Okay, I’ll admit I’m surprised Hiatt decided to go the route of supporting the democratic rule of law and nonviolent conflict resolution — although he cannot resist a bit of propagandizing about the evil “Chavistas.”
The beauty of the U.S.-brokered deal is that it is founded on democratic process — the very thing the Chavistas want to destroy. The Honduran Congress will vote on whether to restore Mr. Zelaya to office for the three months remaining in his term. Mr. Zelaya says he has the votes to return as president, but if he does, he will head a “government of reconciliation,” and the armed forces will report to the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, a presidential election previously scheduled for Nov. 29 will go forward with international support and regional recognition for the winner. Neither of the two leading presidential candidates supports Mr. Zelaya or his agenda, which means that Honduras’s democracy should be preserved, and Mr. Chávez’s attempted coup rebuffed.
The best part of the editorial is Hiatt’s concluding paragraph:
In Washington, meanwhile, Republicans such as Sen. Jim DeMint (S.C.), who helped to prolong the Honduran crisis, should have no more excuse to hold up the confirmation of the administration’s appointments for Latin American posts. As it happens, the leader of the U.S. delegation in Honduras this week, outgoing Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon, is one of the State Department professionals abused by Mr. DeMint. Having recorded the Obama administration’s biggest diplomatic success so far, Mr. Shannon ought to be allowed to take up his new post as ambassador to Brazil.
He might have added “and who undermined the Obama administration by attempting to conduct his own foreign policy” — but I suppose that’s what he was getting at with the bit about “prolonging the Honduran crisis.”
Here is the complete text of the agreement.
According to the Associated Press (link goes to Google News; the AP article is the first hit), the Honduran Congress will review the accord on Tuesday.
PAST CONTRIBUTOR.