Cablegate: Media Reaction: Brazil's Role in Honduras
VZCZCXYZ0023
OO RUEHWEB
DE RUEHSO #0068 0281750
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 281744Z JAN 10
FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0326
INFO RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA IMMEDIATE
RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO
RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000068
SIPDIS
STATE INR/R/MR
IIP/R/MR
WHA/PD
DEPT PASS USTR
4322/MAC/OLAC/JAFEE
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: OPRC OIIP BR XM XR KMDR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: BRAZIL'S ROLE IN HONDURAS
Missed the Bus but Paid the Fare
Article in liberal Folha de S. Paulo (1-28) by Eliane Catanhede
says: "The Brazilian reaction to the...coup [in Honduras] was fast
and decisive, in defense of the principle that an army cannot take
democratically elected presidents from their homes and cast them
out to other countries overnight. From defending principles to
seeking to become a protagonist was a leap. Or a shot in the
dark.....Brazil should have given shelter [to Manuel Zelaya] under
the condition of asylum, per international norms, and should have
established limits. But it didn't do any of these. The result is
that Brazil assumed only one side of the issue, isolated itself and
stood on the opposing side of Latin America by refusing to accept
the election of the new president as a way out of the crisis. This
way the Honduran bus reached its final stop with the new
destination of national unity...and all passengers that mattered
were on it [including the U.S]....But the Brazilian government was
not....Zelaya received four months of food, housing, phone usage
and a free stage in the Brazilian Embassy....And what did Brazil
get? Or even so, did it get anything out of this? No, it only
paid the bill."
White