Arias Calls
For Tougher Economic and Political Sanctions
For Honduras
Costa Rica president, Oscar Arias, is
calling for tougher economic and political
sanctions against the current Honduran
government and more action by the United
States to force the return of ousted
president, Manuel Zelaya.
The Arias message came following taking over
as the newly appointed president of the
Sistema de la Integración Centroamericana (SICA)
- Central American Integration System,
assuming power for the next six months from
Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega.
The message also has a lot of weight as it
is delivered by a man who was awarded the
Nobel Peace prize for peace in the region
and the president of a country that
abolished its army 60 years ago, to avoid
similar events. Arias has also preached for
demilitarization of the region.
"This (the Honduras coup) is a setback to
democracy in Central and Latin America",
Arias said in a statement.
Arias stopped short of cutting off Costa
Rica's trade with Honduras, an action taken
by Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador, all
countries bordering Honduras.
Arias said that stopping trade with
Honduras, a country with a weak economy,
will only hurt the people further. Speaking
on Radio Monumental on Tuesday, the
president said that he hopes that the
situation is resolved quickly to reduce the
suffering of the (Honduran) people. |
