On one level, it adds little of substance to the story of the return of Zelaya.
But remarkably for a news story, it manages to hint at a tantalizing set of possibilities that may turn out to be as important to the playing out of the Zelaya return as today's announcement by the major party presidential candidates that the clock is running out for their support of Micheletti's regime.
They start with one of the most widely discussed questions: how did he do it? how, with everyone in theory watching the border for him, did President Zelaya-- a very recognizable character-- make it all the way to Tegucigalpa without being spotted?
I personally have no problem imagining him crossing the border without hitting the Migración agents' radar. Working in northwest Honduras, I have been told repeatedly by country people that they pass over in the mountains for convenience when they want. I personally know North Americans who accidentally walked across the border in the mountains when out in the countryside. There is no fence along the border, and the description of President Zelaya crossing mountains? that describes almost every inch of the Honduran frontiers with Guatemala, El Salvador, and most of the border with Nicaragua. Only in the extreme northeast is the frontier not mountainous; and crossing there would be pointless, because communication with the rest of the country from the oriente is arduous, in the absence of paved roads, or in some areas, any roads.
But still, the question does resonate. How did he do it?
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And this is where this non-news article becomes interesting. The reporters get the Honduran military on the record about the apparent failure of what surely was supposed to be an impregnable security wall:
The Honduran military denied that his return was a major security breach. “Military intelligence did not fail,” Adolfo Lionel Sevilla, the de facto defense minister, told El Heraldo, a Honduran daily newspaper. He added cryptically, “Everything can’t be publicized because it would create anxiety.”
Stop and think about that for a minute. Everything can't be publicized because it would create anxiety.
My goodness, what is the military hiding? Again, thank the NY Times for answering this question by the time-honored technique of juxtaposition; what immediately follows is not a clarification of this remark by the military or the de facto regime's pretend defense minister (who one suspects bit his tongue right after those words came out). Instead, they connect the dots to long-rumored differences in the sentiment of the military:
One worry is that some members of the Honduran military loyal to Mr. Zelaya may have aided in his return. “There is a certain amount of concern among Hondurans about how Zelaya got into the country,” said Christopher Sabatini, editor of Americas Quarterly, a New York academic journal. “It’s hard to imagine that he could get in without some cooperation from the military. And Micheletti, in particular, has to be worried about whether he really has control over all his forces.”
Romeo Vasquez Velasquez has thrown his support fully behind the de facto regime. This is actually extremely problematic philosophically in Honduras, since the constitution decrees that the military is to stand apart from politics. This is why they theoretically were considered the ideal agents to guarantee free elections. This is reinforced by requirements that military officers not stand for office. This is why the Armed Forces tried, early on, to distance themselves from their own actions through the powerful medium of-- the press release.
As a result, the Armed Forces are now thoroughly tied to the de facto regime, and not to their credit. Abolishing the military has actually been mentioned.
Now Romeo has to look around and think, "who is dealing behind my back?". And Micheletti may find himself sooner or later without the club that his command of the military provides: the one thing, other than continued US financial support, propping up his regime.
