ZELAYA VISIT GIVES BOTH HONDURAN AND MEXICAN PRESIDENTS PULPIT TO DEMONSTRATE RESOLVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 MEXICO 002309

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE, PASS TO HONDURAN TASK FORCE, WHA/PD, WHA/CEN, AND
OPS.

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/24/2019
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PINR, MX, XK
SUBJECT: ZELAYA VISIT GIVES BOTH HONDURAN AND MEXICAN
PRESIDENTS PULPIT TO DEMONSTRATE RESOLVE

REF: REFTEL: SAN JOSE 00656

Classified By: Confidential by Political Minister Counselor Charles Bar
clay.
Reason: 1.4 (b),(d).

1. (C) Summary. Manuel Zelaya,s two day visit to Mexico
began as a low profile affair, but generated considerable
attention once he was in country. President Calderon had a
standing offer for the deposed Honduran president to visit.
Foreign Secretariat (SRE) contacts said he re-extended it
after the late July Tuxtla summit in which Calderon was
encouraged by the Central Americans to engage on Honduras in
a more direct manner. The visit demonstrated Calderon,s
personal commitment to restoring the deposed Zelaya
government. It also offered Zelaya a pulpit from which to
call for more aggressive support from the regional community.
End Summary.

2. (U) After a late-night arrival on August 3, President
Calderon officially welcomed Zelaya as a head of state at a
ceremony hosted in the official residence the following
morning. The ceremony was followed by a joint press
conference and then a private meeting with Calderon.
Honduras' deposed president underscored to the media and
public that Mexico the first stop on a "diplomatic crusade"
throughout Latin America to restore legitimate democratic
governance to Honduras through his return to office. Zelaya
warned that the coup was a setback to democracy in the
hemisphere. He praised President Calderon,s leadership in
regional forums such as the Rio Group and recent "Tuxtla
summit." Zelaya supported efforts led by Costa Rican
president Arias to mediate a resolution, but said the process
should not offer the de facto government in Tegucigalpa an
excuse to "run out the clock" until elections later this year.
Zelaya Asks Calderon for More Aggressive Support
3. (C) Privately, Zelaya expressed his gratitude to
President Calderon for Mexico,s position on Honduras.
Senior presidential foreign affairs advisor Rafael Fernandez
de Castro told Charge that Zelaya requested that his
international supporters place more pressure on the interim
government. Zelaya also called for sanctions against interim
president Micheletti and his team. He reiterated his
concern that the de facto government is stalling for time.
The SRE's acting Director General for Central American
affairs, who ushered Zelaya through the Mexican visit, noted
that president Calderon reiterated his strong support for a
return to democracy in Honduras through Zelaya,s
re-instatement. Calderon further signaled his strong backing
of the Arias process, and did not commit to any new course of
action.
Mexico Re-engaging Honduras?
4. (SBU) President Calderon may have wanted to use this
visit to reassert Mexico,s leadership in resolving the
standoff in Honduras. Other SRE contacts noted that
immediately following Zelaya's expulsion on June 29, Mexico
played a visible protagonist's role in backing the Honduran
president. Both Calderon and SRE's Patricia Espinosa made
quick and strong statements condemning the coup and
supporting Zelaya. Calderon pulled the Mexican ambassador
out of Honduras. However, domestic concerns, among them the
PAN,s difficult July 5 mid-term elections, have distracted
Calderon of late, and public attention to the crisis in
Honduras has waned in Mexico.
5. (C) The July 27-29 Tuxtla Summit re-focused President
Calderon on Honduras. SRE contacts told PolCouns that
Zelaya,s representative in Tuxtla prodded Calderon to use
Mexico,s position as the head of the Rio Group to use Rio as
a platform for insisting on Zelaya's return to Tegucigalpa.
Calderon remains reluctant to do this for fear of giving its
ALBA members an institutional base from which to agitate

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uncooperatively.
6. (SBU) During the visit, top GOM officials took pains to
remind the public that they remain engaged in support of
Honduras. Secretary Espinosa underscored that President
Calderon has been "emphatic in expressing the sentiment of
the hemisphere" on Honduras. President Calderon,s welcoming
speech affirmed Mexico,s support through President Arias,
Mechanism for Dialogue, the OAS and, "when appropriate," the
Rio Group.
7. (C) Comment: The Zelaya visit here offered Calderon the
opportunity to demonstrate his hemispheric leadership role
during Honduras' democratic crisis without having to do so in
a fractious multilateral setting. Although clearly focused
on domestic issues, he will use the visit as an example of
his commitment to hemispheric democracy in his discussions
with President Obama in Guadalajara. His caution on the Rio
Group is warranted, and he seemed to walk carefully around
it, while clearly and unequivocally supporting Zelaya's
return through the Arias/OAS processes underway. Following
his Mexico visit, Zelaya plans to travel to Brasil on August
5. End Comment.

Visit Mexico City's Classified Web Site at
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/wha/mexicocity and the North American
Partnership Blog at http://www.intelink.gov/communities/state/nap /

FEELEY