Hillary Clinton flies to Latin America on Sunday, working to buff a lackluster U.S. image in a region where Brazil is emerging as a regional power with global aspirations

WASHINGTON  Secretary of State Hillary Clinton flies to Latin America on Sunday, working to buff a lackluster U.S. image in a region where Brazil is emerging as a regional power with global aspirations.The trip, featuring Clinton’s first stops in South America as secretary of state, includes a visit to Chile on Tuesday, although officials said they were assessing the situation after Saturday’s 8.8 magnitude earthquake rocked the country.Brazil is the centerpiece of Clinton’s five-day visit and she will use her March 3 stop there to seek support for the drive on the U.N. Security Council to put new sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.Brazil  a non-permanent member of the council  has been reluctant to get tough on Iran and analysts say Clinton faces a diplomatic test as she seeks to bring President Inacio Lula da Silva on board in the final weeks before U.N. diplomats unveil the sanctions strategy in New York.But the trip also marks a fresh U.S. start in Latin America, which saw early hopes for better ties with the Obama administration fade amid disputes over last year’s Honduras coup and the continued U.S. embargo on communist-ruled Cuba.That disappointment was underscored this week when the “Rio Group” including Mexico and Brazil agreed to form a new regional bloc that explicitly leaves out the United States  a thumbed nose at a power many feel is still too cavalier in its dealings with its southern neighbors.”Their early expectations were very large, and probably impossible to meet,” said Peter DeShazo, director of the Americas program at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“There has been a lot more continuity in policy than people expected.”Latin America-watchers say Clinton’s itinerary speaks volumes. The first two stops on the trip, Uruguay and Chile, have both recently held smooth elections and are regarded as models of moderate, market-oriented economies.She winds up with stops in Costa Rica, another stable longtime U.S. ally, and Guatemala, which has seen its strategic importance skyrocket as a major new front in the battle against international drug traffickers.”She is making the right stops,” said Roberto Izurieta, head of the Latin America Department at The George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management.”She is supporting moderate economic policies and democratic principles. It is the right message.”

TOUGH SELL ON IRAN

Despite the Latin America focus, Iran will top the agenda as the United States and other veto-wielding permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, along with Germany, seek to agree on a resolution calling for new sanctions on Tehran.Russia has sounded more positive about possible sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program, which Tehran says is for peaceful purposes but which western powers fear is a cover for building atomic weapons.But China has called for more talks, and Brazil which hosted Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in November is also reluctant, a position Clinton may not be able to change.

Julia Sweig, director of the Latin American program at the Council on Foreign Relations, said Brazil’s own experience with both nuclear energy and democratic transformation made it leery of U.S. saber-rattling over Iran’s current crisis.”They see themselves as having had an experience both in shifting toward a peaceful nuclear program and in shifting to democracy that Iran might have the potential to undergo right now,” Sweig said.

“They are still insisting on not isolating Iran, though I don’t know how long they will be able to play that out.”Brazil has also pushed for a change in U.S. isolation of Cuba Lula payed an “emotional” visit to the island last week and those calls are likely to be repeated during Clinton’s two stops in Central America.While the Obama administration resumed migration talks with Cuba that had been suspended by former President George W. Bush in 2004, it has been cautious on any broader policy change despite repeated prodding by its Latin American neighbors.

Clinton is also likely to be pressed on Honduras, which is struggling to return to stability and legitimacy after a coup last year toppled President Manuel Zelaya.The United States helped to broker new democratic elections in November that brought President Porfirio Lobo to power. But Washington was widely accused of failing to take a strong enough line on Zelaya’s ouster  raising bitter memories of U.S. support for past military coups in the region.”She’s got to make up for lost time, especially over Honduras,” Sweig said. “American credibility has really taken a hit.”(Reuters)

30,000 police officers and soldiers set to be deployed across Honduras

Tegucigalpa, Honduras About 30,000 police officers and soldiers were set to be deployed across Honduras on Sunday for a presidential election that is being viewed in starkly different terms inside the country.Those who support ousted President Manuel Zelaya, who was forced from office in a coup in June, are urging citizens to stay home.They say that participating in the polls is tantamount to legitimizing the de facto government of Roberto Micheletti, who replaced Zelaya.The current government, on the other hand, sees the election as a means to end months of international isolation. The coup, widely condemned worldwide, cut off foreign aid to the Central American nation and dealt a blow to its economy.Micheletti’s administration is hoping the international community will recognize whoever emerges the winner of the race.The United States has already said that it will, adding that elections will reset the clock. But Argentina and Brazil have said they will not.

“I believe that tomorrow a lack of voter participation and rejection of dictatorship will prevail,” Zelaya said Saturday. “It will speak by itself. Do not go with the results given by the dictator Micheletti.”Fearing violence, police and military have stockpiled 10,000 tear gas canisters and other crowd-control equipment.This, in turn, has alarmed many residents, “triggering fears of an increased risk of excessive and disproportionate use of force by security forces around the presidential elections,” said the human rights group Amnesty International.The political crisis started June 28, when a military-backed coup removed Zelaya from power, shuttling him off in his pajamas to nearby Costa Rica. A few hours later, Congress swore in Micheletti, the legislature’s president, as Zelaya’s replacement.

The United Nations, the Organization of American States, the European Union and most nations — including the United States — condemned the coup and demanded that Zelaya be reinstated immediately.Five months later, Zelaya is still not in power, holed up instead in the Brazilian embassy in the Honduran capital. The ousted president sought refuge there after secretly returning to his country September 21.It appeared that a solution had been reached October 29, when Zelaya and Micheletti agreed to a deal brokered by the United States. The pact said Congress would vote on Zelaya’s return to power after consultation with the nation’s Supreme Court and other bodies. The vote was to have been held within a week but is now scheduled for next week, after the elections.

The Supreme Court ruled 14-1 this week that Zelaya cannot return to office without first facing trial on charges that he acted unconstitutionally when he tried to hold a vote that could have led to the lifting of presidential term limits. The Supreme Court had ruled that the vote was illegal and Congress had forbidden it.The coup came on the day the vote was to have been held.Micheletti stepped down temporarily this week to try to distance himself from Sunday’s elections. He said he will resume office Wednesday. The new president is scheduled to be sworn in January 27.In addition to the presidency, voters will cast ballots on Sunday for three vice presidents, 128 members of congress, and mayors and other municipal leaders throughout the nation