VZCZCXRO0862
OO RUEHRG
DE RUEHSO #0642 3081631
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 041631Z NOV 09
FM AMCONSUL SAO PAULO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0026
INFO RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEHBR/AMEMBASSY BRASILIA 0024
RUEHRG/AMCONSUL RECIFE 0017
RUEHRI/AMCONSUL RIO DE JANEIRO 0018
RUEHSO/AMCONSUL SAO PAULO

UNCLAS SAO PAULO 000642 
 
SIPDIS 
STATE INR/R/MR 
IIP/R/MR 
WHA/PD 
DEPT PASS USTR 
4322/MAC/OLAC/JAFEE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC OIIP XM XR BR XF KMDR
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: HONDURAS 
 
"Brazil did all it could; it was little" 
 
Analysis in liberal Folha de S. Paulo (10-31) by columnist Clovis 
Rossi states: "[Brazil's actions] was clearly insufficient to solve 
the situation, what only ended up happening was when the U.S. 
called the coup maker and the ousted President to 
talk....Bolivarianism is the main loser in the whole [Honduran] 
crisis. 
 
 
 
"Less powerful. And indispensable." 
 
Article in liberal Folha de S. Paulo (10-31) by columnist Clovis 
Rossi says: "For a country that conventional wisdom condemned to an 
inevitable decline, the United States emitted continuing signs of 
unsuspected vitality.  I'm not saying Washington has stopped losing 
strength, but some strength at least.  But that's not a reason for 
a country to be less indispensable.....all the talk surrounding 
Brazil's leadership, all the scenes that Hugo Chavez always makes, 
the Bolivarian emergence - none of that has blocked the old empire 
from revealing itself again as indispensable.  And what's best is 
this time for the good." 
 
 
 
"U.S. solution" 
 
Editorial in center-right Folha de S. Paulo (10-31) notes: "....the 
outcome [of the Honduran political crisis] leaves the Brazilian 
government and regional peers in an uncomfortable situation.  Even 
though it is praiseworthy to have the claim of Latin American 
countries solving regional conflicts in an 'autonomous' way, 
without the direct interference of the major global power, the fact 
is the deal in Honduras only became viable when the U.S. entered 
the scene.  The episode is a lesson to Brazil, who performed the 
role of a wizard's apprentice in this story...It assumed an 
attitude almost of a teenager, inept, intransigent.  It made itself 
not feasible as a negotiator....Abdicating the role of mediator and 
letting the [Brazilian] embassy in Tegucigalpa be turned into the 
headquarters of a committee of political agitation, the Brazilian 
government showed amateurism in taking on new responsibilities...." 
 
 
 
 
"The ones who can, can" 
 
Op-ed in liberal Folha de S. Paulo (11-1) by Eliane Catanhede 
states: "The crisis in Honduras was a mark in many ways, but the 
principal one was to revive Latin American and Brazilian memory of 
a reality: the U.S. is the U.S.  With Bush, the power lost gradual 
importance in Latin America and especially in South 
America....[but] since the beginning [of the Honduran crisis] it 
was clear that only the U.S. had the resources.....to solve the 
crisis.....By luck, the central protagonist of the negotiations is 
called Thomas Shannon....A very important bridge between the power 
the U.S. never stopped having and the leadership Brazil wants to 
have....." 
 
 
 
"Deal in Honduras" 
 
Editorial in center-right O Estado de S. Paulo (11-2) says: 
"....The Honduran case shows one of the best sides of President 
Barack Obama's foreign policy....The U.S. government only 
interfered when all the mediation efforts from the OAS failed and 
when an impasse was reached. With this, Washington showed that it 
supports the action of multilateral organizations and that it is in 
the past when it supported right wing dictatorships.  But it also 
made clear that [the U.S.] will use all its powers of persuasion of 
a super power when needed.....U.S. diplomacy performed with 
ability, but with energy, with the two sides of the dispute.  And 
was able to reach a good deal.  Brazilian diplomacy did the 
opposite...." 
White