Honduras' New
Government Finds Nation 'Bankrupt'
TEGUCIGALPA - Honduras' new administration
began its term Thursday saying the nation is
bankrupt and will likely need international
financial assistance to recover from months
of diplomatic isolation over its June coup.
The first day of the new government also was
marked by early morning police raids that
resulted in 41 people being detained and
several weapons seized in the capital.
Newly inaugurated President Porfirio Lobo
swore in his Cabinet, including Finance
Minister William Chong, who said the
administration of interim president Roberto
Micheletti left office with only about $50
million in government coffers.
Chong said the already impoverished country
was bankrupt following months of isolation
and cutoffs of international aid prompted by
the coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya
in a political fight over changing the
constitution. Zelaya gave up his refuge in
the Brazilian Embassy and left Honduras on
Wednesday, the final day of the term he was
elected to.
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Chong said the Lobo administration will have
to approach international lending agencies
like the World Bank and International
Monetary Fund for loans.
In Tegucigalpa, the capital, police carried
out 23 searches that led to the detentions
and the capture of weapons that included a
grenade launcher. Police Commissioner Leonel
Sauceda did not specify what other kinds of
weapons were seized or what charges those
detained might face. It was not clear if
those detained were Zelaya's supporters.
Lobo, who won the November presidential
election that had been scheduled before
Zelaya was toppled, spent the early part of
the day talking with foreign diplomats who
attended his inauguration Wednesday.
Arturo Valenzuela, the assistant U.S.
secretary of state for the Western
Hemisphere, said it was important for
Honduras to create a truth commission to
investigate the events that led to the coup.
Speaking in a teleconference from
Washington, Valenzuela said Lobo "has put
together a broad Cabinet, including even
candidates who ran against him. What is
pending is the last step, which is the truth
commission."
Some measure of normality returned, at least
in the several blocks around the Brazilian
Embassy, where Zelaya holed up after
sneaking back into the country in September.
Once cordoned off by soldiers, the upscale
area was opened to traffic again Thursday,
following Zelaya's departure to the
Dominican Republic.
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