Honduras' Manuel Zelaya to Obama: You're not an heir to Abraham Lincoln

November 16, 6:58 PMOrlando Republican ExaminerBlas Padrino

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Less than two weeks from the elections that will name the next president of Honduras, the deposed former leader of that Central American nation is aiming his sharpest criticism towards the United States and specifically against President Barack Obama. As reported by the Associated Press, in a recent letter addressed to the American president, Mr. Zelaya wrote:

"As the elected president of the Honduran people, I reaffirm my position that starting today, no matter what, I will not accept any agreement on returning to the presidency of the republic to cover up this coup d’état . . . .

"The future that you show us today by changing your position in the case of Honduras, and thus favoring the abusive intervention of the military castes ... is nothing more than the downfall of freedom and contempt for human dignity. It is a new war against the processes of social and democratic reforms so necessary in Honduras."

Ex-president Zelaya is still holed up in the Brazilian Embassy and surrounded by police armed with an arrest warrant against him if he steps outside of Brazil’s protection. However, he makes frequent statements to the press via phone. Yesterday, his complaints against the U.S. took a more personal tone. In an interview with local station Radio Globo he said that Lincoln

“. . . gave an example to the American people that this [Obama’s] government doesn’t want to follow. These are not true heirs of Lincoln.”

Although State Department spokesman Ian Kelly denied yesterday that U.S. policy towards Honduras had changed and claimed that the Obama Administration continues to stay in contact with Mr. Zelaya, he avoided giving a direct answer to the question whether the United States still required his reinstatement to the presidency. He conceded that the State Department was still working on a response to Mr. Zelaya’s letter, two weeks after its receipt.
Mr. Zelaya’s problem is being compounded by the fact that the matter of his reinstatement has lost its importance in comparison with the question of the legitimacy of the next government, about to be chosen by the Honduran people through free elections. Largely through Zelaya’s own blunders, a number of foreign countries aside from the U.S. are now committed to supporting the electoral process. As recently as yesterday, Ricardo Martinelli, the president of Honduras’ Central American neighbor Panama told the local newspaper La Estrella that his country will recognize the winner of the elections and urged the international community to follow suit.
Given the fact that Zelaya himself rejects the possibility of his reinstatement under the auspices of the agreement that had been reached between him and current president Roberto Micheletti, he leaves little reason for international support of his cause. Moreover, it takes away any sense of urgency by the Honduran National Congress to start deliberations on his reinstatement. After hearing Zelaya’s statements, that body’s vice-president, Ramón Velázquez commented:

“If it is Zelaya’s desire not to be reinstated, it appears that his supporters have lost the last argument they had, because what is the point of their demanding his restitution when he is saying that it should not happen?”

The one thing that has been made clear by the political crisis that has gripped Honduras is the emotional instability of Mr. Zelaya. It is no surprise then that, prior to the events that precipitated the crisis, the leadership of his own Liberal Party had urged him politely to submit to a psychiatric evaluation.
(Above right: Ex-president Zelaya receives communion from Salvadoran priest Andres Tamayo, who spent two months at Brazil's Embassy with the deposed president. However, he left the Embassy this morning accompanied by two Salvadorean diplomats. Photo courtesy of La Prensa).