Honduras: when the mediator becomes the problem and when clichés are the looking glass

We interrupt our coverage of Colombia to take up again our Honduras coverage. Both cases highlight well how ineffective Chavez is becoming.

In Honduras the de facto government seems well on its way to make it through to reach the next elections. We are now mid August, barely three months for the next election, which could be brought up a month earlier. Two months, even if full sanctions are imposed, is not that long to hold. Even if creeps like Moratinos of Spain say that they would not recognize elections held under Micheletti what is he going to do when a new president is sworn in and Micheletti term officially expires?

The latest maneuver consisted in sending a group of foreign ministers to Tegucigalpa and find ways to apply the Arias mediation. It seems a good idea, a group of counties that will offer themselves as the guarantors of any mediation, for example leaving monitors in Tegucigalpa that will make sure the an eventual return of Zelaya would not result in petty revenges, further constitutional violations and such things.

Well, it will not work because OAS secretary Insulza decided to head that commission even if it is absolutely clear that the Micheletti camp want nothing to do with him. So Honduras send a message today that they would not receive the commission if Insulza came along, but that they were very open to a future trip without Insulza.

"The intransigence of the secretary general in insisting he be part of the mission ... has made it impossible that the visit go ahead," Honduras' foreign ministry said in a statement.

That is right, Insulza who should be the mediator for the Americas has become the problem. And he has only himself to blame as his pictures of cozying up to the ALBA group are still in everyone memories, not to mention the incendiary words he proffered in his last very unfortunate visit to Tegucigalpa where he made things worse for ALL parts.

I am betting that this simple Honduras communique is the nail in the Insulza reelection coffin. A few countries must shiver at the idea that one day he might be the mediator of any conflict they might be involved in. Lists are probably drawn for his successor as I type.

But there are other people also that are not helping at all by writing pamphlets through news agency. The latest one of AP, reproduced by the New York Times who should know better and yet published something hardly better, is a choice piece in how to look the world through rose colored glasses, the rose being the socialist rose of course. Well, at least the NYT piece was signed by Ginger Thompson whereas the AP is unsigned and probably the result of some intern that was left alone to ma the fort on week ends...

Both pieces seem to have discovered warm water: there is a big social gap in Honduras!!!! No kidding....... And both minimize conveniently that Zelaya was elected by the "elites" that he betrayed not for the people but for his personal ambition. Let's be real here: if Zelaya really wanted to help "the people" he could have done it sitting as the president without the need to plot with Chavez. He could even had started a new political party to run for his chosen successor to continue his programs. Do I have to spell it out further?

At least the NYT is well written though we miss the hand of Romero who does manage to bring shreds of objectify from the most impossible situations. But I must repeat that the AP piece is a mere sophomoric pamphlet, sophomoric without the humor, that is. Even a recent graduate in real journalism from a serious college would not write such a simplistic sentence:

Elites across Latin America are watching the standoff closely, as they plot their own strategies to combat democratically elected presidents such as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez who have demonized the wealthy as they push for a more even distribution of income.

And this is just the third sentence. Enough said!

-The end-