MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

The Honduras crisis and a Republican Senator from South Carolina

Senator Jim DeMint claims the Obama administration is becoming an ally of Castro, Ortega and Chavez

Who’s in command? is the question political analyst Andres Oppenheimer has asked in his weekly column on Latinamerican affairs, precisely because in the midst of the Honduras crisis, the Obama administration has not been able to confirm key players, Under Secretary for Hemispheric Affairs and the US ambassador in Brazil.

Under Secretary designate Arturo Valenzuela and ambassador designate Thomas Shannon, have proven academic credentials and experience in the jobs but remain blocked in the US Senate by South Carolina’s Jim DeMint.

Oppenheimer quotes Jeffrey Davidow, who currently heads the Institute for the Americas and has a long career in hemispheric affairs as a former State Department official: “its’ a problem; we don’t have an under secretary for the region to implement the new administration’s policies and no ambassador in the most important country of the region”.

“DeMint’s attitude is entirely counterproductive in the middle of the Honduras crisis: Washington needs a strong voice in the region for the ongoing negotiations in Honduras and an ambassador in Brazil, from the moment Zelaya took refuge in the Brazilian embassy”.

DeMint argues that he won’t unblock the designations until “there’s an agreement on the Honduras November election and US aid to the country is restored”. He added that the Obama administration describes what happened in Honduras as a military coup “when documents clearly indicate that the Honduran government acted following the constitutional process”

“Democrats are showing little respect for the US constitution and for the Honduras constitution; the Obama administration is becoming in this case an ally of Raul Castro, Daniel Ortega and Hugo Chavez”, insists DeMint.

Obama administration officials deny that nobody is in charge of US policy in the region. Shannon from the Bush administration is still running the show but, undoubtedly he is not the man designated for that job.

Why Senator DeMint is blocking when in the past he has not shown much interest in hemispheric affairs remains to be discovered, but Washington is limited in the full exercise of its political weight, concludes Oppenheimer.

DeMint was ranked by the US National Journal as the most conservative United States Senator in their March, 2007 conservative/liberal rankings, and again in 2008. His main work has been opposing the increase of the federal government spending, both under the Bush and Obama Administrations. He was opposed to federal bailouts for banks and other corporations and is contrary to Obama’s health coverage program.

He has been a consistent supporter of school sponsored prayer and has introduced legislation that would allow schools to display banners reading God Bless America DeMint favors banning all forms of abortion.