Random Policy

The US State Department threw our old ally Honduras under the bus again on Tuesday by revoking the visas of four senior Honduran officials. The only official that has been identified is the Honduran Supreme Court magistrate that ordered the arrest of ex President Zelaya. Amid the immense amount of news being generated by the US administration and congress this is almost certainly to be nothing more than a minor blip on the mainstream media news cycle radar. It is a tragedy nonetheless and represents nothing short of a betrayal of the people and democratic government of our former ally by the current administration, and our nation by association.

These words may seem strong, but they fit the situation. In a region where there is an increasing amount of anti-American socialist influence it is unacceptable for the State Department to be working against a democratic ally following a constitutional process to remove a defiant President intent on forcing a constitutional crisis. What loyalty we may have had to a fellow democratic state was a loyalty of principle with the state and its democratic institutions, and should not have been limited to the President that clearly defied the tenets of democracy in pursuit of nothing more noble than increasing his own power.

Even now after the dust has settled and the picture has clarified the US administration continues to legitimize the notion that there was a coup in Honduras. By no stretch of the imagination could the constitutional process that was followed in Honduras be considered a coup. We have our own balance of powers in the United States and would no doubt bristle at foreign countries characterizing the application of our laws to defend against a disturbance in that balance as a coup. Imagine a foreign country berating us for not reinstalling Richard Nixon to the presidency if he had been constitutionally ousted instead of resigning from office.

The loyalties of the United States must be given only to principles. It is one thing to support democracy, but quite another to support a wannabe dictator because we don't like the methods another country follows to remove him or because he is popular with other regional leaders. The magnitude of the crisis is self-limiting if the problem is not exacerbated by external factors. The normal course of Honduran elections will be under way soon and the democratic election of a new president would firmly close the door on the whole affair in November. The purpose behind the US administration's efforts against Honduras is unclear.

US support for Zelaya's return is clearly emboldening him. Zelaya is calling for the US government to crank up the pressure on the interim Honduran government in pursuit of his return. The US appears to be doing a great deal to try and comply with Zelaya's demands. If the US does not take a stand for democracy in the region there is a looming chance that international pressures will be brought to bear to discredit the upcoming Honduran elections, perpetuating a crisis that the country might otherwise be able to put behind them.

The US administration has not attempted to make a case for its support of Zelaya. Without clarifying the principles behind the decisions to punish Honduras for ousting Zelaya, the administration's actions can only result in increased confusion regarding its current philosophy on foreign affairs. Many in Honduras are appalled at the fact that the US has united with Zelaya, Chavez and Castro against Honduras. There are still many that have been unable to decipher the US response to the election catastrophe in Iran, and the US response to the situation in Honduras is equally confusing. One common thread appears to be a lack of willingness to oppose the actions of anti-democratic leaders that don't respect their own laws. That's not a great basis for foreign policy.