President Manuel Zelaya arrived early this morning to Washington, D.C., to participate in several meetings with the Organization of American States (OAS) and the U.S. Department of State. The Honduran president, ousted in a military coup on Sunday, June 28, has a scheduled meeting at 1PM (EDT) with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. It is unclear what exactly is expected of this meeting. Most likely President Zelaya will request the US Government cease ALL military and economic aid to Honduras until the coup government steps down. However, it is unlikely that Washington will comply with this request in its entirety. The Department of State has already been clear that it is not subject to suspending any aid directed toward "democracy promotion", which includes a large part of the $49 million it is investing this year in Honduras through USAID. There have also been no moves to remove the US military presence from Honduras, which probably won't happen either, since the Pentagon undoubtedly wants to maintain the presence, and also shares very close ties with the Honduran military involved in the coup against President Zelaya.
Today, a group of representatives from the coup government have also arrived in Washington, and have a scheduled press conference at 3pm at the National Press Club in Washington DC. Their visit has been organized by Republican Senator John McCain, who is also the chairman of the International Republican Institute, heavily implicated in the Honduran coup (see my blog entry). A lobbying firm with close ties to McCain, the Cormac Group, has organized the coup representatives' press conference this afternoon. John W. Timmons, founding partner of the Cormac Group, was legislative counsel to Senator McCain and directed his legislative agenda, principally in the area of commerce. Cormac Group also represents the neo-fascist, anti-castro Cuban mafia company, Barcardi USA.
Yesterday, President Obama mentioned the situation in Honduras in a speech he gave before the New Economic School in Moscow. He stated the following: "Even as we meet here today, America supports now the restoration of the democratically-elected President of Honduras, even though he has strongly opposed American policies. We do so not because we agree with him. We do so because we respect the universal principle that people should choose their own leaders, whether they are leaders we agree with or not."
Well, glad that's cleared up. Obama, et al, don't like President Zelaya, but he was elected by his people, so....
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