Dear Readers,
After a week-long family vacation, a week-long training course I delivered at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture ( CIAT - www.ciat.cgiar.org) and a three day visit to the home land to establish some connections to further IFPRI's (my employer- see IFPRI - www.ifpri.org) interests , I am back. I am back and quite worried due to recent developments which bring a lot of questions about what is happening in my country and who is/are the actors behind these developments.
One of the most worrisome developments is the series of journalists that have been killed during the last months. Granted, this could be fully the result from the generalized violence and insecurity that characterizes Honduras today. However, it could also reflect other potential causes including organized crime or political organizations trying to either repress the press or create the perception of insecurity, thus creating a shroud of discontent and discredit attached to the current administration. I do not know which one is truly the cause, or if it is a combination of different issues here.
I certainly agree with Tambopaxi's worry about the potential impact on our current democratically elected administration. I am also worried, and now more than ever disagree with President Lobo's foreign policy of appeasement to gain "recognition" of his administration, in many cases, cow towing to the criticism and even bowing our heads to other countries' leaders.
I believe that we have to learn survival without anybody else in the world. Lets not make it that dramatic. Lets open relations with all countries who are willing to enter into a relationship as "friends". If any country starts putting conditions for recognition and is not willing to recognize us as a democracy (i.e. El Salvador, Nicaragua, Venezuela or Cuba) -granted in evolution- then we bypass them for other international relations. If a country, delays unnecessarily giving the diplomatic acceptance of our country's ambassador as a way to pressure and, yes, humiliate us even further (i.e. Spain and other countries), we bypass them. When they are willing to treat us with respect and as "friends", then we gladly return to the discussion table.
In this sense, we need to learn from the experience of Singapore, Israel, and Taiwan; who at one point of their story, they decided that they would survive as free, proud, independent and democratic nations. If other countries do not want to recognize us a such...then its their loss...not ours.
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