Honduras Tries for a PR Coup

The negotiating team representing Honduras' coup government "rarely made a move without consulting ... an American public relations specialist who has done work for former President Bill Clinton," reports the New York Times. Roberto Micheletti heads the "de facto" government of Honduras, which took power after the military coup against elected president Manuel Zelaya. Micheletti "has embarked on a public relations offensive, with his supporters hiring high-profile lawyers with strong Washington connections" to lobby for recognition and against sanctions. Bennett Ratcliff of the California firm VA/R Partners is the PR advisor who guided Micheletti during negotiations. A "powerful Latin American business council" that supported the coup "hired Lanny J. Davis, who has served as President Clinton's personal lawyer and who campaigned for Mrs. Clinton for president." President Obama "said he wants Zelaya restored to office," but the U.S. has kept its ambassador in Honduras, while all European Union ambassadors have been recalled, reports Bloomberg. While at the Patton Boggs law firm in 1999, Lanny Davis "worked for a Kazakh front group that was acting on behalf of President Nazarbayev ... trying to convince the world that Nazarbayev was a democratic reformer," Ken Silverstein said on Democracy Now! "Davis is working on behalf of some Honduran business groups," including an "apparel trade group" that counts U.S.-based companies Fruit of the Loom and Hanes among its members.