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Teleconference Background Briefing by Two Senior Officials
 
Washington, DC
 
OPERATOR:
Good afternoon, and thank you for standing by. I would like to remind all parties that your lines havebeen placed on listen-only until the question-and-answer portion of today’s conference. This call is being recorded. If you should have any objection, please disconnect at this time.I would now like to turn to the call over to Mr. Ian Kelly, your spokesman. Thank you, sir. You may begin.
MR. KELLY:
Thanks. Well, listen, thank you. Thank you all for joining us today on this conference call. We have twosenior Administration officials with us on the line to discuss the political developments in Honduras and the U.S.diplomatic response to those developments.Just a reminder, this conversation is on background, with any attribution to Senior Administration Officials. We’ll startwith brief remarks, and then after those remarks, we’ll go to your questions. So, Mr. Senior Administration OfficialNumber One.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE:
Great. Thank you very much. I mean, all of you are familiar with theevents of this morning and as they played out in the course of the day, and probably also familiar with the statementreleased by the White House from the President and also from the State Department from the Secretary. In additionto those statements, we’ve been working in the OAS Permanent Council towards a consensus resolution that willcondemn the effort to depose President Zelaya of Honduras, calling for his return to Honduras and for full restorationof democratic order. Although that resolution is not done yet, but I think it shows how quickly the OAS under theleadership of a variety of key countries, the United States included, has responded to this event and how relevant theOAS, and in particular the Inter-American Charter, has been in determining how the OAS and the regional countriesrespond to this kind of event.Obviously, this has been an event that has been a long time in brewing. We and other regional partners have workedvery hard to try to address the underlying causes of it, to address the political polarization in Honduras, andespecially to facilitate dialogue between competing institutions to ensure that there was a democratic resolution of the differences in Honduras and a resolution that respected constitutional order.It’s profoundly regrettable that that was not the case and that this morning the military moved against PresidentZelaya, detaining him, and then expelling him from the country to Costa Rica. As noted, we’ve condemned thisaction. We view President Zelaya as the constitutional president of Honduras, and we’ve called for a full restoration of democratic order in Honduras. And we will continue to work with our partners in the OAS and elsewhere to ensurethat that happens, but then also to begin to address the underlying political polarization and problems that led tothis.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL TWO:
I just wanted to briefly add to those comments to note that there are
Background Briefing on the Situation in Honduras
June 28, 2009
Page 1of 11Background Briefing on the Situation in Honduras6/29/2009http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2009/06a/125453.htm
 
some who are trying to convert this into a bilateral question. It’s very important to recognize that there aremultilateral efforts underway here, and ultimately the answer is going to rise in a resolution of the political tensionsthat led us to this moment among the Honduran institutions themselves that the outside international community,working through the Organization of American States, working collaboratively, can help that process along. But this isnot a process that should be interfered with bilaterally by any country in the Americas. That has been very clear fromour position and should be the position of all governments in the Western Hemisphere that this is a situation thatneeds to be resolved free from external influence and interference.
MR. KELLY:
Okay, we’re ready to go to your questions, if you could identify yourself and your media organizationwhen you ask the question.
OPERATOR:
Thank you, sir. At this time, anyone wishing to ask a question or make a comment, please press *1 onyour touchtone phone and please be sure your line is unmuted and record your name at the prompt. One moment forthe first question, sir.Our first question comes from Elise Labott. Please state your affiliation.
QUESTION:
Thanks. This is Elise Labott with CNN. Thanks for doing this. I know you say that this is a – it has to bedealt with internally, but I was wondering, given the presence of U.S. troops in the country, whether you’ve been intouch with the military. It sounds like the military has been kind of restricted to the barracks. So are there anydiscussions with the military right now, and are you working with them to try and find some compromise? Thanks.
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE:
By the military, you mean U.S. military or Honduran?
QUESTION:
Well, no, I mean, is the U.S. military making contact with the Honduran military at this point? I mean,whether the – where are your – I mean, obviously, since the president – and it sounds like the foreign minister hasbeen detained too, maybe – I mean, what are your contacts with the Honduran government right now?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE:
We do not have military-to-military communications at this point. Atthe beginning of the day, the Honduran armed forces were taking calls from our Embassy as we were condemningthis act, and – but they have ceased to take those calls.
QUESTION:
So how are you – I mean, what is your communication with the government right now since you’re nottalking to the military? And what is the situation with the foreign minister? Was he detained as well?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE:
We believe the foreign minister was detained. I don’t haveindependent confirmation of that; however, our ambassador in a public press conference called for the release of allofficials who have been detained, demanding that Honduran authorities release them immediately.We have been attempting to communicate with especially members of congress and others who have been drivingthis process, and insisting that they need to step down and restore full democratic and constitutional order.
QUESTION:
But you haven’t heard back from them?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE:
Well, I mean, they haven’t done that yet, so --
QUESTION:
Okay. Thanks.
OPERATOR:
Thank you. Our next question comes from Cal Woodward. Please state your affiliation.
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QUESTION:
Associated Press. Just to be clear, are you – is the U.S. Government calling for the return of thepresident?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE:
Correct.
QUESTION:
Thank you. And while I’ve got you, should Americans there be taking any special precautions for theirsafety?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE:
Our Embassy has released a Warden Message to U.S. citizens insideof Honduras explaining events and urging them to be careful in their movements. Obviously, at this point in time,we’re evaluating the situation on the ground. But given the nature of this event and given the potential for conflict,we would urge great caution.
QUESTION:
Thank you.
OPERATOR:
Thank you. Our next question comes from Mark Mazzetti. Please state your affiliation.
QUESTION:
 
New York Times
. Hi, guys. You said earlier, at the beginning of the call, that this was an even that was along time in brewing. Can you say what U.S. officials had done in recent days to try to prevent this from takingplace?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE:
Well, I mean, first of all, remember, it’s not just us. You know --
QUESTION:
Right --
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE:
-- as the second Administration official noted, this has been abrewing conflict that has caught the attention and the concern of the OAS, of ourselves, and of the Central American– the other Central American countries and the European Union embassies inside of Honduras. And we’ve beenworking in concert with them in an effort to facilitate dialogue among the different and competing institutions, andespecially to try to address the larger issue of political polarization inside of Honduras. I mean, I don’t want to go intogreat detail in terms of everyone we spoke to and every action we took, but we were consistently and almostconstantly engaged over the last several weeks with our partners working with Hondurans trying to ensure that thepolitical conflict around this survey that President Zelaya had proposed was resolved in a peaceful way that respectedthe democratic institutions and the constitutional order of Honduras.
QUESTION:
You said a few minutes ago that you were in constant (inaudible) with the military and that theystopped taking the calls. (Inaudible) U.S. and allies been in regular contact with the military over the last few days toagain prevent this from happening?
SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL ONE:
Yes. We have been in contact with all Honduran institutions, includingthe armed forces.
QUESTION:
Okay.
OPERATOR:
Thank you, sir. Our next question comes from Juan Lopez. Please state your affiliation.
QUESTION:
Yes, CNN Espanol. The congress already acted in Tegucigalpa. They say they have a resignation letter.They made the president of the congress the new president. Does the U.S. recognize this president? Is there anypossibility that Mr. Zelaya resigned as a condition for being allowed to leave for Costa Rica?
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