Honduras' new administration began its term Thursday saying the nation
is bankrupt and will likely need international financial assistance to
recover from months of diplomatic isolation over its June coup. The
first day of the new government also was marked by early morning
police raids that resulted in 41 people being detained and several
weapons seized in the capital. Newly inaugurated President Porfirio
Lobo swore in his Cabinet, including Finance Minister William Chong,
who said the administration of interim president Roberto Micheletti
left office with only about $50 million in government coffers. Chong
said the already impoverished country was bankrupt following months of
isolation and cutoffs of international aid prompted by the coup that
ousted President Manuel Zelaya in a political fight over changing the
constitution. Zelaya gave up his refuge in the Brazilian Embassy and
left Honduras on Wednesday, the final day of the term he was elected
to. Chong said the Lobo administration will have to approach
international lending agencies like the World Bank and International
Monetary Fund for loans. In Tegucigalpa, the capital, police carried
out 23 searches that led to the detentions and the capture of weapons
that included a grenade launcher. Police Commissioner Leonel Sauceda
did not specify what other kinds of weapons were seized or what
charges those detained might face. It was not clear if those detained
were Zelaya's supporters. Lobo, who won the November presidential
election that had been scheduled before Zelaya was toppled, spent the
early part of the day talking with foreign diplomats who attended his
inauguration Wednesday. Arturo Valenzuela, the assistant U.S.
secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere, said it was important
for Honduras to create a truth commission to investigate the events
that led to the coup. Speaking in a teleconference from Washington,
Valenzuela said Lobo "has put together a broad Cabinet, including even
candidates who ran against him. What is pending is the last step,
which is the truth commission." Some measure of normality returned, at
least in the several blocks around the Brazilian Embassy, where Zelaya
holed up after sneaking back into the country in September. Once
cordoned off by soldiers, the upscale area was opened to traffic again
Thursday, following Zelaya's departure to the Dominican Republic.
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