Behind Hugo's Harassment Of Honduras

By INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Wednesday, July 15, 2009 4:20 PM PT

Latin America: The recent actions of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez say a lot about what's really at stake in the Honduras debacle. It's not about democracy or constitutionality. It's about preserving a tyrant's empire.

Related Topics: Latin America & Caribbean

Round II of Costa Rican President Oscar Arias' effort to negotiate a peaceful solution to the Honduras crisis begins Saturday, when the ousted president, Mel Zelaya, and the constitutional government that replaced him meet Arias in a bid to make peace.

At issue is whether Zelaya broke the Honduran constitution by trying to hold an illegal referendum and, if not, whether he deserves to be returned to power.

Arias is the logical mediator. He won a Nobel Prize for negotiating a Central American peace accord in 1987. He's also president of the Central American Integration Commission, which is a leading regional organization for keeping the peace in the region.

Complicating matters is Chavez, the Marxist tyrant who's been at the center of the Honduran problem from day one. He has provided encouragement and material support for the unconstitutional referendum that Zelaya tried to push through. Now with peace talks on, Chavez is interfering further.

Early last week, Chavez declared the Arias talks "dead" and urged stronger action — as in a U.S. Marine invasion — to reseat Zelaya.

His sour-grapes attitude toward negotiations followed the failure of his plan for Zelaya to forcibly re-enter the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa a week earlier amid violence at the airport.

Meanwhile, Chavez's other pawn, Jose Miguel Insulza, secretary-general of the Organization of American States, failed to intimate Honduras into reinstating Zelaya through sanctions. Once OAS expelled Honduras, it could punish the country no more.

By Thursday, Chavez really lost it, making a bizarre, out-of-protocol 11:15 p.m. phone call to U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas Shannon urging the U.S. to "do something," suggesting a military invasion. Seems Chavez was losing sleep at night over Honduras.

Then, on his weekly variety show Sunday, Chavez made a long speech about his call to Shannon, hurling insults at the very country he wanted go to war for him. He blamed the U.S. for instigating the "coup" that removed Zelaya and maintained that the 600 U.S. troops stationed on Honduras' Palmerola military base had a role in it.

Chavez insisted that our Central Intelligence Agency, State Department and Pentagon all conspired behind President Obama's back to create the crisis. He demanded that Obama withdraw the U.S. troops, revoke the visas of Honduran officials and seize their assets. Then he threatened to foment a Honduran military revolt.

"Zelaya will return to his country. The government of Honduras will decide whether to kill him or not. He is willing to die," Chavez said, gladly giving up his pal's life for "the struggle."

As of Tuesday, Zelaya, acting on cue from his sponsor, was calling for violence and disruption of trade with strikes and roadblocks. "The Honduran people have the right to insurrection," he said.

Chavez's series of actions have nothing to do with restoring democratic order or constitutionality in Honduras. Which begs the question: Why is he involved at all? Venezuela has no dog in this fight, no vital interests, barely any trade and no reason not to respect the Arias talks, whatever their outcome.

Yet Chavez has staged this fantastical horse opera, first blaming the U.S., then begging us to expend blood and treasure on his behalf, and finally stirring up violence, much as he does in his own country.

Fact is, Chavez can't afford to lose a single pawn in the collection of vassal states known as ALBA, which include Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Cuba. If Honduras goes, the message to the others is that membership in the group is reversible.

Chavez's actions in the Honduras debacle show the ends to which he will go to maintain what's effectively an empire. This is nothing but the work of a dictator disguised in democracy's clothing.

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