Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ended a five-day tour of Latin America Friday with a lightning trip to Guatemala, where she promised Central American presidents more help to fight drug trafficking and repeated her call for more countries to recognize the new government of Honduras. The new Honduran president, Porfirio Lobo, attended the meeting in Guatemala City, an appearance that signaled a step toward normalizing relations with neighbors El Salvador and Guatemala.
Many countries in the hemisphere have refrained from recognizing Mr. Lobos government because it came to power with an election held under a government installed by a coup last June. Washington has argued that Mr. Lobo was chosen in fair elections that had been scheduled before the coup.
On Thursday in San Jose, Costa Rica, Ms. Clinton announced that the United States was restoring more than $30 million in aid to Honduras it had suspended after the coup.
We support the work that President Lobo is doing to promote national unity and strengthen democracy, Ms. Clinton said at a news conference in Guatemala on Friday after talks with the Guatemalan president Álvaro Colom, The Associated Press reported.
Cota Rica and Panama, who also attended the meeting on Friday, have already recognized the new Honduran government. The leftist Nicaraguan government of Daniel Ortega, who did not attend the meeting, is unlikely to do so.
Earlier on this trip, she had received a cautious response to the idea from Brazil, one of the holdouts. Appearing with Ms. Clinton on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Celso Amorim described some of Mr. Lobos actions since taking office as positive, but would not commit to restoring full relations with Honduras. A military coup is the kind of thing that cannot be easily absorbed, he said.
In her discussions on drug trafficking, Ms. Clinton promised that the United States would work more closely with Central America, where drug cartels have increased their presence in response to the crackdown in Mexico.
Although Ms. Clinton said the United States would help improve maritime security and support efforts to strengthen the police and judiciary in Central America, she did not make any specific promise on the amount of aid Washington might offer.
Since 2008, Congress has approved $1.3 billion in antidrug aid for Mexico and $248 million for Central America under the Merida Initiative.