HONDURAN FOREIGN MINISTER REQUESTS U.S. ASSISTANCE

C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 000869


E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/28/2019
TAGS: PREL XK HO OAS
SUBJECT: HONDURAN FOREIGN MINISTER REQUESTS U.S. ASSISTANCE
IN PRESSURING DE FACTO AUTHORITIES

Classified By: Ambassador Alejandro Wolff for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Summary. Ambassador Wolff on September 28 met with
Honduran Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas in which she
provided an update on the status of Honduran President Zelaya
and recent events in Tegucigalpa. Rodas said additional
pressure from the international community, including the UN
Security Council, needs to be exerted on the de facto
government to settle the crisis peacefully. She also
requested that U.S. Ambassador Llorens visit Zelaya in the
Brazilian Embassy, which she believed would send a strong,
positive signal of international support for Zelaya. End
Summary.


2. (C) Ambassador Wolff on September 28 met with Honduran
Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas at her request. Rodas
provided an update on Honduran President Zelaya's status and
recent events in Tegucigalpa, and requested added U.S.
pressure on the de facto authorities. Rodas said the coup
has thrown Honduras back to the 1980s and squandered the
development of the past three years. She said she was
pleased, however, to see that 1.5 million Honduran citizens
had taken to the streets to support Zelaya. While grateful
for the show of support, she said Zelaya remains concerned
that the sheer size of the demonstrations could become
destabilizing and turn violent because of the infiltration of
provocateurs. Rodas said Zelaya is a "pacifist to the core"
but the masses are beyond his control.


3. (C) Rodas lamented that the opposition to the coup has
been emasculated and said other means of pressure, such as
through the UN or the Security Council, needed to be applied.
A sanctions regime should be established, she advised, to
"cut off the oxygen" to Micheletti and his supporters. Rodas
then said that the threat of sanctions, rather than their
actual imposition, to industries associated with Micheletti
and his supporters could be a crucial deterrent. Sanctions,
Rodas argued, could adversely affect the fragile economy.


4. (C) With respect to possible UN Security Council action,
Ambassador Wolff said that the dynamics in the Council during
consultations on September 25 (reftel) suggested little
support for a strong resolution against the de facto
authorities. He stressed that in the Security Council there
would be little likelihood of repeating the massive show of
support when UN General Assembly resolution 63/301 was
adopted. Regarding the ultimatum to the Government of Brazil
to either turn over President Zelaya for arrest or take him
out of the country, Ambassador Wolff said the principles of
the Vienna Convention are clear and that the immunity of the
Brazilian Embassy is inviolate. For this reason, it is
crucial that President Zelaya encourage his supporters to
maintain the right tone, to urge them to remain peaceful, and
to avoid any action that would give the Micheletti government
excuses to crack down, he said.


5. (C) Honduran Ambassador Reina Idiaquez, who accompanied
Rodas, said, "There is no doubt that President Zelaya's life
is in danger." His safety, he continued, is key for
stability in Honduras. He and Rodas requested that
Ambassador Llores visit Zelayas in the Brazilian Embassy. A
visit from the U.S. Ambassador, they said, would send a
strong, positive signal of international support for Zelaya.

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