How Much has the Coup Hurt Honduras?
February 27th, 2010Is now the time for investors to take a real look at setting up BPO operations in Honduras? Foreign Minister Mario Canahuati explains why things have changed for the better since last year’s coup.
SOURCE: DAILYCALLER.COM
With Porfirio Lobo assuming the presidency of Honduras, its citizens formally turn the page on the political crisis triggered by Manuel Zelaya’s removal from office in June 2009. It is time for the international community to do the same. Honduras’ fragile economy and its citizens have paid a high price in recent months. They must be given a chance at a new beginning.
President Obama must seize the initiative and provide full support to Honduras, which has traditionally been a firm U.S. ally. Furthermore, he must pro-actively encourage others nations to extend diplomatic recognition to Honduras’ new government, restore international aid and lift all sanctions.
The formal resolution to the status of former President Zelaya has been largely addressed. He has been given safe passage to the Dominican Republic whose President Leonel Fernandez brokered the deal. Furthermore, Mr. Lobo was given a popular mandate by Hondurans in a free and …
Obama Takes Heat for Diplomatic Failures in Honduras
December 7th, 2009After months of delay, Arturo Valenzuela was finally confirmed as Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs last month. But for a job with such a long title, he may find it’s short on clout these days. Ostensibly, Valenzuela is President Obama’s new point man on Latin America; in reality, that job looks to be under the control of Republicans in Congress and conservatives inside Obama’s own diplomatic corps. In fact, when it comes to U.S. policy in Latin America — as events this week in Honduras suggest — it’s often hard to tell if George W. Bush isn’t still President.
Granted, Latin America is on Obama’s back burner as he tackles Afghanistan. But next year he plans to tackle immigration reform — an issue, like drug trafficking and free trade, that’s heavily related to how well the U.S. helps Latin America build more equitble democratic institutions (the …
Mobile Market Feels the Pain of Honduras Coup
November 2nd, 2009On June 28th of this year Interim President Roberto Micheletti ousted President Manuel Zelaya after the former rancher insisted on plans to hold a referendum to alter the national constitution. Days after the coup soldiers flew Zelaya at gunpoint into exile. Zelaya’s rivals accused the left-leaning politician of wanting to use the referendum to abolish a ban on presidential re-election. Since then Zelaya, backed by his supporters, attempted to return to the country but was forced to seek refuge in the Brazilian embassy to avoid arrest.
Senior U.S. and international diplomats flew to Honduras to broker an agreement and quell the chaos in the country. But talks recently collapsed and the impasse remains. As a result of Central America’s worst political crisis in decades, growth in Honduras’ mobile and fixed line telecoms segments — estimated to generate revenues of around US$1 billion — has begun to see a …
Zelaya Set to Return to Power in Honduras
October 30th, 2009The government of Roberto Micheletti, which had refused to let Mr. Zelaya return, signed an agreement with Mr. Zelaya’s negotiators late Thursday that would pave the way for the Honduran Congress to restore the ousted president and allow him to serve out the remaining three months of his term.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton confirmed on Friday that Mr. Zelaya and Mr. Micheletti had approved what she called “an historic agreement.”
“I cannot think of another example of a country in Latin America that, having suffered a rupture of its democratic and constitutional order, overcame such a crisis through negotiation and dialogue,” Mrs. Clinton said Friday in Islamabad, where she has been meeting with Pakistani officials.
The accord came after a team of senior American diplomats flew from Washington …
Businessmen in Honduras Move to End the Political Nonsense
October 1st, 2009SOURCE: NEW YORK TIMES
By ELISABETH MALKIN
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Stung by the loss of their American visas and concerned about Honduras’s increasing international isolation, the country’s leading businessmen have put forward their own plan to resolve the political crisis here.
In the plan, which was made public earlier this week, supporters of the coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya three months ago have for the first time suggested his return as president. But at the same time the plan calls for him to face trial on charges that he stole money while in office.
“What we’re trying to do is break the ice,” said Adolfo J. Facussé, president of the country’s manufacturing association.
Mr. Facussé said he had put forward his own proposal because he thought that other countries, particularly the United …
Honduras BPO Stays the Course Despite Political Instability
July 24th, 2009The more I talk to those connected to the Honduras outsourcing sector, the more I 
realize that – frankly – the country might just be a lot better off if former President Manuel Zelaya never comes back to the capital of Tegucigalpa. Even US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says an attempt by Zelaya to return to Honduras would be “reckless” and would damage attempts for constitutional order.
No hard feeling Mel, but if you and the rest of the political leadership want to truly serve your country then walk away from the righteous arguments and let stability – and commercial growth and opportunity – prevail.
Of course, the political situation in Honduras is not that simple. But what is encouraging is that despite the past several weeks of negotiations and high-level wrangling, the country’s emerging BPO industry is holding itself together …
