Honduras Tries for a PR Coup [1]
Submitted by Diane Farsetta [2] on
The negotiating team representing Honduras [3]' coup government "rarely made a move without consulting ... an American public relations specialist who has done work for former President Bill Clinton [4]," reports the New York Times. Roberto Micheletti heads the "de facto" government of Honduras, which took power after the military coup against elected president Manuel Zelaya. Micheletti "has embarked on a public relations offensive, with his supporters hiring high-profile lawyers with strong Washington connections" to lobby for recognition and against sanctions. Bennett Ratcliff of the California firm VA/R Partners is the PR advisor who guided Micheletti during negotiations. A "powerful Latin American business council" that supported the coup "hired Lanny J. Davis [5], who has served as President Clinton's personal lawyer and who campaigned for Mrs. Clinton [6] for president." President Obama [7] "said he wants Zelaya restored to office," but the U.S. has kept its ambassador in Honduras, while all European Union ambassadors have been recalled, reports Bloomberg [8]. While at the Patton Boggs [9] law firm in 1999, Lanny Davis "worked for a Kazakh [10] front group [11] that was acting on behalf of President Nazarbayev ... trying to convince the world that Nazarbayev was a democratic reformer," Ken Silverstein said on Democracy Now! [12] "Davis is working on behalf of some Honduran business groups," including an "apparel trade group" that counts U.S.-based companies Fruit of the Loom and Hanes among its members.