Brazil: No recognition for new Honduras government

Brazil’s presidential spokesman has reiterated that the country does not plan to recognize the incoming Honduran administration and denied that Brazil’s president and chief of staff have made contradictory statements about the Central American nation’s elections.

Marcelo Baumbach said Monday that President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has made it clear he does not intend to recognize the outcome of Honduran elections that gave Porfirio Lobo the presidency after Manuel Zelaya was ousted and ended up holed up in the Brazilian Embassy there.

Baumbach made the comments three days after Brazilian presidential chief of staff Dilma Rousseff said Honduras’ Nov. 29 elections “will have to be considered.”

“One thing is dealing with the fact that there were elections and another is recognizing the legitimacy of the elections,” Baumbach told reporters. “And for now, Brazil does not recognize that legitimacy.”

“The president’s position is clear,” Baumbach said. “Brazil does not intend to recognize a government elected in a process that was organized by an illegitimate government.”

Honduran activists last week ended months of daily protests demanding the reinstatement of their president since he was ousted in a June coup, saying they were moving on now that Congress has voted to keep Manuel Zelaya out of office.

Lobo has said that when he takes office in January, he will finally end the political crisis that has isolated one of Latin America’s poorest countries.

Some countries, including the United States, have recognized Lobo’s election. But others, including Brazil, Bolivia and Argentina, say they won’t unless Zelaya is restored to office.