The Anti-Defamation League has raised the alarm over the use of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel rhetoric by supporters of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya:

"From President Zelaya himself down to media pundits and political activists, there has been a troubling undercurrent of anti-Semitism in the situation in Honduras," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director.  "We know from history that at times of turmoil and unrest, Jews are a convenient scapegoat, and that is happening now in Honduras, a country that has only a small Jewish minority."

These statements include Zelaya's unsubstantiated claim that Israeli mercenaries were attacking the Brazilian embassy where he has taken refuge. Venezuelan Hugo Chavez has also falsely claimed that Israeli is the only country that has recognized the coup government. More disturbing was a rant from David Romero, news director of the pro-Zelaya Radio Globo, who described Jews as "people that do damage in this country" and mused, "After what I have learned, I ask myself why, why didn't we let Hitler carry out his historic mission?"

The claims of a Jewish conspiracy are particularly strange since there are almost no Jews in Honduras -- only about 100 families.

Now that it seems Costa Rican President Oscar Arias' mediation has been de facto rejected by Honduras' de facto government, everybody seems to be proposing their own creative solutions.

South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, who has already contributed to the situation by holding up the Senate confirmation for proposed assistant secretary of state for the region, Arturo Valenzuela, is travelling to Tegucigalpa Friday -- skillfully avoiding maneuvers by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry to keep him in the United States, and blithely side-stepping the question of legitimacy altogether -- in order to lend his support to the coup government and express his belief that "Hondurans should be able to choose their own future."

They'll do so to the tune of Caribbean music and announcements of curfew times, about the only thing currently transmitted by obedient television channels, fearful of the repression suffered by intransigent media outlets earlier this week. This as deposed President Manuel Zelaya continues to be holed up in the Brazilian embassy, along with a shrinking number of family members, supporters and his cowboy hat.

Is compromise possible? Honduran business leaders, horrified by the revenue loss provoked by the curfews imposed by the coup government -- or perhaps more disturbed by the loss of their U.S. visas -- suggested a multi-party interim presidency until the Nov. 29 elections, after which point Zelaya would stand trial and face house arrest. The plan also calls for tossing coup president Roberto Micheletti a congressman-for-life position as a sop and bringing neighboring countries troops in to keep order. Faced with an array of unappealing options, others are turning to higher powers, in the form of the Virgin of Suyapaor.

So best of luck to DeMint, but if he fails, his colleague Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen will get a chance during her visit next week -- also to support the coup government of course. 

Venezuela banned an airing of Family Guy last week after Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami took offense to one episode in which the family dog, Brian, leads a movement to legalize marijuana. (Whole episode here.)

Stations that still air canine-cannabis propaganda will be fined, according to El Aissami. Hugo Chávez's government doesn't have much of a taste for U.S. cartoons. Last year The Simpsons was also deemed unsuitable.

"The government considers it to be a series that isn't appropriate for that time [11 am] because it isn't appropriate for children," said Elba Guillen a spokeswoman for the privately-owned Venezuelan station Televen.

The station avoided getting fined for airing The Simpsons by replacing it with a much more family-friendly show.

Mark Davis/Getty Images

The increasingly friendly relationship between Iran and Venezuela is hardly a secret. Just yesterday, Venezuela announced that it will begin exporting 20,000 barrels of gasoline per day to the Islamic Republic. This followed a meeting on Saturday between Presidents Ahmadinejad and Chavez during which the two leaders promised to stand together to defeat imperialist foes.

Legendary New York District Attorney Robert Morganthau explained his concerns about the link in a talk at the Brookings Institution today, sponsored by the the American Interest magazine and Global Financial Integrity. According to Morganthau, some of the most dangerous aspects of the relationship take place far from the cameras, in the shadowy world of illicit finance:

The ostensible reason the the Iranian owned Banco International de Desarrollo (BID) was opened in Caracas was to expand economic ties with Venezuela. Our sources and experiences lead me to suspet an ulterior motive. A foothold into the Venezuelan banking system is a perfect "sanctions-busting" method -- the main motivator for Iran in its banking relationship with Venezuela. Despite being designated by OFAC we believe that BID has several correspondent banking relationships with both Venezuelan banks and banks in Panama, anation with a long-standing reputation as a money laundering safe-haven.

This scheme is known as "nesting." Nested accounts occur when a foreign financial institution gains access to the U.S.  financial system by operating through a U.S. correspondent account belonging to another foreign financial institution. For example, BID who is prohibited from establishing a relationship with a U.S. bank could instead establish a relationship with a Venezuelan or Panamanian bank that has a relationship with a U.S. bank.  If the U.S. bank is unaware that its foreign correspondent financial institution customer is providing such access to a sanctioned third-party foreign financial institution, this third-party financial institution can effectively gain anonymous access to the U.S. financial system. [...]

There is little reason to doubt Venezuela's support for Ahmadinejad's most important agenda, the development of a nuclear program and long-range missiles, and the destabilization of the region. For Iran, the lifeblood of their nuclear and weapons programs is the ability to use the international banking system and to make payments for banned missile and nuclear materials. The opening of Venezuela's banks to the Iranians guarantees the continued development of nuclear technology and long-range missiles. 

Morganthau's office recently prosecuted British bank Lloyds for helping Iran move money through the U.S. financial system by stripping identifying information from wire transfers. He believes the cozy Chavez-Ahmadinejad relationship will only make such operations easier for the Iranians. 

Morganthau stopped short of announcing specific prosecutions, but from the sound of it, some new revelations may be forthcoming. 

Photo by David Shankbone. Used under Creative Commons license.  

I must say, this is pretty ballsy:

Police in the Mexican border city of Tijuana say they have arrested six men for stealing pieces of the U.S. border fence to sell as scrap metal. [...]

The first two men caught cutting into the fence on Monday. An alleged accomplice was detained Tuesday with 11 pieces of fencing. The U.S. Border Patrol alerted police to three more suspects.

Police said Wednesday in a statement that the men may face federal charges because the fence area is considered federal property.

There really wasn't a less guarded fence in all of Tijuana?

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

In the Guardian, Jonathan Franklin provides a first-hand look at "cocaine tourism" in Bolivia:

"Tonight we have two types of cocaine; normal for 100 Bolivianos a gram, and strong cocaine for 150 [Bolivianos] a gram." The waiter has just finished taking our drink order of two rum-and-Cokes here in La Paz, Bolivia, and as everybody in this bar knows, he is now offering the main course. The bottled water is on the house.

The waiter arrives at the table, lowers the tray and places an empty black CD case in the middle of the table. Next to the CD case are two straws and two little black packets. He is so casual he might as well be delivering a sandwich and fries. And he has seen it all. "We had some Australians; they stayed here for four days. They would take turns sleeping and the only time they left was to go to the ATM," says Roberto, who has worked at Route 36 (in its various locations) for the last six months.

Franklin reports that in addition to the low prices a number of reasons conspire to make Bolivia the perfect location:

This new trend of 'cocaine tourism' can be put down to a combination of Bolivia's notoriously corrupt public officials, the chaotic "anything goes" attitude of La Paz, and the national example of President Evo Morales, himself a coca grower.

While the rest of the article is great, I'm not sure about the "national example" factor of Morales. I'm pretty sure the president is not selling his crops for processed cocaine. Morales did want to destigmatize coca crops when he won the presidency, but it was to restore the leaf's role in Bolivia's cultural heritage, not to give the thumbs up to full scale cocaine production. 

Obviously more coca crops make more cocaine much easier, but I wouldn't quite say Morales is explicilty in approval. 

AIZAR RALDES/AFP/Getty Images

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced yesterday that he will purchase dozens more tanks in response to the new U.S.-Colombian leasing agreement:

"We're going to buy several battalions of Russian tanks," Chavez said at a news conference, saying the deal is among accords he hopes to conclude during a visit to Russia in September.

Chavez's government has already bought more than $4 billion worth of Russian arms since 2005, including helicopters, fighter jets and Kalashnikov assault rifles.

The socialist leader called Colombia's plan to host more U.S. soldiers a "hostile act" and a "true threat" to Venezuela and its leftist allies. He warned that a possible U.S. buildup could lead to the "start of a war in South America," but gave no indication that Venezuela's military is mobilizing in preparation for any conflict.

Chavez's old friend Fidel Castro also chimed in, writing that, "Venezuela isn't arming itself against the sister nation of Colombia, it's arming itself against the (U.S.) empire."

I doubt it. No matter how big his ego, I doubt that Chavez believes he has a chance against the U.S. military in a conventional war, no matter how many tanks he buys. Even if Venezuela increased its current tank force by 20 times, it would still have fewer than Iraq did before the first Gulf War. Bringing a bigger knife to a gunfight doesn't really shift the odds in your favor.

The rising tensions do give Chavez political cover for a military buildup during a time of economic stagnation and an opportunity to prepare in case of a confrontation with enemies closer to home. 

THOMAS COEX/AFP/Getty Images

In an interview with Der Spiegel over the weekend, ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya suggested that he had gained the support of a number of sportswear companies who manufacture their products in Honduras:

SPIEGEL: Do you see an opportunity for dialogue with the new regime?

Zelaya: International pressure would have to be increased for that to happen. It affected the coup leaders when Washington suspended their diplomatic visas, and the sanctions are also taking effect. In many ports, goods coming from Honduras are no longer being unloaded. The German firm Adidas, along with Nike and clothing manufacturer Gap, have announced that they will cancel orders from Honduran factories unless democracy is restored. [Emphasis mine.]

Zelaya seems to be embellishing to say the least. He is likely referring to a letter the companies wrote to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week urging her to seek a negotiated compromise to the crisis in Honduras. Here's an excerpt:

While we do not and will not support or endorse the position of any party in this internal dispute, we feel it is necessary in this case to join with the President of the United States, the governments of countries throughout the Americas, the Organization of American States, the UN General Assembly and the European Union in calling for the restoration of democracy in Honduras.

The letter doesn't say anything about canceling orders. And while the organizations mentioned in the above paragraph all support Zelaya's reinstatement, it's hardly a ringing endorsement for his position. 

I called Nike's media relations department today and spokesperson Kate Meyers denied that there were any plans to cancel orders:

We have no plans to alter our supply orders from Honduras, whatsoever. One of the aims of the letter is to support workers’ rights and civil liberties. Canceling our orders wouldn’t be the way to go about that. 

LA Times' blogger Catherine Lyons has some useful background on why the apparel companies are getting involved with the situation in the first place. 

ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP/Getty Images

When Honduras's minister of communications, Enrique Reina, learned that his president had been ousted in a coup, he immediately tried to get to the state television station to send the people a message. He never made it -- but he did make it to the United States, where I spoke to him tonight, and where he has just been nominated to be ambassador of Honduras here in Washington. His predecessor's visa was revoked by the State Department today, due to his having supported the coup.

It's the latest intrigue in a story that is becoming increasingly complicated and increasingly dangerous -- both for Honduras and for the region. Reina expressed concern that tensions were rising back at home. His family, for example is still there. And being members of the old government, their water and electricity has been cut. The press has been silenced and a curfew has been imposed. The de facto government is digging its heels in, refusing to allow ousted President Manuel Zelaya back into the country.

Both sides are escalating the situation. Zelaya is parked on the border between Honduras and Nicaragua, rallying support. He's not ready to cross back into the country, Reina said, because he is trying first to contact supporters. For now, Reina says that Zelaya is waiting for his family to join him in Nicaragua. It's a détente that has everyone wondering how long the tense calm can really last. And both sides seem way too nonchalant about what might happen if things turn sour.

From Reina's public comments tonight, where he spoke at a gathering of more than a dozen ambassadors, and a handful more diplomats, scholars, and journalists, it looks like both sides are prepared to stand firm for now. Reina said the de facto regime was trying to pull any cards they could, for example portraying themselves as opponents of some of the leftist governments in Latin America that have been met with U.S. opposition in recent years (read: Hugo Chávez, first and foremost). It's a "Cold War" type of conspiracy theory, he said. "We might expect that this military regime, in their despair, and as a product of their lack of international recognition, might try to link President Zelaya to al Qaeda or other terrorist groups, just to justify their actions."

So who might be able to break the deadlock? Many attending tonight's gathering seemed to think the answer is simple: the United States -- and Congress in particular. There, the debate seems to be split between those who condemned the coup and those who worry that Zelaya's government had taken a dangerous turn to the left -- warranting the military's actions. Both sides of the Honduran political system are working hard to win that debate: the de facto government through three Washington lobby groups, for example, and Zelaya through meetings with Reps. Barbara Lee and Eliot Engel and Senator Richard Lugar. Zelaya wants targeted sanctions, threats to remove or reduce U.S. aid to the country, and diplomatic intervention: "We thank and forsee more sanctions, like the ones taken by the World Bank, the IMF, the EU and MERCOSUR, the United States," Reina said in his remarks.

It has the makings of a political mess. But let's not forget the stakes: Honduras is a country of people -- people whose lives will be lived under one of several governments, all of which are likely to be dysfunctional in providing services until the business of who's in charge gets sorted. And that's assuming that tensions that are rising on ground fall before they rise much further.

The hottest commodity in Cuba, the Miami Herald reveals, is the mattress.

A severe shortage in mattresses across the country has encouraged a thriving black market of threadbare, stolen and straw alternatives. "Freelance merchants" improvise springs, covers and fillings out of any easily-available materials, and the government's official factory is victim to "constant" theft.

Like the majority of local businesses, the nation's sole mattress-making outfit Dujo Copo Flex, is under exclusive contract with the government. But the 60,000 or so mattresses made annually do not come close to meeting the gapping demand for decent bedding, with most of the factory's productions going straight to hotels, the armed forces and even exported to Italy and Venezuela. The remaining few that can be sold to Cuban consumers are done so at a premium, costing upwards of 5,352 pesos -- much more than the average annual salary. Consequently, mattresses are now passed down within families like precious heirlooms.

But finding refurbished bedding, or anything else you'd like (a fake marriage and ticket to America, anyone?), on the island may be getting easier with the launch of Revolico.com, the Cuban answer to Craigslist and a godsend for illegal entrepreneurs hawking their wares. It's nice to see that the black market can find its way online everywhere.  

rross223/flickr

Honduras's interim government has sent a lobbying team to Washington to try to talk the Obama adminsitration out of its pledge to impose sanctions if ousted President Manuel Zelaya is not returned to power. I can't help thinking they don't quite understand the new U.S. president's priorities:

Appealing to free trade supporters, they hope to nudge the Obama administration away from its threat to impose sanctions on the impoverished country, where export-assembly factories are dominated by U.S. firms and investors.

"I imagine there would be some reaction from them" to trade sanctions, Amilcar Bulnes, head of the Honduran Council of Private Business, said Monday.

[...]

Zelaya's foes appear to hope President Barack Obama doesn't have the time or energy for this battle when he has weightier problems like his push to reform the U.S. health care system and turn around the economy.

"Honduras is a small, poor country," Bulnes said. "The world would look very bad if it takes out its wrath on this country."

Obama has never been much of a free trader, particularly when it conflicts with a political principle, and as for looking like a bully, the U.S. position on this issue puts it on the same side as the OAS and the EU, neither of whom have recognized the new government. In fact, the U.S. would more likely be accused of meddling if it didn't oppose the coup. It shouldn't be a surprise that the U.S. cares more about it's overall standing in the region (particularly with powerful regional players like Brazil) than it does about its relationship with Honduras.

This also seems ill advised:

Micheletti vowed not to back down - and implied that Washington is betraying a staunch ally, one that let its territory be used as a staging area for U.S.-backed Contra rebels battling Nicaragua's leftist Sandinista government during the 1980s and more recently sent troops to Iraq.

Touting your country's role in two of the most controversial Republican foreign policy ventures of the last quarter century is not really the best way to win over a Democratic president who (I'm just assuming with Nicaragua.) opposed both of them. 

U.S. ambassador Hugo Llorens claims that the Obama administration had tried to talk the parliament and military out of the coup, but the interim government still seems genuinely shocked that the U.S. has not backed them up. Micheletti and co. may have assumed that when push came to shove, the U.S. was not going to stand up for Zelaya, a power-hungry, leftist who also happened to be backed by Hugo Chavez. They seem to have profoundly misjudged the degree to which the new administration values international public opinion over regime type.

Still, speaking of Sandinistas, I think Daniel Ortega may be pushing his luck.

YURI CORTEZ/AFP/Getty Image

The world media has been full of accounts and opinions about the ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya. But inside his own country, it's a different story.

In Honduras, some of the most popular and influential television stations and radio networks blacked out coverage or adhered to the de facto government's line that Manuel Zelaya's overthrow was not a coup but a legal "constitutional substitution," press freedom advocates and Honduran journalists said.

Meanwhile, soldiers raided the offices of radio and TV stations loyal to Zelaya, shutting down their signals. Alejandro Villatoro, 52, the owner of Radio Globo, said soldiers broke down doors and dismantled video surveillance cameras.

"They grabbed me and put me face down and put six rifles on me, with a foot on my back holding me down," he said. "It was like I was a common criminal."

Such allegations underscore the one-sided nature of the news that has been served up to Hondurans during the crisis. According to results of a Gallup poll published here Thursday, 41 percent of Hondurans think the ouster was justified, with 28 opposed to it.

Global Post's Ioan Grillo was on top of this story earlier this week, and also notes that some of the biggest commercial networks didn't need any help dumping on Zelaya, as they have been at war with him for a long time. In addition:

[T]he media battle over the Honduras coup also reflects larger news-related issues as leftist governments have risen to power in the region.

Longstanding commercial networks controlled by wealthy families have often had head-on collisions with leftist leaders, who accuse them of undermining their governments.

In reaction, business interests accuse stations controlled by leftist presidents of demonizing the rich and dividing nations along class lines.

“The media across Latin America has become much more polarized in recent years. There is more of an atmosphere of saying, “You have to be with us or against us,” said Elan Reyes, president of Honduras’ journalist association.

ORLANDO SIERRA/AFP/Getty Images

The Wall Street Journal's Mary O'Grady argues that the ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was not in fact a coup, since the president was himself holding a referendum in violation of an order by the country's supreme court. But I don't think one need defend Zelaya to argue that sending troops to break into a president's house and put him on a plane out of the country is generally not the best way to protect "the independence of institutions that keep presidents from becoming dictators."

If this weekend's coup seems like a bit of a throwback to the Cold War era, that's because it is. Research by political scientists Nikolay Marinov and Hein Goemans, which I wrote about in the May/June print issue of FP shows the number of coups has declined significantly since the fall of the Berlin wall:

And it's not just the number of coups that has changed. Those who seize power are now far more likely to give it up. Since 1990, two-thirds of governments resulting from coups allowed elections in less than five years. The end of the zero-sum competition of the cold war probably has a lot to do with it:

Since the end of Cold War rivalry for spheres of influence, Western powers have become less willing to tolerate dictatorships—and more likely to make aid contingent upon holding elections.

This does seem to be playing out in the Honduran case, with the Obama administration demanding the reinstatement of Zelaya, an ally of Hugo Chavez and frequent critic of U.S. policy. A few decades ago, it's doubtful that the White House would have acted so quickly to condemn the overthrow of an unfriendly leftist leader.

Central America's first coup in 16 years is certainly bad news (as it should be noted, was Zelaya's increasingly authoritarian behavior) but these events are becoming increasingly rare, and once the dust settles, Honduras has a greater chance at returning to democracy than ever before. 

Chart: Goemans and Marinov

Last Thursday, Mark Sanford, the governor of the U.S. state of South Carolina, just disappeared. No one -- not his bodyguards, his wife, his staff -- knew where on Earth he was. 

On Monday, his staff told reporters that the idiosyncratic governor had gone for a quick solo jaunt on the Appalachian Trail. (Even though it was father's day weekend. And, a special Nude Hiking Day on the trail, natch.)

Well, Sanford's back. It turns out the governor was in Argentina for the week. The Wall Street Journal reports: 

He said it was a stressful legislative session and he wanted a break. He had considered – but vetoed – the idea of hiking the trail. “But I said ‘no’ I wanted to do something exotic,” Sanford said “… It’s a great city.”

He didn’t give many details about the trip, but said he was alone and drove along the coast.

Sanford said he cut the trip short by a day after being told by his chief of staff that he was getting lots of media attention. “I don’t know how this thing got blown out of proportion,” Sanford told the newspaper.

To be honest, this story is so bizarre I don't quite know what to say about it. Heading to Argentina for a week sounds delightful. But to run off without telling anyone? (The last time I considered doing that, I was in the fourth grade and had just tried putting my brother down the laundry chute.)

It's so vastly irresponsible -- not just weird, but irresponsible -- for a major public official to do that, in my mind, it disqualifies him for the job. Taxpayers pay to ensure the safety of their governors -- who knows how much money South Carolina spent looking for the guy? That's just for starters.  

And so, bewildered, I turn it over to you, readers. What was he doing in Argentina? Any good theories?

Update: Sanford was in Argentina with another woman, who he's known for eight years and been engaged in an affair with for the last year or so. He's resigned as the head of the Republican Governors' Association; my guess is that he'll ultimately resign as the governor of South Carolina as well.

And, what a strange, weirdly touching press conference. Key quote: "Oddly enough, I spent the last five days of my life crying in Argentina." 

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