Honduran poll could strain U.S.-Latin American relations

Countries in Latin America have once again fallen into two camps on regional political issues following Sunday's presidential election in Honduras.

The U.S. government's explicit recognition of the poll result could stir up tensions between it and Latin America due to Washington's influence on its allies in the region, analysts say.

Costa Rica, Peru, Colombia, Panama and El Salvador announced support for the election, which they hoped would bring an end to the country's political turmoil since former President Manuel Zelaya was ousted in a coup last summer.

In direct opposition , countries including Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Venezuela, Ecuador, Paraguay and Nicaragua, argued the so-called democratic poll had been organized by a coup-installed government.

Recognizing the election result amounted to legitimizing Central America's first coup in 20 years, they said.

Zelaya himself says the U.S, has shifted its policy on the issues and this would have a big impact on the split between the two groups of nations.

The United States, which cut off development aid to Honduras after the coup, has been among the first to acknowledge the "regular elections" under the Honduran interim government.

Argentine political analyst Pablo Biffi says those sharing the U.S. stance on the issue are all Washington's allies in the region. "One could hardly deny the U.S. role in shaping their opinions in this regard," he said.

The U.S. bid to enhance military cooperation with Colombia had already caused regional tension, and the Honduran election might threaten to widen the gap among Latin American countries, he said.

Barack Obama expressed a desire to improve ties with Latin American nations in the first months of his administration and U.S. relations with the region enjoyed a "honeymoon" period as Washington loosened sanctions on Cuba.

This kindled hopes among many nations in the region that the U.S. could go further to mend fences with the leftist governments and build a cooperative relationship on a equal footing with the region at large.

However, the military cooperation with Colombia and now the Honduran electoral rift have put many governments in the region back on the defensive and rethinking possible relations with the super power.

The U.S. government understood the election result would sour its relations with many Latin Amerian countries, noted Marco Aurelio Garcia, foreign policy adviser to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Bolivian President Evo Morales said the development of the Honduran political crisis had shown that Obama's Latin American policy was no different to his predecessors.

For Washington, efforts to contain the rise of leftist forces outweighed the progress of democracy in the region, he said.

Argentine international relations expert Martin Dinatale urged the region to speed up its integration process in a bid to give it more say in solving its own problems.

He also called for more efforts to consolidate democracy in countries across Latin America to maintain regional political, economic and social stability amid impacts from the global financial crisis.

Source: Xinhua