It would be interesting to leap forward about thirty years in time and see how history recorded the sorry efforts of the Obama administration to make friends with the leftists in Latin America, and then its belated change of course a couple of weeks ago. At the moment, it seems that its strategy didn’t work very well, and that for any country to place its trust in the present U.S. Government would be foolish. I hope the U.S. Government does not back off in Colombia in an attempt to appease Chávez and his friends.

President Martinelli of Panamá has confirmed that Panamá will recognize the November 29 elections. He called upon the international community to do the same.

“According to an Oct. 28 El Nuevo Herald report, Chávez’s 2010 government budget includes a more than 600% increase in the president’s spending budget, which will rise to $2.2 billion. The new budget includes $264,000 for clothing, $18,500 for shoes, $145,000 for soap, shampoo and other bathroom products. At a time when Venezuela’s economy will fall by about 2 percent this year and the country has Latin America’s highest inflation rate, few Venezuelans find the news of Chávez’s personal expenses amusing.”

Chávez is Zelaya’s mentor and the one who has been leading the charge by the international circus that Zelaya be reinstated as president of Honduras.

“If we resolve this constitutionally they will know they too have to respect democracy. If not, these dark forces will know they have a green light and the continent will become an erupting volcano. That will be a very bad outcome, not only for our continent, but for Europe and the world.”

To prevent this horrid state of affairs, he urged all countries to reject the results of the November 29 elections and to continue to exert pressure on Honduras to reinstate Zelaya. He warned that anti-government forces in Paraguay and Bolivia are already threatening military takeovers.

Tsk tsk! What a shame. Good grief! It could even happen in the happy land of Venezuela. Within hours of the removal of Zelaya from office in June, Chávez said, “this is a coup against Venezuela!”

“constitutionally?” “democracy?” Sr.Fajaro must have a dictionary different from the one I use. His was probably written by Chávez and published in Venezuela.

According to the linked article, “if Zelaya is not reinstated before the elections, the United States would face a difficult decision over whether to restore diplomatic ties with the newly elected government.” I see no difficulty whatever, in view of earlier statements by Mr. Shannon, the chief negotiator while the accord was being worked on, that the results of the elections will be recognized regardless of whether Zelaya is reinstated.

I still resist considering even the possibility, but perhaps the U.S. has gone from being the “cradle of democracy” to being the grave. 2012?