Despite Deal, No Progress on Standoff in Honduras

Elisabeth Malkin
The New York Times
November 6, 2009

A week after an accord mediated by the United States seemed to have unblocked the political standoff that had paralyzed Honduras since President Manuel Zelaya was deposed in a June coup, progress is frozen.

Mr. Zelaya, whose possible return to power was at the heart of the accord, is still a virtual prisoner in the Brazilian Embassy, where he took refuge six weeks ago after he secretly slipped back into Honduras. He is no closer to resuming his presidency, while the de facto president, Roberto Micheletti, and the people around him are still running the country.

What has changed is Washington’s reading of the Honduran crisis. After threatening that it would not recognize a presidential election scheduled for Nov. 29 unless Mr. Micheletti signed on to the deal, the Obama administration has hinted that it will accept the results even if the accord’s terms are not fully met...

...Christopher Sabatini, senior director for policy at the Council of the Americas, in New York, said that the Obama administration appeared willing to accept the elections’ outcome rather than admit that there was no guarantee when and how Honduran legislators would vote.

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