President Lobo’s Quest For Reunification

By Eddy Acevedo.

Honduran President Porfirio Lobo took power after months of political uncertainty in the country. On June 28, 2009, the Honduran military flew Manuel Zelaya out of Honduras and into Costa Rica only after the Honduran Supreme Court issued an arrest warrant for the former president. Just recently, a Honduran judge ruled that military officials did not act with malice and were innocent of allegations that they abused their power when they removed Zelaya from the country. The arrest warrant was issued because Zelaya had violated the Honduran Constitution. Due to the fact that there was no vice-president in place at the time, the President of the Honduran Congress, Roberto Micheletti, took over as President. Though the Obama administration and Secretary Clinton made the error of supporting Zelaya and mistakenly referring to the incident as a coup, the Honduran people continued to fight for the rule of law and democracy. The U.S. suspended foreign aid to Honduras and the U.S. embassy in Tegucigalpa revoked the visas of cabinet and senior level officials of the Micheletti government. However, the Micheletti government ignored all outside pressures and focused on listening to the will of the Honduran people. After months of dialogue and negotiations, the United States and the international community finally decided to recognize the new elections, leading the way for Porfirio Lobo to win on November 29, 2009. In order to commence the journey necessary to unify the once divided country, President Lobo must focus on the future and leave the past behind.

As the fourth poorest country in Latin America, Honduras is suffering from a poverty rate of approximately 51%. This can be attributed to a strong dependence on agriculture and natural disasters that have plagued the region. In 1998, Hurricane Mitch caused over 7,000 deaths and left more than one million homeless. The unstable economy forced many Hondurans to flee the country and come to the United States seeking job security and the opportunity for a better life. Honduras and the United States share a strong economic bond. The Honduran population is about 7.4 million, of which 78,000 living in the U.S. were able to benefit when Temporary Protected Status was granted to them after Hurricane Mitch. By allowing them to remain and work in the United States, remittances from the many Hondurans living in the U.S. accounted for about 19% of the nation’s total GDP for 2008. While the U.S. has remained its largest trading partner, Honduras is still struggling to improve its economic situation. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have stepped in and created a Poverty Reduction Strategy in order to combat poverty with the goal of lowering levels of extreme poverty by half by 2015. According to the World Bank, by improving governance within Honduras, it will help increase economic growth which will in turn decrease poverty rates. Thus, the new democratic leader of Honduras and international collaborative efforts are necessary to reduce poverty rates and improve economic conditions. Assisting Honduras’ economy helps the U.S. create jobs. In Miami-Dade County alone, Honduras is the 6th largest trading partner with the Port of Miami and the 21st largest trading partner with Miami International Airport. These statistics demonstrate how international collaborative efforts will continue to create jobs and wealth for both countries.

President Lobo must mend the broken relationship between his administration and President Obama. Even though the current administration made mistakes in the past, it eventually recognized the Honduran elections. In addition to the economy, the United States has another key interest in the stability and success of the Lobo government, as there are approximately 600 U.S. military personnel in Soto Cano Air base in Honduras. The national security of the United States relies on these soldiers’ primary focus to handle counternarcotics operations and humanitarian missions in the western hemisphere. Keeping military bases such as Soto Cano Air Base and the Homestead Air Reserve Base in Miami up and running is of vital importance to our national priorities of both providing humanitarian aid to countries in need, such as Haiti, and protecting our national security. The increase in gang activity in Central America may very well become a national security threat to the United States. Military personnel in the region help fight against gangs such as MS-13 and 18th gang (or M-18) in Honduras. The U.S. is hoping to advance and succeed with a regional anti-gang initiative in Central America called the Merida Initiative. Through initiatives such as these and the military personnel on the ground, the United States will continue to secure the homeland from possible terrorists and drug smugglers.

It would be my hope that the administration concentrates its future efforts on moving Honduras out of poverty and showing goodwill to the freedom fighters in the country without reminiscing on past turmoil. The U.S. should lead the charge in partnering with Honduras to get them reinstated into the Organization of American States. Moreover, as a gesture of good faith, the U.S. should restore the aid that it suspended. We must follow his leadership as President Lobo commented during his inaugural speech, “We have just come out of the worst political crisis in our democratic history, but … we have managed to avoid all the great dangers that confronted our nation…We’re ready and willing to confront the future united.” The time has come to step aside and allow President Porfirio Lobo the opportunity to unite Honduras and for time to heal its wounds.

Eddy Acevedo currently serves as the Federal Affairs Coordinator of Miami-Dade County’s DC Office. Miami-Dade County is the 9th largest county in the United States and is considered the Gateway to the Americas. Mr. Acevedo advocates for the County’s priorities with Congress and the White House. In 2005, he worked as Senior Legislative Assistant to Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL-18), Ranking Member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Related posts:

1. Conservatism Wins in Honduras Conservative politician Porfirio Lobo headed toward victory on Sunday...
2. Why Obama Should Stop Supporting Zelaya in Honduras For our readers in The Americano, it will probably very...
3. Most Latin American Leaders Are Wrong on Honduras Latin American leaders pressed for the return to office...
4. Standing for Freedom By Rep. Mike Pence, Chairman of the GOP Conference...
5. My Personal Witness of the Honduran Election It’s official—the Honduran people have voted into office a...