State Department Daily Press Briefing - October 8, 2009

U S State Department ^ | October 8, 2009 | Ian Kelly

[don-o]

QUESTION: Can we go to Honduras or --

MR. KELLY: Honduras, sure.

QUESTION: It seems by the reports that the Organizational States presence there is not getting any results by the moment. I don’t know if you have more updates. And also --

MR. KELLY: Well --

QUESTION: -- it seems, I don’t know, to me – and also I was reading some reports in so many countries of Latin America that the – it’s surprising that you have there in that meeting the secretary of the hemisphere – acting secretary of the hemisphere Thomas Shannon?

MR. KELLY: Assistant Secretary.

QUESTION: Assistant Secretary. And Micheletti is also keeping his word of not changing nothing. So it’s a very strange situation. What’s going on? He doesn’t want to sign the San Jose.

MR. KELLY: Right.

QUESTION: And they go there with this mission of – very high-profile --

MR. KELLY: Right.

QUESTION: -- five minister of external relations of five countries – Canada, the U.S. – and he’s still maintaining that position. What’s --

MR. KELLY: Yeah. Well, actually, I would take issue with your characterization. I understand that there was a positive tone in the meetings, that there was a meeting – I think for the first time – a meeting mediated by the OAS ministers between the two sides. And I think that’s important. I think it’s important that they’ve initiated a direct dialogue.

And the ministers will leave, or perhaps have already left, but they’re leaving behind an OAS secretariat to continue to help facilitate this direct dialogue. And I think that’s important that they’re able to establish this face-to-face meeting between the two sides. So I don’t want to raise expectations too high here or anything, but I think it was a little more productive than you seem to characterize it.

QUESTION: I’m sorry, go ahead.

QUESTION: I just wanted to make a follow-up. Are you aware of a proposal to bring government junta to Honduras, try to solve the political crisis there? Are you aware of that?

MR. KELLY: I’m not aware of that. The main thing for us is that the two sides break this impasse, and by this direct meeting, we have some hope that maybe they are moving towards this. But the main thing is for them both to agree with the facilitation of the OAS to some kind of lasting solution to this crisis. I mean, the people of Honduras deserve nothing less.

QUESTION: And Mr. Crowley said yesterday that Venezuela needs to cooperate in a more constructive way in the region. What did he mean by that? It was regarding Honduras, or could you be more specific?

MR. KELLY: (Laughter.) I agree with my boss that Honduras needs to play a constructive role. We’re calling on all the countries in the region to play a --

QUESTION: Venezuela.

QUESTION: Not Honduras.

QUESTION: Venezuela.

QUESTION: Venezuela.

MR. KELLY: Venezuela.

QUESTION: Okay.

MR. KELLY: That Venezuela needs to play a constructive role. This is an important crisis that we need to resolve, that the – I think the region is moving in a good direction, in moving towards a more inclusive and democratic political system in these countries. And we would hope that Venezuela would play a more productive role.

I’ll take --

QUESTION: Just on Honduras or --

MR. KELLY: Oh, in general, but also in Honduras. And I’m going to take one more question, because we have Assistant Secretary Gordon waiting for us.

QUESTION: Well, what do you see as a productive role?

MR. KELLY: Sorry?

QUESTION: Can you give an example of what do you mean by a more productive role for --

MR. KELLY: For Venezuela, you mean?

QUESTION: Yeah.

MR. KELLY: Well, I think – first of all, I think that they need to open up their own democracy. They need to stop intimidation of media. They need to encourage more debate, more political debate within Venezuela, and play a more productive role in the region. I think that Mr. Crowley mentioned that Venezuela should concentrate more on its – in its region and not pay so much attention to what’s going on in Iran and other countries.

Last question to Jill. Go ahead.

QUESTION: Ian, this has been dragging on for so long. Why are we not to draw the conclusion that it’s dragging on because the U.S. won’t do anything – really do anything about this because there is significant support for the members of the coup, business connections with the United States, conservative organizations that support the coup that do not like Zelaya. So why are we not supposed to, you know, draw some conclusion that it’s simply foot-dragging on the part of this Administration?

MR. KELLY: Boy, I don’t see this Administration as dragging its feet at all. I mean, we have had a very consistent principle here of supporting the idea of a democratic and constitutional order, that you had a coup where the democratically elected leader was (inaudible). But in the final analysis, this is not about us. This is really about (inaudible) of us supporting a multilateral process, of supporting the OAS in its efforts to try and facilitate a solution.

Thank you.

(The briefing was concluded at 2:05 p.m.)

[don-o]

Mostly same old, same old. But last question is at least a little challenging.

[don-o]

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[TigersEye]

Yeah, the last question was challenging alright. Challenging the administration to more forcefully insert itself in the internal affairs of Honduras. I’m sure it would like to if it thought it could get away with it. The State Department appears to be a completely sold-out tool of international communism.

[don-o]

“Challenging” was not maybe the best word I could have used.

The crap coming out of Foggy Bottom does deaden the brain.

[Western Phil]

MR. KELLY: Well, I think – first of all, I think that they need to open up their own democracy. They need to stop intimidation of media. They need to encourage more debate, more political debate within Venezuela, and play a more productive role in the region. I think that Mr. Crowley mentioned that Venezuela should concentrate more on its – in its region and not pay so much attention to what’s going on in Iran and other countries.

Ok Mr. Kelly, now read the Honduran constitution and the Library of Congress Report and get back to us on your administration's new Yankee imperialism.

[TigersEye]

The crap coming out of Foggy Bottom does deaden the brain.

There's no doubt about that. I hesitate to read the day's news anymore.

But the question was challenging in the way you meant it too. After doing his best to toe the communist party line without being overt about it Kelly had to backpedal when offered the chance to go all the way with it. Sometimes the press is too helpful to the cause.