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WASHINGTON—A high-ranking US senator said Thursday he told deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to use "constructive means" in pursuing a solution to the political crisis that has wracked the Central American country since Zelaya's ouster more than two months ago.

Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, criticized Zelaya for taking "provocative" steps before and after his removal, which contributed to "deep divisions in Honduran society."

"As I mentioned to President Zelaya in our meeting last week, a solution to Honduras' impasse should be sought through constructive means," Lugar said during a speech at a trade and investment conference co-sponsored by the Andean Development Corporation, the Inter-American Dialogue and the Organization of American States.

Lugar, who met with Zelaya during the deposed president's visit to Washington, praised the Obama administration's early condemnation of the June 28 coup in Honduras, and expressed continued support for the mediation efforts of Costa Rican President Oscar Arias—the so-called San Jose Accords. The government of de facto President Roberto Micheletti has so far rejected the Arias plan, which includes returning Zelaya to office with some constraints on his power in addition to amnesty for coup leaders.

Micheletti's government is moving forward with presidential elections scheduled for Nov. 29, but Zelaya has urged the international community not to recognize the results. A senior aide to Lugar told the Advisor it's "too early" to entertain the question of whether to recognize the election's outcome, and that Zelaya first needs to actually sign the San Jose Accords. But the US State Department, which has cut millions of dollars in aid to Honduras in an effort to pressure the interim government, has said that under current conditions it would be not be able to support the results of the November contest. 

In his speech, Lugar said the Honduran crisis "has proven costly for US policy towards Latin America," as partisan divisions have held up the Senate confirmations of President Barack Obama's nominees for assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs and ambassador to Brazil. These setbacks have impeded the advancement of US policy in the region, he said. Lugar outlined a "pragmatic" agenda for the United States in Latin America that includes democracy promotion, "sequenced engagement" with Cuba, hemispheric cooperation on energy and security issues and a reform of the OAS.

Lugar said the recent flap over a US-Colombia military agreement illustrates the difficulties of achieving cooperation with Latin American countries in the fight against drug trafficking. He called for the Obama administration to acknowledge the concerns of countries including Brazil and Chile over the deal, and invite the Union of South American Nations, or Unasur, to take a larger role in curbing the illegal drug trade in South America.

Text: http://www.thedialogue.org/page.cfm?pageID=32&pubID=2092&s