Down in Honduras
They are still embroiled in an electoral mess down in Honduras. It promises to go on for a bit longer, according to news reports:
The question is whether the United States is willing to overlook a possibly fraudulent election to ensure that outcome.
President Juan Orlando Hernández, a conservative hoping to win a second term, has been a willing partner on the concerns that matter most to the United States.
And as he increased control over every branch of the government since his election in 2013, no objections were raised from the Obama or Trump administrations – not even when his handpicked Supreme Court justices found a circuitous way to lift the prohibition on running for re-election.
How well the White House navigates a resolution of the contested election may not only affect Honduran democracy but also could resound across the region, where elections are scheduled over the next year in seven countries, including Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia.
Is it really a challenge or not?
The U.S. is in a no-win situation here.
The U.S. could challenge the legality of the Supreme Court's decision, but that would be referred to as an intervention in another country's election. After all, what would we be saying if another country had opined about Bush v. Gore in 2000? Wouldn't we be saying "stay out of our business"?
The second problem is that the left in Latin America will use this election to say that the president of Honduras is a puppet of the U.S. That's unfair, but who ever said the left is fair?
So we will continue to watch the marches and protests. My guess is that they will eventually end, but the damage to Honduras will be profound.
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