Arias
Initiative Behind The Honduras Peace Accord
The US State Department and Organization of
American States (OAS) delegation have
capitalized on the efforts made by Costa
Rican president, Oscar Arias, a Nobel Peace
Prize laureate, who laid the groundwork for
the deal, which had been stalled on one
stickler, Zelaya's reinstatement.
The deal, which must still be ratified by
the Honduran congress and a non-binding
opinion from the country's Supreme Court, is
being called the Tegucigalpa-San José
agreement in recognition of Arias' efforts
that began months ago in Costa Rica when
State Secretary, Hilary Clinton, asked Arias
to broker peace between the sides.
Arias, at the begining of July, two weeks
after Zelaya was ousted from office and
Honduras by the de facto government of
Roberto Micheletti, hosted the two men at
his private home in Rohrmoser, with the
objective of having the two meet face to
face and come to an agreement.
The morning of July 9 started on a high
note. However, by mid day it was clear that
the leaders would not meet face to face and
no accord would be in easy sight.
Months of off-and-of talks, ultimatums and
near deals ensued. Boths sites became more
polarized with each step and the country was
moving towards a more violent solution.
The Obama administration has been criticized
fro not actin sooner and although world
support for the de facto government never
occurred and Zelaya's slipping back into
Honduras, taking refuge in the Brazilian
Embassy in Tegucigalpa, neither side would
give in to the main point, Zelaya's return
to power.
President Obama was reluctant to appear over
interventionist in a region where the US has
had a long history of "meddling", preferring
the Latin Americans to resolve it, thus the
call on Arias to broker a deal.
Last week was the turning point for the
months old stalemate between Zelaya and
Micheletti and their supporters. The
negotiations were failing, there were days
when it was absolutely clear that no deal
was ever going to be made, the elections
would take place on November 29 as announced
by the de facto government and Zelaya would
live out his remaining months of his term
outside of the presidential office.
Threats from the international community
that they would not recognize the results of
the election did not phase on Micheletti,
not in public anyways.
Arias had kept quiet as his multi point
proposal had been rejected over and over.
The arrival of US Assistant Secretary of
State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas
Shannon and senior White House adviser on
Latin America Dan Restrepo in Tegucigalpa on
Wednesday assured that many of the points
laid out under the Arias proposal were valid
and the only way to bring peace to that
country.
The only point, the stickler, that was not
adopted in the agreement is the restoration
of Zelaya to power, leaving that point to
the Honduran legislators to decide.
"An agreement is the way out. If you don't
take it now, don't come back to us later
looking for help" Shannon is said to have
told the Hondurans on both sides of the
conflict.
"Success will depend on rigorous
international monitoring of the accord's
implementation," said U.S. Sen. John Kerry,
a Massachusetts Democrat and chair of the
Senate Committee of Foreign Relations, in a
statement Friday.
"There's a long way to go," notes Michael
Shifter, vice president for policy at the
Inter-American Dialogue, "and when it comes
to Honduras anything is possible."
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Ousted Honduran president, Manuel Zelaya (left), in talks with Costa Rica's president, Oscar Arias, at the Arias home in Rohrmoser, two weeks after the June 28 coup d'etat. The basis of the July 9 talks are at the core of the accord reached on Friday.
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