Honduras’ coup-installed government dug in its heels after Washington cut off millions of dollars in aid to the Central American nation, vowing that ousted president Manuel Zelaya would not return to power despite increasing international pressure.
Hours after US President Barack Obama’s administration cut off all aid to the Honduran government, the government of interim President Roberto Micheletti sent a letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton condemning the decision on Thursday night.
“Whether you wish us well or not, we will pay any price, we will bear any burden, we will take on any difficulty, we will support any friend and oppose any enemy to ensure the survival and the success of liberty and democracy in our country,” interim Interior Minister Oscar Raul Matute said in the letter, echoing President John F. Kennedy’s 1961 inaugural address
Washington’s action, announced as Clinton was meeting with Zelaya, makes permanent a temporary suspension of US assistance put in place after he was deposed in June.
It cuts more than US$31 million in non-humanitarian assistance, including US$11 million remaining in a more than a US$200 million five-year assistance program run by the Millennium Challenge Corp.
“The secretary of state has made the decision, consistent with US legislation, recognizing the need for strong measures in light of the continued resistance to the adoption of the San Jose Accord by the de facto regime and continuing failure to restore democratic, constitutional rule to Honduras,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said.
After meeting with Clinton, Zelaya welcomed the move.
“It is gratifying that the United States has taken a strong position against the coup,” he said in a brief interview, adding that more pressure may be necessary.
The San Jose accord, brokered by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, aims to return Zelaya to power with limited authority until elections now set for November. But Micheletti has refused to accept it.
Clinton made the decision even though she did not determine that Zelaya’s ouster met the US legal definition of a military coup d’etat. Such a finding would have forced the administration to cut off assistance and had been urged by some lawmakers, including Democratic Representative Howard Berman, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
“This one looks, walks and quacks like a duck,” Berman wrote in Thursday’s editions of the Los Angeles Times. “It’s time to stop hedging and call this bird what it is. And if, for whatever reason, the State Department lawyers do not conclude that this was a coup, Congress should examine other ways by which it can directly affect the flow of aid.”
Clinton did not make that finding because Zelaya’s ouster involved “the participation of both the legislative and judicial branches of government as well as the military,” Kelly said.
In Honduras, representatives of the interim government said the decision won’t return Zelaya to power. But his supporters said the move was an important step.
Gabriela Nunez, Micheletti’s finance minister, said withholding funds is a mistake and that US should respect the dignity of the Honduran people.
“America must understand that what happened in Honduras was not a coup, but a presidential succession,” she said.
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