Latin America and Honduras Six Years Later

Yesterday marked six years since the illegal overthrow of President Zelaya in Honduras. Here are some examples of outrage at the U.S. role. There is plenty to be said in that regard, and clearly Honduras is far worse off as a result of the coup. But I find the Latin America angle to be missing.

I wrote almost daily about the coup, and what I feel gets ignored is how little Latin American leaders did beyond talk. Brazil (with El Salvador's help) did the most by orchestrating Zelaya's return to Honduras but that actually didn't lead to a solution--it just changed where Zelaya sat as the rest of Latin America waited for the United States to resolve the problem. Lula even called Zelaya to tell him to tone things down.

Hugo Chávez said the November 2009 presidential election was a sham so Venezuela would not recognize the winner, but then he did and they became BFF. Lula talked tough and back down. The OAS talked tough and backed down. Everyone talked tough and backed down.

I made a similar point in 2012 after the Paraguayan crisis. There is a lot of talk from Latin America, but seemingly very little interest in backing it up. Instead, all those governments made lots of statements, then quickly and quietly settled down and accepted the new status quo. I have no problem with criticizing the U.S. role, but I wish Latin American leaders had come together and gone beyond mere denunciation.