Today’s podcast: No sanctions for Honduras: 15 Minutes on Latin America
U.S. shifts tone on Honduran overthrow
The Obama administration has backed away from its call to restore ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to power and instead put the onus on him for taking “provocative actions” that polarized his country and led to his overthrow on June 28.
The new position was contained in a letter this week to Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., that also rejected calls by some of Zelaya’s backers to impose harsh economic sanctions against Honduras.
While condemning the ouster, the letter pointedly failed to call for Zelaya’s return.
Or, as Investors’ Business Daily put it, Honduras Has Won
Neo-neocon captures Obama’s Emily Litella moment on Honduras: “never mind”
Meanwhile, over in Mexico, Obama Blasts the “Hypocrisy” of Critics over the Handling of Honduras Coup,
After discussing the coup in Honduras during the trilateral summit with his counterparts of Canada and Mexico, President Obama today took on critics who say that the US has not done enough to restore power in the country after the overthrow of Honduran President Zelaya.
“The same critics who say that the United States has not intervened enough in Honduras are the same people who say that we’re always intervening and the Yankees need to get out of Latin America. You can’t have it both ways.”
“Have it both ways”, you say?
President Obama said today that the US has been very clear that they believe Zelaya was removed from office illegally and that he should return to power. The administration has said in the past though that the US will not take unilateral action in the region .
“If these critics think that it’s appropriate for us to suddenly act in ways that in every other context they consider inappropriate, then I think what that indicates is that maybe there’s some hypocrisy involved in their — their approach to U.S.-Latin American relations that — that certainly is not going to guide my administration’s policies.
Have it your way!
