Zelaya and diplomacy
Mexican President Felipe Calderón is obviously no ideological match with Mel Zelaya, but he made a point of giving him an official state welcome when he came to Mexico. Zelaya cannot afford to alienate anybody, so it was not a good idea to joke about Andrés Manuel López Obrador ("Sometimes it is better to feel like the president than to be the president"). Like elsewhere in Latin American, the Mexican government is not particularly interested in exerting any leverage over the coup government, so any gaffe just provides more justification for inaction.
2 comments:
Good to see that Mexicans realize who Zelaya really is.
Similarly in Paraguay. Their Senate may be as corrupt as any but at least they are willing to do something for democracy:
http://en.mercopress.com/2009/08/07/paraguayan-senate-not-interested-in-having-venezuela-in-mercosur
Laura Carlson's account of an event during Zelaya's visit provides some context and contrast to the implication that Zelaya as ungrateful, boorish guest.
President Zelaya spoke to hundreds of Mexican supporters in Mexico City on August 5, to affirm his commitment to restore democracy in his country and underline the importance of the Mexican and U.S. governments in ending the coup.
The Mexico City government, which earlier presented Zelaya with the keys to the city, organized the event with members of grassroots organizations. Hundreds of men, women and children from the urban popular movement, debtors' organizations, unions and universities waved Honduran flags in the elegant Teatro de la Ciudad, frequently breaking into the speech to shout cheers and slogans. The setting contrasted sharply with the international diplomatic forums he has appeared in since being ousted by a military coup on June 28.
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Zelaya announced that he spoke with Mexican President Felipe Calderon who offered his support. Calderon received the ousted Honduran president with full state honors yesterday. On this point, Zelaya had a tough audience. At the mention of the Mexican president's name, the crowd broke out in boos that scarcely let him continue. The uproar revealed the still-simmering resentment against what many people in this country, especially the poor and popular organizations that filled the theater, still consider the elections of 2006 to have been stolen and see Calderon's leadership as an illegitimate presidency.
Zelaya continued anyway. "[Calderon] will be with President Obama in Guadalajara and the force with which the United States decides to take effective actions will also depend on this meeting." On August 9, Obama will be in Mexico for a meeting of North American leaders on NAFTA's Security and Prosperity Partnership and other issues. He said that Mexicans must keep a close watch on the talks between Calderon and Obama, because they will have an impact "on the destiny of Latin America."
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