On Monday, a Honduran special appeals court panel annulled two charges of corruption brought against former President Manuel Zelaya after the coup that deposed him in June 2009. This ruling paves the way for the ex-leader to return to his country from exile in the Dominican Republic and is a critical step towards the normalization of Honduras’s relations with the rest of the hemisphere and the international community.
The United States has called for the “immediate” return of Honduras to the Organization of American States, from which the Central American nation has been suspended since July 2009. According to the State Department, full participation in the hemispheric body would permit Honduras to benefit from the capacity of the OAS to promote institutional strengthening in human rights and good governance, widely perceived to be in deficit even before the coup.
OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza has hailed the court’s decision, saying that it has removed the main obstacle to the reincorporation of Honduras into the OAS and he hopes to see rapid movement in this direction, with the next OAS General Assembly to be held in El Salvador early next month.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota has also welcomed the news, saying, “A little light is beginning to appear at the end of the tunnel”, acknowledging that the development could lead to the readmission of Honduras to the OAS.
Brazil, along with Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Paraguay Uruguay and Venezuela, has so far withheld recognition of the government of President Porfirio Lobo, who was elected in November 2009. Brazil has been consistent in its rejection of the coup and its support for Mr Zelaya’s return with guarantees for his security and political rights, as well as its concern for the human rights situation in the country.
In this context, according to the Brazilian foreign minister, the process of allowing Honduras back into the hemispheric fold will now depend on the negotiations being led by Colombia and Venezuela, in the wake of the meeting between their respective presidents, Juan Manuel Santos and Hugo Chávez, in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, in early April, with a view to forging a consensus in time for the upcoming OAS General Assembly.
The four key conditions to overcome the opposition to President Lobo’s government are: accepting the return of Mr Zelaya with no charges pending; strengthening human rights; the convening of a national assembly on the constitution; and the recognition of Mr Zelaya’s National Front of Popular Resistance (FNRP in Spanish) as a political party.
To be fair, the dismissal of the charges against Mr Zelaya has been one of the public objectives of President Lobo ever since he assumed power in January 2010. In this regard, Washington considers him a promoter of national reconciliation, even though he is still seen as a right winger by the Latin American left.
Nonetheless, it appears that Mr Lobo had been reaching out informally to Mr Chávez and following his breakthrough meeting with Mr Santos and Mr Chávez in Cartagena last month, it would seem that he is banking on the Venezuelan president’s intervention with his partners in ALBA and UNASUR.
Now, Mr Lobo has given assurances that human rights will be respected, “because it is not the policy of the State to persecute anyone or to violate them,” and that, in this regard, those in exile will be welcomed back even if he has to go and bring them back himself. Perhaps Mr Lobo is conscious that the whole question of human rights, a hot button topic following the coup, has been subject to intense international scrutiny ever since he came into office.
Also, constitutional reforms have been approved in order to allow for a public consultation by means of a plebiscite on whether or not to convene a constitutive assembly. Ironically, it was a clumsy attempt by Mr Zelaya to seek a referendum on the possibility of constitutional reform, albeit to extend his term in office, that led to his overthrow. In addition, Mr Lobo has indicated that there is no problem in the FNRP being incorporated into the country’s political system.
The annulment of the charges against Mr Zelaya and the political settlement of a crisis that has gone on for far too long are to be welcomed. There may indeed be light at the end of the tunnel, but the process of national reconciliation has only just begun. Mr Lobo and Mr Zelaya still have much to do in this respect.