US Denies Lobo His Ambassador Of Choice

Voselsoberano reported this morning that the US State Department has rejected Porfirio Lobo Sosa's nomination of Roberto Flores Bermúdez to be the Honduran Ambassador to the United States. Flores Bermúdez was appointed Ambassador to the United States by Manuel Zelaya Rosales, but shortly after the coup on June 28, 2009, switched allegiance to the de facto regime in Honduras. Zelaya then wrote a letter to the State Department firing Flores Bermúdez, which caused the United States to revoke his diplomatic status. Flores Bermúdez actively represented the de facto regime in several of its attempts to persuade parts of the US government that what happened in Honduras was legal, proper, and correct.

Lobo Sosa was likely testing the waters to see how much he needed to distance himself from the de facto regime, which he has never denounced. No one who was directly involved in the de facto regime has had their US visa restored. The State Department's rejection of Lobo Sosa's choice as Ambassador means that the United States, like Spain, so far, is rejecting the participation in diplomacy of anyone directly linked to the de facto regime. While I am under no illusion that this will actually happen, the US government, as a condition of full diplomatic normalization, should require a clear condemnation of the events of June 28 from the Lobo Sosa government.