Hillary Clinton has given a lovely gift to Honduran strongman Manuel Zelaya: “the State Department has announced it will cut aid to Honduras, contingent upon the return to office of ousted President Manuel Zelaya, with whom Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met Thursday.”
So we’ll cut off aid to a democratic country in order to punish it for defending its democracy. How many ways, big and small, does this shame the United States?
It vitiates what little enthusiasm President Obama has shown for the promotion of democracy around the globe. Who cares if he said in Ghana that “governments that respect the will of their own people are more prosperous, more stable, and more successful than governments that do not.” He respects the will of the ruler who creates his own self-sustaining rules. The people of Honduras—the third-poorest country in the Western Hemisphere—don’t even get aid. Which makes the policy unusually cruel.
It undoes some of the work of American democracy promotion enacted before President Obama took office. Other peoples are at least as suspicious of our sincerity in promoting democracy as they are of democracy itself. When one American president spends a few years toppling bad regimes and fostering consensual ones only to be followed by a president who does the opposite, all American credibility goes out the window.
The move also puts us shoulder to shoulder with Zelaya’s ally, Hugo Chavez. This on the very same day that anti-Chavez protests are scheduled around the world.
It broadcasts a disheartening set of American priorities. Honduras requires a full cut off of aid. But a soon-to-be nuclear Iran? An extended hand.
It is destined to backfire. Currying favor with Latin American strongmen will only embolden an autocratic regional tendency and encourage more brazen anti-democratic and even rogue activity. Caracas and Tehran cooperate on everything from intelligence to energy. We are trying to shrink Iran’s dominion while bolstering one of its favored partners.
We’re no longer merely apologizing to the bad guys; we’re encouraging them.
