The rumors are true!

Anthony dropped this in the comments on my FLFB entry yesterday. Talk about unexpected! Pepe Lobo WAS in Colombia yesterday…and coincidentally (or not so), he was there when Chavecito was, too. So the three of them–Lobo, the ‘Cito, and Juan Manuel Santos–sat down together, and here’s what transpired:

Santos welcomes Lobo outdoors; scene shifts to indoors, where Chavecito greets Lobo in his customary friendly manner, and introduces him to Venezuelan foreign minister Nicolás Maduro. Some small talk, in which Chavecito makes note of Lobo’s mestizo background. (Chavecito is part Afro-indigenous himself, so this is a point of pride and common ground for him.) Nice, friendly atmosphere, just what’s needed for constructive talks.

And yes, constructive talks they were:

The president of Honduras, Porfirio Lobo, said on Saturday in Cartagena that his government is looking to return the country to regional organisms such as the Organization of American States (OAS).

In a short press conference, the president said that he had broached the subject in a brief meeting that day with his counterparts of Colombia and Venezuela, Juan Manuel Santos and Hugo Chávez.

According to reports, the three leaders also talked of returning the Honduran ex-president, Manuel Zelaya, to his native land.

Zelaya was deposed by a coup d’état in June 2009. These events led to the suspension of Honduras from the OAS.

Finally, Lobo thanked the host authorities for having met with him. His visit was announced unexpectedly by Santos just before the third round of conversations with Chávez in the Caribbean seaside town of Cartagena.

Translation mine.

So it maybe Mel Zelaya could be back in Tegucigalpa before too long, and with his strongest ally, Chavecito, being backed up by Juan Manuel Santos, it looks very good.

I have to say that I’m liking Santos better and better all the time, in spite of myself; he’s making a nice break from the little shit whom he had the bad luck to succeed. Still wondering when he’ll finally open up about all those “false positives”, though–perhaps El Narco put him up to it? Alvaro Uribe is certainly psychopathic enough that I wouldn’t put it past him. And his hate-on for the FARC runs deep, as do his ties with the paramilitaries and their allied drug lords. Colombia IS still a narco-state, though, and Santos has a long way to go there.

Meanwhile, on the Honduran front, there’s also this:

Xiomara Zelaya, daughter of the deposed ex-president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, revealed on Saturday in her Twitter account (@pichuzelaya) that the president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, had been communicating with the former Central American leader.

According to her tweets, the Venezuelan president informed Zelaya that Venezuela and Colombia would be mediators in the Honduran situation:

“Chávez was on phone w Zelaya, he said Santos and Lobo agreed Vzla and Col would be mediators in situation H.”

[…]

The OAS suspended Honduras for not restoring President Zelaya to power after the coup of June 28, 2009.

In South America, Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela refused to recognize the government of Lobo, who came to power in January 2010.

Again, translation mine.

I follow “La Pichu” Zelaya on Twitter, and she impresses me as a bright, bubbly young woman who doesn’t let her family’s exile, or the situation in Honduras, appalling as it is, get her down. Here’s the tweet in question:

So, looks like Mel has some very powerful allies on his side indeed. And even his dubious successor has to admit that yes, Chavecito is Da Man. Just as Juan Manuel Santos is doing now.