The Honduras coup’s behavior virtually assures that come Monday, the US government will define it as a “military coup,” triggering a cut off of US aid, joining the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank, PetroCaribe, the UN and the rest of the world in withdrawing economic support for the coup regime. (The US had already put all funds on "pause" this week, so the boycott has already begun and merely awaits formal moves to become permanent.)
This is very significant because of Honduras’ annual $3.5 billion budget, $2.3 billion – 65 percent - comes from those foreign sources.
What's a couple of billion dollars when you're trying to defend the country's democracy from the depravations of its citizens?
Giordano speculates that the coup might try to fill the budget shortfall with money from a Cuban ex-pat network better known for arms dealing, drug pushing and occasional acts of terrorism.
In other words, there's a decent chance Honduras is on its way to becoming something closer to Somalia than Iran.
Welcome to Obama's first real foreign policy crisis.
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