Almost all the news media are returning to other stories, and very new details can be found. We must wait for the negotiations on Saturday in Costa Rica. Although, Chavéz and Zelaya’s condemnation of them has all but doomed the negotiations to fail.

Zelaya has already said that if these negotiations do not end with his restoration to power within 48 hours, he will consider them to have failed, and resort to other means, which he didn’t specify, even when probed by reporters. In the meantime, he is asking his supporters to ramp up their rebellion to the new government, to keep pressure on it.

The US has asked Zelaya not to impose artificial deadlines and to be patient with the process. I’m sure Zelaya and Chavez will ignore this as easily as Obama swatted the now famous ex-housefly.

Disgraced minister Enrique Ortez Colindres has declined the post of secretary of state, which Micheletti offered him after he resigned as chancellor. Ortez, with a sad lack of diplomacy, expressed his frustration at the lack of help from the US, and unintentionally insulted President Obama. His statement was a response to a question whether the US would permit an invasion from Venezuela. You may watch it on YouTube, but don’t trust the translation, which is inaccurate. This is the text, in Spanish, with a translation following:

“Ellos permiten lo que sea. Ya Estados Unidos no es el defensor de la democracia. En primer lugar el presidente de la república, que lo respeto, el negrito, no conoce dónde queda Tegucigalpa. Nosotros somos los que conocemos dónde está Washington y somos los obligados como país pequeño, un pigmeo democrático, a aclararles las concepciones y a leerle, tal vez en su idioma, lo que está pasando.”

“They permit anything. The US is no longer the defender of democracy. In the first place, the president of the republic, who I respect, the little black man, does not know where Tegucigalpa is. We are the ones who know where Washington is, and are obligated, as a small country, a democratic pygmy, to clear up ther misconceptions and read to them, maybe in their own language, what is going on.”

It is clear that he didn’t mean the word negrito as an insult. Hondurans use it constantly and our African American community refers to themselves as negros without offense. Honduras simply doesn’t have the history of slavery that the US has. Our Garifuna communities emigrated to Honduras from Cuba, Trinidad and other islands to escape slavery there.

Besides, we Hondurans are often amazed, that even with our terribly faulty educational system, most of us know much more of geography than the average US citizen. But Ortez said this at exactly the wrong time, and in the worst way. Inexcusable, yes. But sad, quite sad.

I defend Ortez’s words, but with profound sadness for his lack of tact.

Image by Darren Hester, used with a Creative Commons license

Related posts:

1. Ortez: Zelaya’s Plane Will Not Be Allowed to Land
2. Another Article Worthy of Your Time
3. I’m Marching Against Chavez
4. Ortez: The Police Did Not Shoot
5. Overwhelmed