U.S. stops short of approval
of new Honduran president


The U.S. State Department says Sunday's presidential election in Honduras was a significant, but insufficient step, to end the political crisis that began there in June with the ouster of former president José Manuel Zelaya.  U.S. officials are stopping short of recognizing opposition candidate Porfirio Lobo as the country's next president.

The State Department says the Honduran election met international standards for fairness and transparency and it has commended Porfirio Lobo for what it termed an ample victory.

But at the same time, it stopped short of formally recognizing Lobo as the country's next president and says Honduras must still take steps toward political reconciliation before it can emerge from the isolation brought by the June 28 ouster of Zelaya.

The U.S. response to the Honduran vote came Monday from Arturo Valenzuela, assistant secretary of State for Western Hemisphere affairs, after the coup d'etat that drove Zelaya from office.  The Chilean-born U.S. diplomat said the voting was a significant step, yet only a step, in Honduras' return to full democracy. The Honduran interim government denies the ouster was a coup.

Valenzuela said that given the gravity of the June 28th events — the region's first coup since 1991 and the political polarization of the country — more steps are required.

"For the countries of the hemisphere and for the United States, to work towards the restoration of Honduras to the Organization of American States later on, Honduras must do more than just this election," said Valenzuela. "It must follow a process of national reconciliation through a government of national unity, and that's what we're urging the Honduran leadership to engage in.  The people of Honduras want nothing less."

Valenzuela said the Obama administration seeks implementation of an Organization of American States-backed settlement plan, including the creation of a truth commission on the circumstances of the coup and a congressional vote set for Wednesday on whether Zelaya will be returned to office to complete his term, which was to end in late-January.

The senior diplomat said the United States wants to see Zelaya restored to office.  But U.S. officials have previously acknowledged that the Honduran national congress might not support his return.  Zelaya has said he does not want to be voted back into office, arguing that would vindicate a sham election.

Several key Latin American states have said they would not recognize the election, arguing, like Zelaya, that it would legitimize his removal in favor of interim president Roberto Micheletti. But Valenzuela stressed that the election process was well underway before the coup.

Arias explains his stand
on accepting voting results


President Óscar Arias Sánchez said that not to recognize the new regime in Tegucigalpa would convert Honduras into some kind of Albanian Central America or Myanmar and that only the country's people will suffer the most.

Arias made his statement on the Honduran election through a press release from Casa Presidencial. Arias still is in Europe.

HIs opinion is significant because it was he who drew up the San José accord, which is more or less the agreement finally reached between representatives of José Manuel Zelaya and the interim government.

Arias said that Latin America awakened Monday with a new reality and that the numbers going to the polls in Honduras was contrary to the modern trend of fewer and fewer voters. He said that it shows a public that wants to see the black and sad page of the coup put behind them.

He noted that he has said his government would accept the results of the election if they were held transparently, if there were no claims of fraud and if international observers certify that the results can be accepted.

Arias said his information is that the elections took place normally even though there were a few incidents.

Zelaya asked his backers to stay home and boycott the vote, but it appears that most did not heed his call.

Arias said that in recognizing the new regime in Honduras he was thinking of the Honduran people. They lived through a war in 1969 and then suffered Hurricane Mitch in 1998, he noted. The people do not need a political Hurricane Mitch, which would be the case if the Latin American countries and the international communities do not recognize the new regime, he said.