Sobre as sanções ao regime hondurenho

Zelaya supporters rethink Honduras sanctions (AP):

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Supporters of ousted President Manuel Zelaya are advocating targeted economic sanctions to pressure the interim government to allow his return rather than broader measures that might harm the Central American country's poorest citizens.

U.S. officials are considering sanctions on one of the hemisphere's poorest countries if mediation efforts by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias fail to resolve the crisis. The European Union has already frozen euro65 million ($92 million) in development aid and warned of further steps.

But with Honduras' defiant leaders vowing to tough it out, Zelaya is rethinking his support for measures that might only hurt the poorest.

From Managua, Nicaragua, Zelaya said late Tuesday that he sent a letter to President Barack Obama naming the army officials and lawmakers who allegedly planned his ouster and asking for economic sanctions specifically targeting "those who conspired directly to execute the coup."

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"When I hear them saying that they can last for months, I realize that they can get through it, "said Xiomara Castro, Zelaya's wife, who remains in Honduras and supports seizing bank accounts or freezing assets of coup leaders. "What they aren't thinking is what a strong blow this would be for the average people."

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[T]argeted sanctions are tough to impose, because government officials and their assets have to be identified and investigated, "and you may be assured that as you are investigating, they'll be trying to move their assets around,"

Claro que se pode argumentar que outras tentativas de derrubar regimes da América Central através de sanções não parecem encorajadoras.