Party of 1

The Obama administration endured criticism from the American right when it criticized the removal of Honduran president Manuel Zelaya five months ago. Supporters of the president countered that the ouster was condemned by the OAS and most Latin American governments. Now, however, the administration has signed off on elections to be conducted by the interim government tomorrow (Sunday). Sanctions against the regime might have turned the country into “another Haiti,” senior administration officials feared, according to reporting by Ginger Thompson in the New York Times.

Governments in the region detect a relapse in the direction of past American support for military regimes.  A researcher with the Council on Foreign Relations conjectures: “They really thought [Obama] was different…. But those hopes were dashed over the course of the summer.”

Reuters reports that human rights groups are concerned about abuses under the de facto Honduran government of Roberto Micheletti, which “at times feels uncannily like Latin America’s dark past of military rule.”  The groups are attributing “at least 10 deaths to de facto rule…. The government admits three people have died in protests.”