Honduran president-elect banking on U.S. support

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduras' president-elect is not worried that many countries do not recognize his election. Washington supports Porfirio Lobo, and that's what matters most to this Central American nation.

Lobo, 61, lit up in public appearances Monday with his trademark toothy grin as he assured Hondurans that the crisis over the June 28 coup that overthrew leftist-allied President Manuel Zelaya would soon be history.

"It's difficult not to recognize an electoral process in a democratic country," Lobo said at a news conference with foreign reporters. "This is how the crisis ends."

That is what coup supporters have hoped all along, and why they resisted reinstating Zelaya before Sunday's vote despite international pressure.

Leaders in many Latin American countries, particularly those on the left, are standing firm in refusing to recognize the election, saying it sets a dangerous precedent for a region that has been vulnerable to coups.

But those nations are unlikely to influence Honduras, a very poor country that sends the bulk of its exports to the United States and relies heavily on money sent home from the 1 million Hondurans who live in the U.S.

Washington's position also is likely to influence other countries, and some have already followed its lead in accepting the vote, including Colombia, Panama, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Peru.

Brazil, the most influential country to reject the election, is Latin America's largest economy but it has minimal trade relations with Honduras.

Venezuela's leftist president, Hugo Chavez, tried to increase his influence in Honduras under Zelaya, sending oil exports in exchange for long-term payment at a very low interest rate. But Honduras still got most of its oil from the U.S. and other countries, so it made little difference when Chavez stopped fuel shipments to protest the coup. Politically, however, Lobo could suffer. Brazil and Venezuela have enough clout to keep the Organization of American States from reinstating Honduras, which could bar the Lobo government from diplomatic summits — a sanction that communist Cuba faced for five decades.

Politically, however, Lobo could suffer. Brazil and Venezuela have enough clout to keep the Organization of American States from reinstating Honduras, which could bar the Lobo government from diplomatic summits — a sanction that communist Cuba faced for five decades.

Heather Berkman, a Honduran expert with the New York-based Eurasia group, predicts most countries will re-establish ties and multilateral groups are likely to follow.