VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHSJ #0656/01 2152222
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 032222Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY SAN JOSE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1083
INFO RUEHZA/WHA CENTRAL AMERICAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBE/AMEMBASSY BELMOPAN PRIORITY 0083
RUEHBO/AMEMBASSY BOGOTA PRIORITY 4542
RUEHME/AMEMBASSY MEXICO PRIORITY 5289
RUEHDG/AMEMBASSY SANTO DOMINGO PRIORITY 1640
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SAN JOSE 000656 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/CEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PINR PREL CS
SUBJECT: TUXTLA SUMMIT FOCUSES ON HONDURAS SITUATION 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Leaders of Costa Rica, Panama, El 
Salvador, Guatemala, Belize, Mexico, Colombia, Honduras and 
the Dominican Republic met July 29 in northern Costa Rica at 
the 11th Tuxtla Summit.  The summit focused in large part on 
the ongoing crisis in Honduras, with all present (including 
Manuel Zelaya's representative Aristides Mejia) agreeing to 
support Oscar Arias' mediation effort and the "San Jose 
Accords".  The 73-point "Guanacaste Agreement", which all 
parties signed, also touched on issues including regional 
security, economic development, health and migration. End 
Summary. 
 
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HONDURAS... 
----------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) The 11th Summit of the Mechanism for Dialogue and 
Cooperation of Tuxtla, designed as a forum for Central 
American--Mexican relations, took place July 27-29 at 
Hacienda Panilla in the Guanacaste province of Costa Rica. 
In attendence at the summit were Presidents Oscar Arias of 
Costa Rica, Roberto Martinelli of Panama, Mauricio Funes of 
El Salvador, Alvaro Colom of Guatemala, Felipe Calderon of 
Mexico, Vice-President Gaspar Vega of Belize, and Honduran 
President Manuel Zelaya's chosen representative Aristides 
Mejia as member country representatives; and President Alvaro 
Uribe of Colombia and Vice President Rafael Alburqueque of 
the Dominican Republic as observers. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Though it had been planned long in advance to tackle 
a number of regional issues, the summit focused squarely on 
the ongoing constitutional crisis in Honduras. The leaders 
all condemned "the coup d'etat perpetrated against the 
Constitutional Government of the Honduran Republic and the 
serious harm perpetrated against its democratic 
institutionality and the legitimate exercise of power of its 
Constitutional President Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales."  The 
agreement called for the "re-establishment of the 
institutional order, through dialogue", and pledged to 
support "the initiative presented by Oscar Arias Sanchez, in 
his condition as mediator, entitled the 'San Jose Accord for 
National Reconciliation and Strengthening Democracy in 
Honduras."  Despite local media granting him the title of 
"vice-president", Mejia signed the agreement as the 
"Representative of the Constitutional President of Honduras, 
Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales." 
 
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AND EVERYTHING ELSE 
------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) The rest of the "Guanacaste Agreement" is a 
veritable laundry list of points upon which the signatories 
already agree, covering everything from international aid to 
global climate change.  The representatives stated their 
appreciation for the Merida Initiative, but called for 
increased U.S. financial support for security-building and 
anti narco-trafficking efforts in Mexico and Central America. 
 They also affirmed their commitment to deal with a number of 
issues affecting migrants (including accessibility of work 
and international trafficking issues), stated the importance 
of the international response to the spread of H1N1, and 
expressed their intention to place a priority on a regional 
highway project which has been stalled since 2001 (the 
Pacific Corridor of the International Network for 
Mesoamerican Highways). 
 
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COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) The Tuxtla summit and subsequent signing of the 
Guanacaste Agreement gave Arias' mediation effort another 
show of international support, and helped to keep the 
agreement alive in the public mind.  This was also an 
opportunity for some of Latin America's 'moderate' leaders to 
meet without a strong Chavista presence, with Nicaragua's 
no-show and Zelaya's failure to attend in person.  According 
to Embassy contacts, a number of country delegations were 
particularly impressed with new El Salvadorian President 
Mauricio Funes and his grasp on the issues at hand (in 
relation to his limited experience in politics and 
government).  However, with the focus continuing to be on 
Honduras, we do not expect many of the other "agreements" to 
come out of the summit to have any immediate or lasting 
impact. 
 
BRENNAN