Lula to Mend Honduras Ties as Brazil Seeks More Clout

Andre Soliani and Iuri Dantas
Bloomberg
February 22, 2010

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will seek to mend Latin America’s relations with Honduras after leading the region in rejecting U.S.-backed elections following a coup against then President Manuel Zelaya.

Lula will work with other Latin American nations this week to return Honduras to the Organization of American States, which expelled the country after the overthrow of Zelaya in June, according to a person helping plan Lula’s agenda who can’t be identified because the information is private. Lula will also negotiate loans of more than $1.2 billion for Cuba, El Salvador and Mexico and may announce a $2.5 billion investment in Mexico by Braskem SA and Idesa SA, spokesman Marcelo Baumbach said.

Lula, 64, wants to extend Brazil’s influence from South America to the U.S. border before he steps down Dec. 31. His week-long trip is part of a diplomatic effort to leverage Brazil’s growing political and economic stability to play a bigger role in the world, said Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the New York-based research group Council of the Americas.

“Brazil is committing to an increased level of development assistance and assistance for building trade capacity and infrastructure in the region, and these things carry a lot of weight,” Farnsworth said in a phone interview. “Traditionally Brazil has not played any role of any consequence in Central America, Mexico or the Caribbean...”

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