The announcement we've been waiting for appears to be in the works. CNN is reporting tonight that the United States has "hit the pause button" on at least some aid programs to Honduras, as a way of putting teeth in President Obama's declaration that Manuel Zelaya must be reinstated as president of Honduras. This comes on the heels of the OAS's 72-hour ultimatum -- due to expire Saturday -- and the earlier revelation that US officials are
giving Honduras a cold shoulder to increase pressure on the new government to cede power. American officials said that they had not had any official or unofficial contact with the interim government, and that they supported the O.A.S. in taking the lead in negotiating a resolution to the crisis.
More on the flip...
If the US is truly putting teeth into the sanctions threat, the Honduran coup regime cannot survive for long. Honduras only received about $40 million in aid from the US last year, but the economic ties between the two countries are strong. More bits from the CNN article:
"Our goal is the restoration of constitutional order in Tegucigalpa, which means the restoration of President Zelaya. There is a process led by the OAS which is in place," [State Department spokesman Ian] Kelly said... at his afternoon briefing. "We think that this process should be allowed to play out, and we would discourage any actions that would prove to be an obstacle to this process reaching its desired outcome -- which is of course the restoration of Manuel Zelaya in power."
This is tone perfect politics, at least to Latin American ears. Obama is willing to use the US's considerable influence over Honduras in order to pressure the regime for a democratic outcome, but he is doing so not just in concert with hemispheric leaders but is actually following their lead. At a single step, he allays fears both of military interventions into politics and of a return to the arrogant heavy-handedness that has so often characterized US relations with Latin America.
Kelly at State went on to talk about why aid programs have been paused at the current time:
Kelly said State Department lawyers were evaluating events in Sunday's coup in Honduras to see if they trigger a formal halt to aid, under the Foreign Assistance Act. "The legal review is ongoing," Kelly said. Although the Honduran military seized President Zelaya and sent him to neighboring Costa Rica there is difficulty in determining whether civilian political leaders were in charge and whether to define this as a military or political coup.
"In the meantime we have taken some actions to hit the pause button, let's say, on assistance programs that we would be legally required to terminate," if the events were determined to be a military coup, Kelly said.
Overall, this is very good news. There is hope yet for a positive outcome to the Honduran crisis.