Did Zelaya snub Chavez?

Sarah Miller Llana of the Christian Science Monitor asks, was ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya’s deicision to take refuge in the Honduran embassy an attempt to distance himself from his polarizing patron Hugo Chavez? It could be a calculated political decision on the part of Zelaya – to distance himself from Chávez, a polarizing figure ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.

Sarah Miller Llana of the Christian Science Monitor asks, was ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya's deicision to take refuge in the Honduran embassy an attempt to distance himself from his polarizing patron Hugo Chavez?

Sarah Miller Llana of the Christian Science Monitor asks, was ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya’s deicision to take refuge in the Honduran embassy an attempt to distance himself from his polarizing patron Hugo Chavez?

It could be a calculated political decision on the part of Zelaya – to distance himself from Chávez, a polarizing figure in Honduras. Though Zelaya denies it, his foes say he was following the steps of his Venezuelan ally, particularly in regard to his alleged desire to change the Constitution to scrap presidential term limits, which was the reason for his ouster. Yet whether calculated or by default, Zelaya’s refuge in the Brazilian embassy eclipses any role, for now at least, that Chávez may have hoped to play in this political crisis.

"Seeking asylum with Brazil shows that [Zelaya] thinks Brazil is the neutral voice in the crisis, not the US, Costa Rica, [or] Venezuela. He’s essentially throwing in his lot with the party he thinks has the best chance to get him restored to power," says Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas, a consultancy based in New York. "It’s a tangible representation of a power shift in the region."

 Chavez will address the UN General assembly on Thursday. It should be interesting to see what, if anything, he says about the unfolding situation in Honduras. 

Joshua Keating was an associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

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