Clinton: U.S. Not Declaring Events in Honduras a 'Coup'

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said today the U.S. government is refraining from formally declaring the ouster of Honduras's president a "coup," which would trigger a cutoff of millions of dollars in aid to the Central American country.

This Story
Clinton: U.S. Not Declaring Events in Honduras a 'Coup'
Honduras's New Government Vows to Maintain Power
Her statement appeared to reflect the U.S. government's caution amid fast-moving events in Honduras, where President Manuel "Mel" Zelaya was detained and expelled by the military yesterday. But the move could put Washington at odds with the rest of the hemisphere, which has roundly condemned the Honduran military's actions.

"We are withholding any formal legal determination," Clinton told reporters at a State Department briefing. She acknowledged, however, that it certainly looked like a coup when soldiers snatched a pajama-clad Zelaya and whisked him off to Costa Rica.

She emphasized that the United States wanted to "help the Hondurans get back on the democratic path that they've been on for a number of years now."

But asked whether that included returning Zelaya to the presidency, Clinton said: "We haven't laid out any demands that we're insisting on, because we're working with others on behalf of our ultimate objectives."

Clinton's remarks reflected the complex situation in Honduras, where the congress overwhelmingly voted to depose Zelaya after he had been forcibly removed. The congress then named a new president, Roberto Micheletti, from the same party.


Zelaya, a close ally of Venezuela's anti-American President Hugo Chavez, had clashed with congress, the Supreme Court and the military in recent weeks, particularly over a referendum that might have permitted him to run for another four-year term.

The Honduran congress and Supreme Court said the referendum was illegal.

The Obama administration has devoted considerable attention to improving relations with Latin America, promising to work more closely with the hemisphere and not dictate policy in a region where it traditionally has had enormous influence.

John Negroponte, a former senior State Department official and ambassador to Honduras, said Clinton's remarks appeared to reflect U.S. reluctance to see Zelaya returned unconditionally to power.

"I think she wants to preserve some leverage to try and get Zelaya to back down from his insistence on a referendum," he said.

U.S. foreign aid to Honduras totaled $43 million in 2009, according to budget documents the administration submitted to Congress. Under the Foreign Assistance Act, no U.S. aid can be given to countries whose elected heads of government are removed by military coups.

In addition, Honduras was awarded a five-year, $215 Millennium Challenge grant from the Bush administration in 2005 to improve its roads and agriculture. That program also requires countries to be democratic.

U.S. officials said they were working to solve the Honduran crisis with other members of the Organization of American States (OAS), the main forum for political cooperation in the hemisphere.

The secretary-general of the OAS, Jose Miguel Insulza, said that the organization "will not accept a return to the past in the continent" and will not make any concessions to the new president named by the Honduran congress.

The OAS will be open to dialogue only, he said, "if it contemplates the return of President Zelaya to his legitimate position."