spursncowboys
11-29-2009, 03:56 PM
Honduras Votes as Troops Watch, Zelaya Urges Boycott (Update1)By Helen Murphy and Jonathan J. Levin
Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Honduran soldiers and police stand guard at polling stations as voters choose a new president following Manuel Zelaya’s (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Manuel+Zelaya%3Fs&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1)overthrow five months ago.
The government of acting President Roberto Micheletti (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Roberto+Micheletti&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1) is seeking to avoid the sometimes bloody clashes between the ousted regime’s backers and opponents as he seeks international recognition of the vote amid Zelaya’s call for a boycott.
Polls show Porfirio Lobo (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Porfirio+Lobo&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1), a National Party (http://www.partidonacional.hn/) leader who lost to Zelaya in 2005, is favored over the Liberal Party’s (http://www.partidoliberaldehonduras.hn/)Elvin Santos (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Elvin%0ASantos&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1), Zelaya’s former vice president. The ballot is a chance for Honduras to advance beyond the political crisis and regain international legitimacy and access to much-needed aid, said James Creagan, former U.S.Ambassador (http://travel.state.gov/) to Honduras.
“It’s so essential for Honduras to move forward now,” said Creagan, who will observe the elections (http://www.tse.hn/jc/). “Honduras has lost a year or more of development because of this crisis.”
Latin American countries including Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela have said they won’t recognize the results because the former leader hasn’t been restored to power. The International Monetary Fund froze Honduras’s access to $163 million in special drawing rights after Zelaya’s ouster.
Zelaya, who isn’t a candidate, has said the vote is illegitimate and urged Hondurans to stay home. In September, he had said that the vote should take place.
Quiet Streets
Streets in the capital Tegucigalpa were quiet as polls opened at 8 a.m. New York time, allowing some 4.5 million eligible Hondurans to vote.
“The existence today of the de-facto government is shameful for all people of Latin America,” Zelaya said Nov. 23. “The international community’s great efforts and attempts to overturn the coup have ended in failure.”
Micheletti, who took over from Zelaya, temporarily stepped down last week and won’t return until after the elections. Congress (http://www.congreso.gob.hn/) will vote Dec. 2 on whether to allow Zelaya to return to office and finish his term before the new president takes over Jan. 27.
Soldiers and police will stand guard in more than 5,000 voting stations, Gerardo Cruz, an aide for electoral magistrate David Matamoros, said in a phone interview.
‘Domino Effect’
The U.S. “supports the process” and will provide assistance to ensure a transparent vote, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Ian+Kelly&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1) said Nov. 24. Two months earlier, the U.S. had said the administration wouldn’t recognize the election “under the current circumstances,” citing restrictions on expression and movement imposed by Micheletti.
The U.S. shift to backing the election will create a “domino” effect in the region, with other countries slowly accepting the ballot, said Kevin Casas-Zamora, senior Latin America Fellow at the Brookings Institution (http://www.brookings.edu/) in Washington.
“A critical mass of countries will end up recognizing the elections,” Casas-Zamora said. “The election will stand.”
Micheletti, who since Zelaya’s overthrow has imposed curfews, and used rubber bullets and tear gas to break up demonstrations, has said anyone trying to undermine the elections will be prosecuted. At least four people have been killed in clashes between authorities and protesters since Zelaya’s ouster, according to Human Rights Watch.
Economy Idled
Lobo and Santos have urged nations to recognize the elections, which were set before Zelaya’s ouster, and help rebuild an economy idled from lenders freezing credit and former allies cutting off aid.
“The average Honduran doesn’t care one way or the other about the coup, it was a battle of political elites,” said Heather Berkman (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Heather+Berkman&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1), a political risk analyst at the Eurasia Group (http://www.eurasiagroup.net/) in New York. “They do care however about the economic crisis and the damage that has done.”
More than 50 percent of Hondurans are impoverished in a $14.1 billion economy dependent on remittances and U.S. trade.
Lost Investment
As much as $200 million in investment has been lost since Zelaya was forced from office, and nationwide curfews to thwart unrest also diminished business activity, said Jesus Canahuati, vice president of the Business Council of Latin America in Honduras.
“With a new government, the country will return again to the path of economic growth,”central bank (http://www.bch.hn/) President Sandra Midence (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Sandra%0AMidence&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1) said in an e-mail Nov. 20. She estimates a contraction of about 1.5 percent this year.
Congress named Micheletti president June 28 after soldiers removed Zelaya at gunpoint and sent him into exile. Zelaya was ousted after he defied a Supreme Court (http://www.poderjudicial.gob.hn/) order to stop his push for a referendum on changing the constitution.
Zelaya, whose removal was condemned by the United Nations (http://www.un.org/) and the Organization of American States (http://www.oas.org/en/default.asp), has been living in the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa since September, when he snuck into Honduras, sometimes hiding in the trunk of a car.
Pledge to Cut Crime
Lobo, 61, would win the support of 37 percent of voters, compared with 21 percent for Santos, according to a CID-Gallup poll of 1,420 people. The Oct. 13-19 poll had a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.
A farm owner, Lobo was raised on a ranch in central Honduras. Known to his supporters as “Pepe,” Lobo was a youth leader in the National Party before earning a business degree at the University of Miami (http://www.miami.edu/).
Santos, 46, runs his family’s construction company. A former member of Honduras’s biggest business chamber, Santos has a degree in civil engineering from Lamar University (http://www.lamar.edu/) in Texas.
Both candidates have pledged to cut crime and improve salaries and education.
Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Honduran soldiers and police stand guard at polling stations as voters choose a new president following Manuel Zelaya’s (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Manuel+Zelaya%3Fs&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1)overthrow five months ago.
The government of acting President Roberto Micheletti (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Roberto+Micheletti&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1) is seeking to avoid the sometimes bloody clashes between the ousted regime’s backers and opponents as he seeks international recognition of the vote amid Zelaya’s call for a boycott.
Polls show Porfirio Lobo (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Porfirio+Lobo&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1), a National Party (http://www.partidonacional.hn/) leader who lost to Zelaya in 2005, is favored over the Liberal Party’s (http://www.partidoliberaldehonduras.hn/)Elvin Santos (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Elvin%0ASantos&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1), Zelaya’s former vice president. The ballot is a chance for Honduras to advance beyond the political crisis and regain international legitimacy and access to much-needed aid, said James Creagan, former U.S.Ambassador (http://travel.state.gov/) to Honduras.
“It’s so essential for Honduras to move forward now,” said Creagan, who will observe the elections (http://www.tse.hn/jc/). “Honduras has lost a year or more of development because of this crisis.”
Latin American countries including Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela have said they won’t recognize the results because the former leader hasn’t been restored to power. The International Monetary Fund froze Honduras’s access to $163 million in special drawing rights after Zelaya’s ouster.
Zelaya, who isn’t a candidate, has said the vote is illegitimate and urged Hondurans to stay home. In September, he had said that the vote should take place.
Quiet Streets
Streets in the capital Tegucigalpa were quiet as polls opened at 8 a.m. New York time, allowing some 4.5 million eligible Hondurans to vote.
“The existence today of the de-facto government is shameful for all people of Latin America,” Zelaya said Nov. 23. “The international community’s great efforts and attempts to overturn the coup have ended in failure.”
Micheletti, who took over from Zelaya, temporarily stepped down last week and won’t return until after the elections. Congress (http://www.congreso.gob.hn/) will vote Dec. 2 on whether to allow Zelaya to return to office and finish his term before the new president takes over Jan. 27.
Soldiers and police will stand guard in more than 5,000 voting stations, Gerardo Cruz, an aide for electoral magistrate David Matamoros, said in a phone interview.
‘Domino Effect’
The U.S. “supports the process” and will provide assistance to ensure a transparent vote, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Ian+Kelly&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1) said Nov. 24. Two months earlier, the U.S. had said the administration wouldn’t recognize the election “under the current circumstances,” citing restrictions on expression and movement imposed by Micheletti.
The U.S. shift to backing the election will create a “domino” effect in the region, with other countries slowly accepting the ballot, said Kevin Casas-Zamora, senior Latin America Fellow at the Brookings Institution (http://www.brookings.edu/) in Washington.
“A critical mass of countries will end up recognizing the elections,” Casas-Zamora said. “The election will stand.”
Micheletti, who since Zelaya’s overthrow has imposed curfews, and used rubber bullets and tear gas to break up demonstrations, has said anyone trying to undermine the elections will be prosecuted. At least four people have been killed in clashes between authorities and protesters since Zelaya’s ouster, according to Human Rights Watch.
Economy Idled
Lobo and Santos have urged nations to recognize the elections, which were set before Zelaya’s ouster, and help rebuild an economy idled from lenders freezing credit and former allies cutting off aid.
“The average Honduran doesn’t care one way or the other about the coup, it was a battle of political elites,” said Heather Berkman (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Heather+Berkman&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1), a political risk analyst at the Eurasia Group (http://www.eurasiagroup.net/) in New York. “They do care however about the economic crisis and the damage that has done.”
More than 50 percent of Hondurans are impoverished in a $14.1 billion economy dependent on remittances and U.S. trade.
Lost Investment
As much as $200 million in investment has been lost since Zelaya was forced from office, and nationwide curfews to thwart unrest also diminished business activity, said Jesus Canahuati, vice president of the Business Council of Latin America in Honduras.
“With a new government, the country will return again to the path of economic growth,”central bank (http://www.bch.hn/) President Sandra Midence (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Sandra%0AMidence&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1) said in an e-mail Nov. 20. She estimates a contraction of about 1.5 percent this year.
Congress named Micheletti president June 28 after soldiers removed Zelaya at gunpoint and sent him into exile. Zelaya was ousted after he defied a Supreme Court (http://www.poderjudicial.gob.hn/) order to stop his push for a referendum on changing the constitution.
Zelaya, whose removal was condemned by the United Nations (http://www.un.org/) and the Organization of American States (http://www.oas.org/en/default.asp), has been living in the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa since September, when he snuck into Honduras, sometimes hiding in the trunk of a car.
Pledge to Cut Crime
Lobo, 61, would win the support of 37 percent of voters, compared with 21 percent for Santos, according to a CID-Gallup poll of 1,420 people. The Oct. 13-19 poll had a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.
A farm owner, Lobo was raised on a ranch in central Honduras. Known to his supporters as “Pepe,” Lobo was a youth leader in the National Party before earning a business degree at the University of Miami (http://www.miami.edu/).
Santos, 46, runs his family’s construction company. A former member of Honduras’s biggest business chamber, Santos has a degree in civil engineering from Lamar University (http://www.lamar.edu/) in Texas.
Both candidates have pledged to cut crime and improve salaries and education.