[esanamaserrn]

Let's face it..Latin America has always been considered part of "U.S. sphere of influence." To suggest that the U.S. had absolutely NO part in what occurred in Honduras is rather naive IMO. The U.S. has "interests" in Latin America as well as in other parts of the globe as we always claim. We can debate what exactly those "interests" may be (benign or malevolent) but we have them nonetheless. It is not conclusive what role the current administration may have had with respect to the goings on in Honduras but it cannot be conclusively claimed we had no influence whatsoever given our history and the fact that we're trying to regain clout/reestablish influence in Latin America as a result of the last administration being distracted in the Mid East the last 8 years. It's really just part of geopolitics or more accurately realpolitik ....

Powerful special interests have flexed their muscles and confronted President Obama on the most important legislative priorities of his domestic agenda. But this kind of politics-by-influence-peddling doesn't stop at the water's edge. And in foreign policy, the consequences can be more immediate, violent and deadly.

Meet Lanny Davis, Washington lawyer and lobbyist, former legal counsel to President Clinton and avid campaigner for Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential bid. He has been hired by a coalition of Latin American business interests to represent the dictatorship that ousted elected President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras in a military coup and removed him to Costa Rica on June 28.

Davis is working with Bennett Ratcliff, another lobbyist with a close relationship to Hillary Clinton who is a former senior executive for one of the most influential political and public relations firms in Washington. In the current mediation effort hosted by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, the coup-installed government did not make a move without first consulting Ratcliff, an unnamed source told the New York Times.

Davis and Ratcliff have done an amazing public relations job so far. Americans, relying on media reports, are likely to believe that Zelaya was ousted because he tried to use a referendum to extend his term of office. This is false.

Zelaya's referendum, planned for the day the coup took place, was a nonbinding poll. It only asked voters if they wanted to have an actual referendum on reforming the country's Constitution on the November ballot. Even if Zelaya had gotten everything he was looking for, a new president would have been elected on the same November ballot. So Zelaya would be out of office in January, no matter what steps were taken toward constitutional reform. Further, Zelaya has repeatedly said that if the Constitution were changed, he would not seek another term.

If we add together the high-powered lobbyists from the Clinton camp, Republican members of Congress and conservatives within the State Department, the coup government has a lot of support from Washington.

The high-powered hidden support for Honduras' coup - Los Angeles Times