Bloggings by boz

The most important development since my last update ten days ago is a letter sent by Zelaya to President Obama in which he states he will not accept an agreement that returns him to the presidency and legitimizes the coup and that he will not support the elections scheduled in two weeks. Zelaya accuses the US of changing its position in the letter.

Unfortunately, Zelaya appears to have backed himself into a corner and run out of options. He won't accept an agreement to return to the presidency, but insists he remains president. He won't accept the November elections, but doesn't say how he thinks power should transfer when his term is over next January. Zelaya's only actions over the past week have been rejecting paths forward and blaming others for the situation. Obviously, this attitude reflects Zelaya's frustration at the complete unwillingness of the coup government to cooperate. However, Zelaya just seems to have given up over the last week, which is not a good attitude for returning Honduras to democracy.

Reuters covers the human costs of the cuts in aid, which many countries have done as sanctions for the coup:

Poor Hondurans are going hungry and their sick children cannot obtain medicines as donors cut aid to the country following a June coup that deposed President Manuel Zelaya, doctors and aid workers say.

Soup kitchens have closed, medicines have become scarce, foreign doctors have canceled trips to Honduras and funding for the poor to run small businesses have dried up, increasing unemployment.

Stories like this are the reason the US government opposed cutting off all aid to Honduras following the coup. The cuts in aid from Venezuela, the European Union and others have directly impacted programs providing food and health to the poorest in Honduras and have not done anything to change the political situation. More targeted sanctions were a better strategy.