Clinton: Costa Rican to mediate Honduras crisis

[nadinbrzezinski]

Source: AP

Clinton: Costa Rican to mediate Honduras crisis
20 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is announcing that Costa Rican President Oscar Arias will serve as international mediator in the Honduran political crisis.
Clinton made the announcement Tuesday at the State Department after meeting privately with ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya.
She said Zelaya as well as the politician who took over as defacto Honduran leader, Roberto Micheletti, agreed to the Arias role as mediator. She said Arias would work on the problem from Costa Rica, not in Honduras.
Clinton also called on all parties to refrain from further violence in an effort to resolve the political crisis.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jTirTr7eUMzFRXPVAD3Qq12O6MPgD999OT4G0

---

Ah and here we go... carrot... this is what diplomacy looks like.

[DURHAM D]

1. A really smart move. nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. This is an incredible break from the historic normal

that it is not even funny.

But yes, it is smart

This is the carrot

The stick, which is what many here want, is probably not that far behind

[Warpy]

5. Dunno, the stick hasn't done a whole lot of good in the past

but if the carrot is large and sweet, the stick could be its withdrawal from the menu, alone.

Yes, it's an astonishing break, we're not even trying to side with the military again, nor are we acting directly.

I find that incredibly refreshing. Whether or not it's smart will only be known after time has passed.

(they might even have Michael Jackson planted by then)

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. RLOL, MJ will be done by then

I think the stick is breaking relations, pulling troops out and a series of sanctions... which they seem not to want to pull the trigger on since it will only hurt the common people.

The carrot... they are using the President of Costa Rica that has NO military for the mediation role. That is a hell of a signal...

[Warpy]

8. It sure as hell is, stunning in its implication

that the doctrine of our endless ability to interfere militarily in any country in this hemisphere is finally nearing an end.

We can't afford Empire, especially when the men and institutions that demand it also refuse to support it financially.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. I know, it is stunning, Perhaps a change in Monroe, into a more regional

set of policies.

Time will tell

[RoyGBiv]

3. Excellent move ...

I am quite tempted to go back into those threads from the weekend and pick out the names of individuals lambasting our SoS and the administration generally for not doing anything.

Many people have no idea how all this works and no desire to learn.

In any case, this was a good move I believe.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Indeed, and this is a break from situation normal as well

[EFerrari]

6. It was my position then and now that State was much too slow

to respond and so was Obama, and that their response was inadequate. And I do know "how all this works", only sitting here in San Francisco because of two coups, one unsuccessful and one entirely successful.

That being said, we are where we are today.

[cal04]

10. Honduras accepts mediation offer, Costa Rica says

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/07/07/honduras.political.turmoil/index.html?section=cnn_latest

Provisional Honduran President Roberto Micheletti has accepted an offer that an independent commission help broker an impasse over whether to allow the return of ousted President Jose Manual Zelaya, Costa Rica's foreign ministry said Tuesday.

Costa Rican President Oscar Arias offered to form a mediation panel with representatives from four or five countries.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. Micheleti will put on the table where to go live for the rest of his life

that will be part of the deal.

GOOD

[pinto]

12. Well done. A neighbor mediator. Apparently agreed to by both parties.

On it's face a diplomatic 2 :thumbsup:.

As always, the devil's in the details, the proof is in the pudding, and all that. But a good step.

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. Well the signals were all over the place in the tea leaves

Obama condemned it almost from the git go

US Troops were ordered to barracks and NOT to assist Hondurans

And then we saw other strange a-happenings that told us... this is not situation normal. Chavez and Obama agreeing on SOMETHING was the clearest signal.

Readying tea leaves is not an easy skill, but there were so many breaks from the usual it wasn't funny

And as usual diplomacy takes a little longer.

[sasquatch]

14. Speak softly and carry a big stick Senor Arias

[Judi Lynn]

15. Honduras' Zelaya says to meet coup backers on ThursdayReuters

Source: Reuters

Honduras' Zelaya says to meet coup backers on ThursdayReuters
July 8, 2009, 9:05 am

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya on Tuesday accepted a U.S.-backed effort by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias to mediate an end to the political crisis in Honduras and said talks with his rivals would begin on Thursday.

"Our first meeting is set for Thursday, in Costa Rica," Zelaya, told Honduran radio from Washington, saying he would meet the "protagonists" of the June 28 coup that ousted him.

But Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, faces mediating between sharply opposed positions.

Zelaya said that his reinstatement as president was "nonnegotiable," adding of the talks, "What this is is not a negotiation, this is the planning of the exit of the coup leaders."


Read more: http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/5710702/honduras-zelaya-says-to-meet-coup-backers-on-thursday/

[bertman]

16. "this is is not a negotiation, this is the planning of the exit of the coup leaders."

I really like this guy's style.

Large cajones. Large democratic cajones.

Maybe we should import some to the good ole U.S.A.

Recommend.

[struggle4progress]

17. Oscar Arias Sánchez: Nobel Peace Prize 1987 Acceptance Speech

... Peace is a never-ending process, the work of many decisions by many people in many countries. It is an attitude, a way of life, a way of solving problems and resolving conflicts. It cannot be forced on the smallest nation or enforced by the largest. It cannot ignore our differences or overlook our common interests. It requires us to work and live together.

Peace is not only a matter of noble words and Nobel lectures. We have ample words, glorious words, inscribed in the charters of the United Nations, the World Court, the Organization of American States and a network of international treaties and laws. We need deeds that will respect those words, honour those commitments, abide by those laws. We need to strengthen our institutions of peace like the United Nations, making certain they are fully used by the weak as well as the strong.

I pay no attention to those doubters and detractors unwilling to believe that a lasting peace can be genuinely embraced by those who march under a different ideological banner or those who are more accustomed to cannons of war than to councils of peace.

We seek in Central America not peace alone, not peace to be followed some day by political progress, but peace and democracy, together, indivisible, an end to the shedding of human blood, which is inseparable from an end to the suppression of human rights. We do not judge, much less condemn, any other nation's political or ideological system, freely chosen and never exported. We cannot require sovereign states to conform to patterns of government not of their own choosing. But we can and do insist that every government respect those universal rights of man that have meaning beyond national boundaries and ideological labels. We believe that justice and peace can only thrive together, never apart. A nation that mistreats its own citizens is more likely to mistreat its neighbours ...

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1987/arias-acceptance.html

[cal04]

18. Military backed interim gov. to meet Republican Senators

(snip)
Mariana Sanchez, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Tegucigalpa, said on Tuesday: "There is a lot of speculation as to what will now happen here.

"The military-backed interim government yesterday sent a delegation to Washington made up of former presidents and former ministers ... (who) are going to meet some (US)Republican senators. This is going parallel to the announcement that Clinton made.

"The supreme court judge of Honduras ... said the interim government has allowed the court to name a commission that would help bring the country to a national dialogue and even offer amnesty to Zelaya of charges that he is facing in the country."

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/07/200977182016393703.html