Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Honduras: Decision on the Return of President Zelaya Delayed


Honduran lawmakers decided to postpone any decisions in regards to the political situation between Zelaya and Micheletti until after the election ends on November 29th. However, this decision is controversial-- leaving many international powers unhappy.

Honduran congressional president, José Alfredo Saavedra, told a local news station that Congress will meet Dec. 2 to decide whether Manuel Zelaya should be returned to the presidency to finish his constitutional term.

Many of the world powers have different viewpoints on the matter. For instance, many Latin American countries have made it clear to Honduras that they will not recognize the outcome of the election without the restoration of Mr. Zelaya beforehand. As for the United States however, American officials said the US would recognize the results of the election even if Mr. Zelaya remained out of power through the vote.

Even Mr. Zelaya himself warned the Honduran government that he would not return to the presidency if Congress voted to restore him after the elections, saying doing so would legitimize the June 28 coup.

Even though the United States may seem to be uninvolved, The New York Times calls this crisis in Honduras "one of the biggest diplomatic challenges in Latin America for the Obama administration".

Being so, Obama's point to accept the Honduran election as valid (without Zelaya in power) could undermine efforts to establish good relations with the Latin American region.

It is clear that this crisis in Honduras is not just a Honduran issue, a central american issue, but now a world issue-- and this international opinion is setting precedent for new relations, specificially for the new Obama administration.

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