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Editorial
Mr.
Micheletti’s Dangerous Game
The
New York Times, August 14, 2009
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Resumen
en español de Notimex (15/08/09)
Editorial del
New York Times sostiene que EEUU debe
ejercer más presión para reinstalar a Zelaya.
De
no hacerlo, la crisis podría durar años
Nueva
York.- El gobierno de EEUU debe ejercer
mayor presión contra el gobierno de facto de
Honduras, encabezado por Roberto Micheletti, para
que reinstale al presidente depuesto Manuel Zelaya,
señaló este sábado The New York Times.
"Si
(el gobierno de facto) continúa rechazando el
trato, Estados Unidos deberá estar preparado para
ejercer mayor presión", señaló un editorial
del diario, sin especificar la naturaleza de esa
presión.
Explicó
que pese a que Zelaya ha prometido no modificar la
Constitución para relegirse y adelantar las
elecciones un mes, a octubre, el gobierno de
Micheletti no ha permitido su regreso.
La
estrategia de Micheletti ha sido posponer la
reinstalación de Zelaya hasta que sucedan las
elecciones y se vote por un nuevo presidente. Sin
embargo, tales comicios serían ilegítimos para
muchos hondureños, expresó el diario.
El
periódico asentó que el gobierno de Zelaya es legítimo,
ya que fue democráticamente electo, a pesar que el
depuesto presidente no es un aliado de Estados
Unidos y está alineado más bien con el mandatario
de Venezuela, Hugo Chávez.
De
no reinstalar a Zelaya a la brevedad, la crisis en
Honduras podría durar años, en lugar de meses,
apuntó. |
Honduras’s
de facto government appears to be running out the clock. It
seems to believe that it can slow–pedal negotiations to
reinstate President Manuel Zelaya, who was summarily ousted
by the armed forces in June, and hang tight until voters
elect a new president in November.
It
must be disabused of this notion. Honduras has been deeply
divided by the coup and passions could easily spin out of
control. Even if the de facto government manages to pull off
new elections, the results would be viewed as illegitimate
by much of the Honduran population. That could mean years,
not months, of crisis.
The
Organization of American States, Washington and the Latin
American governments that are trying to broker a solution
must press this point with Roberto Micheletti, the de facto
president, and his advisers.
Mr.
Zelaya, a self–styled populist and favorite of
Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez, is no fan of the United States.
But, as Mr. Obama rightly pointed out, Mr. Zelaya was
democratically elected.
Washington
condemned the coup and suspended about $18 million in mostly
military and development aid to the de facto government. But
it carefully modulated its rhetoric to keep the focus where
it belonged — on Mr. Micheletti and the illegal coup. And
it held off on imposing more drastic penalties, like
withdrawing Washington’s ambassador to Tegucigalpa or
freezing the bank accounts of people associated with the
coup, as some Democrats in Congress have urged.
This
has given the United States room to encourage negotiations
led by President Óscar Arias of Costa Rica, a winner of the
Nobel Peace Prize. The administration has rightly held to
that course, even after some Congressional Republicans —
whose support for democracy is apparently selective —
criticized this approach.
The
administration may not be able to hew to this fine line for
much longer. Mr. Arias has proposed that President Zelaya be
returned to office immediately and that Honduras move up its
presidential elections by a month to October. Mr. Zelaya has
also agreed not to try to change the constitution so he can
run for re–election — the issue that prompted the coup.
But Mr. Micheletti has dug in his heels, refusing to accept
the deal.
Foreign
ministers from several Latin American countries plan to
visit Honduras next week to press Mr. Micheletti and his
backers to change their minds. The de facto government has
already forced a postponement of the visit once. If it
continues to reject the deal, the United States must be
prepared to exert more pressure.
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