Deposed Honduran leader Manuel Zelaya made a dramatic return September 21, taking refuge in the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa. Hemispheric leaders pressed for a solution to a three-month-old political impasse, but tensions run high in the Central American country.

"Washington may have blocked the most likely road to reconciliation in that Central American nation," writes COA's Eric Farnsworth in The Christian Science Monitor. The State Department said it would not support November elections if carried out by Honduras' de facto government.

While some journalists reporting in Latin America face threats to personal security, others deal with official intimidation in what some warn could roll back hard-won press freedoms. But governments and journalists have also taken steps to ensure greater access to information.

The State Department took new measures, including a cut of over $30 million in aid, to pressure the de facto government in Honduras toward resolving the political impasse stemming from the coup. The Central American country faces increasing economic isolation since the June overthrow of President Manuel Zelaya.

In an AQ web exclusive, Daniel Altschuler takes a look at the Honduran de facto government's failed attempts to gain international recognition and change world opinion that President Manuel Zelaya must be restored to power.

"If the United States is going to be a partner with Latin America—a healthy and laudable goal—the aspiring powers of the hemisphere need to shake off their timidity and worn-out rhetoric," write AS/COA's Senior Director of Policy Christopher Sabatini and Kissinger Associates' Stephanie Junger-Moat.

More than six weeks after the overthrow of President Manuel Zelaya the crisis remains unresolved. Leaders from across the Americas continue pressuring the interim government to restore the deposed leader while he travels the hemisphere to make his case. Meanwhile, U.S. officials differ on Washington's stance.