VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSJ #0565/01 1882145
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 072145Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY SAN JOSE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1012
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/CDR USSOUTHCOM MIAMI FL PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SAN JOSE 000565 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA, WHA/CEN AND USOAS; SOUTHCOM ALSO FOR FPA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: HO KDEM PGOV PINR PREL CS
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT ARIAS' TOUGH WORDS BUT SOFTER ACTIONS 
MAY HELP POSITION HIM AS MEDIATOR IN HONDURAN CONFLICT 
 
REF: SAN JOSE 544 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Costa Rican President Oscar Arias is 
continuing calls for Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya's 
return, and says that his government will only recognize a 
democratically-elected government in Honduras. Costa Rica, 
who played host to Zelaya immediately after he was forced out 
of Honduras (reftel), finally joined its neighboring states 
in  recalling its Ambassador to Honduras, but has preferred 
to avoid harsher measures.  However, Arias has stated that he 
will not consider economic sanctions at this time, and GOCR 
officials criticized the temporary closing of the Guatemalan, 
El Salvadorian and Nicaraguan borders with Honduras, in large 
part due to domestic export interests.  This tough words, 
softer action approach may help him as he begins to act as 
mediator in the conflict.  The media in San Jose is already 
reporting that talks could begin here as early as July 9. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
------------------ 
ARIAS CONDEMNS COUP 
------------------ 
 
¶2. (U) In a televised speech on July 2, President Arias set 
out his position on the developments in Honduras by calling 
for Zelaya's return to power, and a return to democratic 
norms in that country.  "I don't share all of the ideas of 
the President of Honduras," Arias said, "and it is obvious 
that I have ideological differences with him and with some of 
his allies in Latin America.  But I am a democrat by 
conviction, not by convenience, and it is my duty to support 
those governments elected by the people,  regardless of their 
personal plans or ideologies."  Zelaya's expulsion from 
Honduras "by a group of soldiers from the army 
was...unjustifiable," according to Arias. 
 
¶3. (U) Despite the president's strong rhetoric, Costa Rica 
broke with the other Central American countries in not 
joining the 48-hour trade embargo enforced against Honduras, 
and calling for borders with Honduras and its neighbors to 
remain open.  The GOCR,s motives were not entirely 
altruistic.  The Costa Rican private sector, along with the 
Ministry of Foreign Trade, loudly complained that even the 
brief closure seriously affected trade flows along the 
primary transport route for Costa Rican goods en route to 
U.S., Mexican and Guatemalan markets.  Costa Rica's exporters 
association claimed that Costa Rican businesses had lost 
"millions" due to the border shutdown. 
 
¶4. (U) Earlier on July 2, in a press conference following the 
weekly cabinet meeting, Arias told reporters that he hoped 
for an "energetic reaction" from the USG (to resolve the 
crisis in Honduras), adding that the solution would have to 
come through the OAS.  Arias also cited the "great influence" 
the U.S. military had over its Honduran counterpart.  Arias 
reminded the media that he was the "first" regional leader to 
have condemned the coup in Honduras, and he reiterated the 
importance of standing firm "against the golpistas" in order 
to avoid a regional "domino effect," i.e., "opening the door" 
to future military actions against civilian leadership 
elsewhere in the region.  When asked if he would serve as 
mediator in this conflict, Arias acknowledged that "this had 
been suggested," because of his Nobel prize, but he would 
only do so if both sides agreed. 
 
------------------------------------- 
EUROPEAN TRADE NEGOTIATIONS SUSPENDED 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) SICA negotiations with the European Union on a free 
trade and association agreement, which were initially 
scheduled to recommence this week, have also been put on an 
indefinite hold in light of the situation in Honduras.  GOCR 
officials have said that continuing the negotiations is 
impossible without representatives from a democratically 
elected government of Honduras.  According to Linyi Baidal, 
Deputy Director of External Policy at the MFA, the only 
option to move forward would be to continue negotiations 
without Honduras, and allow Honduras to re-join the 
negotiations (with any proposed changes) after the 
restoration of a democratic government.  However the EU has 
not yet signaled their desire to work in this two-tiered 
fashion, without which Baidal says the negotiations are "at 
the point of death".  The European FTA is high on the list of 
issues that Arias would like to focus on during the GOCR's 
six-month Presidency of SICA, which began July 1, 2009. 
 
 
--------------- 
MEDIA COVERAGE 
--------------- 
 
¶6. (U) Costa Rican media coverage of the crisis fell 
more-or-less in line with the GOCR's official response, with 
editorial boards roundly condemning Zelaya's ouster, even if 
a number questioned Zelaya's politics leading up to it.  An 
editorial on June 29 in La Nacion, Costa Rica's leading 
daily, said Zelaya himself was principally responsible for 
the coup, yet also categorically rejected the actions of 
plotters as anti-democratic and called for Zelaya's return as 
president.  La Republica, Costa Rica's business-focused 
paper, called for a return to democracy in Honduras but also 
worried that an extended period of unrest would hurt Costa 
Rican business interests.  And Diario Extra, another popular 
daily, called the coup a "step backward for democracy (which) 
requires the immediate repudiation of all the world's 
countries." 
 
------- 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) Although Zelaya,s arrival here June 28 caught the 
GOCR off guard, Arias clearly hoped he could take advantage 
of Costa Rica,s current SICA presidency to reprise his 
peacemaker role from the late 1980's and help forge a deal 
that would help restore democracy in Honduras.  Zelaya,s 
exit on board a Venezuelan jet that night seemed to have 
dashed those hopes, although Arias publicly left open the 
door to his serving as mediator.  Now, Arias is no doubt 
delighted to have been asked by the Secretary (and evidently 
approved by Zelaya and Micheletti) to play that role.  The 
media here is reporting that talks could begin in Costa Rica 
as early as July 9. 
HENIFIN