The International Court of Justice announced May 20 that Honduras has dropped a case against Brazil that was brought last year by the coup-installed government. The Honduran de facto government launched the proceedings in October, in response to the sheltering of ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya in the Brazilian embassy. Honduras, now under a new government following elections late last year, asked to withdraw the case on April 30 and the request was granted May 12. Zelaya remains in exile in the Dominican Republic. (AP [2], Jurist [3], May 20)
Because Zelaya was never restored to power after the coup, most Latin American leaders still refuse to recognize the new Honduran government. On May 18, the EU-Latin America summit opened in Madrid—without Venezuela's Hugo Chávez [4], who declined to participate in protest of the attendance of Honduran President Porfirio Lobo. (CSM [5], May 18)
See our last posts on Honduras [6] and Central America [7].
