PRESIDENT ZELAYA'S UNGA SPEECH LONG ON LEFTIST

C O N F I D E N T I A L TEGUCIGALPA 001816

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/26/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV ECON HO
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT ZELAYA'S UNGA SPEECH LONG ON LEFTIST
RHETORIC, SHORT ON SUBSTANCE

REF: TEGUCIGALPA 1774

Classified By: Political Counselor Alexander Margulies. Reason: 1.4(d)
.


1. (C) SUMMARY: In his address to the UN General Assembly
on 9/18, President Jose Manuel "Mel" Zelaya employed
religious and traditional leftist Latin American rhetoric in
what appeared, in the Honduran context, to be an implicit
condemnation of U.S. foreign policies promoting democracy and
free commerce. The previous week Zelaya warmed up for the
UNGA by lauding Bolivia's Evo Morales, suggesting that the
economic policies of Argentina's Nestor Kirchner's are an
example to be studied, and blasting the "Washington
Consensus" as a failure. In a 9/22 press conference,
however, the President insisted that his criticisms were not
aimed at anyone in particular, but rather at all those who
violate free commerce, using the European Union's raising of
its banana tariff as an example. Zelaya has a habit of
tailoring his remarks to what he thinks his specific audience
wants to hear, and shows no/no hesitation in contradicting
himself. Consequently, while we need to keep in mind what he
says, our main focus remains on what he does. END SUMMARY.


2. (U) Zelaya began opening up the leftist rhetoric
throttle on 9/11, at a UNDP conference on Politics and
Development in Honduras. There the President stated that the
"Washington Consensus" has "failed," and that new options
need to be explored. He suggested that the policies adopted
by Kirchner in Argentina were examples that could be followed.


3. (U) Two days later, following a meeting in Guatemala
with President Berger, Nicaraguan President Bolanos and
Bolivia's Morales, Zelaya again lauded Kirchner for having
"brought an economic revolution that really is worthy of
observation from this latitude and worthy to be learned
from." He also praised Morales for being, "a most important
historical symbol since the discovery of America, the most
authentic indigenous representative that has arrived through
free elections to exercise leadership over a country."
Zelaya, however, did take pains to distance Honduras'
petroleum policies from those of Bolivia, insisting that his
government would not/not nationalize the property of
multinational oil companies.


4. (U) Zelaya's UNGA address opened by lamenting the great
differences between the different "latitudes" (COMMENT: A
reference to the North-South divide. END COMMENT) of the
"immense necessities of the people, the contrasts in poverty,
the drums of war, nuclear threats, and cruel situations."
He then went on to condemn:

-- "The social breaches that, far from diminishing, have
grown in the last decades;"

-- The "Commercial tyrannies" that "many times are more
cruel" than "political, ideological and religious tyrannies;"

-- Those that "today want to sell us a free market policy,
that in the end turns out to be an impious, insensible, and
protectionist" policy, instead of one that "opens doors to a
social logic and a social market, where freedom serves not
only for investors forgetting (...) the most vulnerable
groups;" and

-- The attitude that there should only be protection for
"investors and big capital," ignoring the need that
vulnerable groups have for protection;


5. (U) Zelaya called for a free market, "with ethics," and
for a globalized world that, "respects the identity,
patriotism, dignity and sovereignty of the peoples." He
denounced, "the Pharisaiasm and the double talk and the
double morality of those who proclaim and promote the
solution of our problems with democracy and free commerce,
but capture and kidnap the concepts of internal and foreign
spaces and monopolic and oligarchic systems of privilege,"
that lead to, "hunger, unemployment, indifference and
exclusion." He then singled out, "those who proclaim a false
free commerce that deepens poverty and pretend to tell us
that the erratic mirage of remittances that we accept
naturally, but are an export of our labor force."


6. (U) Following a brief homage to notable North, Central
and South American historical figures -- Lincoln, Sucre, San
Martin, Marti, Zapata, Torrijos, and Honduras' own Francisco
Morazan -- along with the recitation of a Pablo Neruda poem
on the latter, Zelaya proclaimed that, "Today is not the end

of history, but the beginning for humanity." He vowed that,
"we sill continue fighting for our food security, our energy
independence (COMMENT: A reference to the GOH's
controversial oil import monopolization proposal. END
COMMENT),social security, and an economy at the service of
the market, at the service of the people."


7. (U) In his conclusion, Zelaya suddenly dropped his
confrontational language regarding free markets, exclusion
and exploitation, declaring that, "Central America is opening
to the world, so that the world opens to Central America. We
are ready for investment and tourism, for investment in
different areas of our economy and society." The CAFTA
nations, he stressed, "are a bridge to a free world, a better
world."


8. (U) Zelaya held a press conference on 9/22, following
his return from New York, to publicize his UNGA speech (news
coverage of which was lost in the media circus surrounding
the visa revocation/denial of entry of ex-President Rafael
Callejas - Reftel). The President stated that he is the
"best defender of the democratic system of free commerce,"
noting that he himself came from the private sector and had
discussed how to ensure free commerce at length with the
Ambassador. In these conversations, Zelaya continued, "we
have delved into the weaknesses of free commerce in Central
America. Thus, when I arrive at a United Nations forum and
speak that we have to take off the mask and open
opportunities for all, I am not referring to anyone with a
name, but to all, to those who violate and do not want to
practice (free commerce). For example, this year the
European Union doubled its tariff on Honduran bananas because
they want to protect their African colonies. Do you believe
that this is free commerce?"


9. (C) COMMENT: A well-placed source told us that Zelaya's
UNGA speech was purely his own work; that he drafted it just
before he took the podium after rejecting two drafts prepared
by his private secretary and by Foreign Minister Milton
Jimenez. We do not/not pretend to understand Zelaya's
thought processes or to try and make sense of his often
wildly contradictory comments. We note that the Honduran
President has the habit of repeating the last thing he heard,
and of tailoring his remarks to what he perceives his
audience wants to hear. Consequently, while we take note of
his statements, we have found it more useful to concentrate
on what Zelaya does than on what he says. END COMMENT.
FORD