Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes, who was carried to power by the FMLN this past March but quickly jettisoned the party from his government, has obliquely recognized the results of yesterday’s electoral farce in neighboring Honduras.
During his presidential campaign Funes rejected any affinity for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and the Bolivarian Alternative for Latin America and instead insisted that his models were Brazilian President Inacio Lula da Silva and Barack Obama. But those models are bitterly split over Obama’s support for the June 28 coup in Honduras and its subsequent legitimation by sham elections carried out yesterday. The United States followed up on its commitment to recognize the elections no matter what, but Lula has resisted pressure to do the same.
Upon their arrival yesterday at the Iberoamerican Summit in Estoril, Portugal, Funes and Lula expressed strongly divergent opinions about the electoral farce being held in Honduras. The Brazilian president said that his country “has nothing to reconsider” regarding its pledge to not recognize the elections. His position is shared by most countries in Latin America and the world, the United States being the most notorious exception.
But the Salvadoran president opted to toe the U.S. line, stating in a communique that its was only the outgoing government of Roberto Micheletti that El Salvador didn’t recognize, not the new government of conservative landowner “Pepe” Lobo.
In a rephrasing of the State Department position, Funes added: “The Salvadoran government hopes that the virtual winner of the electoral event will express his willingness to initiate a political dialogue that permits a national agreement that puts an end to the crisis and leads to a government of unity, the reestablishment of the constitutional order and reconciliation in the brother country.”
By Diana Barahona – http://dianabarahona.blogspot.com
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