Clinton presses Latin America to recognize Honduras, vow more anti-drug aid

Clinton pushes Honduras recognition

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is urging the countries of Latin America to recognize the new, post-coup government of Honduras and is pledging additional counternarcotics aid to the region.

At a meeting to be held later Friday in Guatemala, Clinton will make the case to Central American regional leaders to restore full relations with Honduras that some had suspended after a coup last June and to support its readmission to the Organization of American States.

She will also commit the Obama administration to offering more help to Central American nations battling drug-trafficking related corruption and violence.

Clinton previewed her points on Thursday in Costa Rica where she said the U.S. believed constitutional order had been returned to Honduras. Former president Manuel Zelaya was deposed in a coup last June, sparking a political crisis.

A new democratically elected government run by President Porfirio Lobo “has taken important and necessary steps that deserve the recognition and the normalization of relations,” she said. She added that the U.S. would restore more than $31 million in aid it suspended after the coup.

Some countries in the region — are balking at recognizing Lobo’s government because it took power before Zelaya was returned to the presidency. Among them are Argentina and Brazil, two countries Clinton has visited on her current six-nation tour of Latin America

Others, including Bolivia, Venezuela and Nicaragua, also are opposed. But Clinton said it was time for Honduras’ isolation to end. “We share the condemnation of the coup that occurred, but we think it is time to move forward and ensure that such disruptions of democracy do not and cannot happen in the future,” she said.

In addition to the discussion of Honduras, Clinton will address the growing problem of narco-related corruption and crime, promising to work with Central American states to improve maritime security and increase the capacity of police forces and judicial systems.

“We’re well aware that the Central American countries are bearing a greater burden in combating these criminal cartels today than they were in the past,” she said. She praised the recent arrests in Guatemala of the country’s drug czar and national police chief as promising.

“We believe strongly that governments have to be strengthened,” Clinton said. “They have to be given the tools and resources necessary to combat these criminal elements, to build strong, non-corrupt police forces.”

At the same time, she said the Obama administration recognized that demand for illicit narcotics in the United States is a driving force in the drug trade.

“We understand the United States bears part of the responsibility for the challenges that governments are confronting,” she said. “The demand in the American market is centered in the United States and we are trying to do more to lower that demand.”