Oscar Arias and the Honduran Elections

From Israel, where he is on an official visit, the President of Costa Rica, Oscar Arias, made extremely important statements to CNN announcing that his government will recognize the elections of Sunday, November 29 in Honduras and he called upon the international community to recognize also the outcome of the election “if everything goes well.” As everyone knows, with the exception of the acts of terrorism by some followers of Zelaya, there is a national will in Honduras, evident throughout the electoral campaign made by several political parties, for the process to end without fraud. It has been an exemplary campaign about which very little is said abroad because there has been a sustained effort from the information media and news agencies to ignore the positive aspects and to insinuate or state, often in capricious ways, the negative.

The call made to the democratic world by President Arias will certainly be favorably received because of the well-deserve prestige he enjoys that led to his being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987. As it is known, personalities of the democratic world are already convened in Honduras, especially in Tegucigalpa, in spite of the adverse campaigns, in spite of the evil-minded statements made by Brazilian President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva. They have come to the country to observe how the situation unfolds and be able to certify what is expected to be a democratic process and, thus, without fraud. Logically, it is to be expected that the report made by these personalities be satisfactory for Honduran democracy because, with the exception of Zelaya’s followers, who are a huge minority, the people of Honduras are determined to have their candidates win this election. Zelaya’s party, the Liberal Party, is participating in the election against Zelaya’s wishes. It should be emphasized that these candidates were designated by their respective parties before the ouster of Zelaya, following the norms of the Electoral Power.

Even without these significant statements made by President Arias, the Honduran election was considered to be fully democratic. Naturally, what Arias has said significantly strengthens the election that those who follow the directives of Fidel Castro, Hugo Chávez and their allies in the region do not want to accept.