministers of the OAS that will come to Tegucigalpa to continue the dialogue over the political crisis that this Central American country is experiencing, had still not been selected.

The communique underlined that any information that had been issued up till now about the OAS delegation "by other sources, national or international", are not official.

This declaration contrasts with the announcement made by the OAS, to the effect that the mission of high level of this organization is composed of the foreign ministers or officials for Latin America of Argentina, Canada, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic.

This is what we might call a big lie-- and it works in Honduras because they are cut off from international media and don't necessarily understand that the "other sources" being dismissed include the OAS itself.

Now we get to the contradiction of the very nice US State Department spokeswoman:

The representatives that traveled to Washington included three members of the commission of the Micheletti government that participated in the process of dialogue that was sponsored by the president of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias, for a peaceful solution to the political crisis in Honduras [Vilma Morales, Arturo Corrales and Mauricio Villeda].

I guess we can give Sara Mangiaracina this: they aren't exactly "in" the government; just "of" it.

The envoys to Washington... according to Alvarado, will establish "contacts with diverse dignataries, representatives of the private sector [read: lobbyists], media, and US centers of strategic thinking. [read: right-wing think tanks?]

They will also have "contacts" with officials of [OAS] to come to an agreement about "the composition of the mission of foreign secretaries that will visit Honduras, as well as the minor officials of OAS that will accompany them".

In other words: we are going to OAS headquarters to tell them if we do not like the delegation they propose, we will refuse to accept it again.

In addition "they will establish the agenda of the mission of the Interamerican Commission on Human Rights that has the intention of visiting Honduras, by invitation" of the de facto regime.

Could it be the Micheletti regime is concerned that outsiders won't understand that violence is a human right?

Confirmed:

According to Tegucigalpa, "the bilateral relation of the OAS, subject to international law, in regard to Honduras is and should be that which corresponds to an organization of that kind in regard to a sovereign State, of non-interference and not inserting itself in its internal affairs, in conformity with the the principal of sovereign equality of the States that rules the Charter of the UN.

Final lie (or irony) of course: the UN also does not approve of the expulsion of the elected president, and does not see it as an "internal affair". Nor, we can devoutly hope, would that organization-- in which the regime has not yet renounced membership-- see human rights violations of the magnitude that are now everyday occurences in Honduras as "internal affairs" of a sovereign State.

We have been there too often. That is how we get to Rwanda, Bosnia, and a host of shameful failures of international will.