Kuwait Times

Published Date: December 01, 2009

ESTORIL: A Latin American and Iberian summit yesterday struggled to overcome leaders' differences and reach a consensus on Honduras' post-coup election result which Spain and Brazil have rejected.

The Honduran crisis is not officially on the agenda of the summit in Estoril, Portugal, attended by 22 nations but it dominated preparatory meetings, underlining splits in Latin America over the legitimacy of Sunday's vote.

Porfirio Lobo claimed a solid win in the controversial first presidential election in Honduras since a June 28 coup against President Manuel Zelaya sparked a five-month crisis which has isolated the Central American nation.
Zelaya, who has been holed up in the Brazilian embassy since returning home in September, had urged Hondurans to boycott the vote.

Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said Madrid did not recognise the elections but could not ignore them either. Moratinos said that consultations were underway with the different parties in order to reach "a national reconciliation solution and a definitive exit from the crisis.

If his victory is confirmed, "Lobo will have something to say and will be a new actor in dialogue with President Zelaya," Moratinos said, while criticising the vote's "lack of transparency or sufficient guarantees.

Earlier Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero called for a broad consensus within Honduras and abroad, an aide said. Critics, including Brazil and Argentina, say acceptance of the polls would endorse the coup in a region with a painful history of dictatorships.

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva repeated that his government would not recognise the election which he called "an attempt to legitimise a coup d'etat." Cuba, represented by Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez denounced the "illegitimate election" and accused the United States of supporting the creation of a "dictatorship" in Central America.

Zelaya's representative at the summit, Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas, accused countries planning to recognise the vote, such as Peru, Costa Rica and Panama, of "supporting Washington.

The United States is backing the polls, after condemning the coup and freezing millions of dollars in aid, to the disappointment of many in Latin America.
The United States, Honduras' main trading partner, called the elections "a necessary and important step forward.

As summit host, Portugal has been given the task of drawing up a proposal for a statement from leaders to be passed by consensus, delegates said. Portuguese Foreign Minister Luis Amado said that "very different positions" at the summit could scupper the chances of reaching a consensus on Honduras.

If it's possible to have a statement through which the Ibero-American summit can contribute to moving the process forward on a political level, very well. If it's not possible, there won't be a statement," he said. - AFP