South America's Gentle Giant: Brazil Flexes Muscles over Honduras Crisis

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Brazil's less affluent citizens, in particular, see Lula, a former street vendor and metalworker, as one of their own, and as someone who gives them a voice and influence in the political sphere. He has been in office for almost seven years, and he still enjoys approval ratings of more than 70 percent. "Without the successes of his social policy, Lula would not be as respected internationally," says Garcia.

As a former union leader, Lula is also a talented negotiator. He was even on good terms with former US President George W. Bush, a man widely despised in Latin America. In Haiti, where Brazilians make up the largest contingent of the United Nations peacekeeping force, Brasilia has shown that it can act as a peacemaker. With his policies, Lula forces seemingly irreconcilable actors to come together. "That's my man right there," President Obama said enthusiastically before assembled world leaders at the G-20 summit in London -- and pointed at the Brazilian president.

Washington needs Lula to counterbalance leftist Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez and his counterparts in Cuba, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua. Nevertheless, the Brazilian is unwilling to let himself be used as an anti-Chavez figure. "Chavez and Lula are good friends," says Garcia. "We value the social change that Chavez has brought about in Venezuela." He refuses to accept criticism of the authoritarian leader, saying that the man is being "demonized" and insisting that democracy in Venezuela is "not in danger." Lula, for his part, is urging the United States to seek dialogue with Chavez.

Cracks Forming

The dispute over Chavez is not the only reason that initial cracks are beginning to form in the relationship between the superpower in the north and its up-and-coming rival in the south. Government officials in Washington have criticized both Zelaya's return to Honduras and -- in a clear dig at the Brazilians -- "those who have facilitated his return."

In the United States, many are critical of the fact that "President Lula pays little attention to Iran's nuclear ambitions or the inconsistencies during the Iranian presidential election," says US Latin America specialist Julia Sweig of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Lula's critics apparently believe that, in Honduras, the Brazilian president has fallen into a trap set by his friend Chavez. Former Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castañeda claims that Chavez arranged for Zelaya's return. According to Castañeda, Chavez had initially intended to have Zelaya smuggled from El Salvador to the UN mission in Tegucigalpa, but the plan didn't work. Apparently Chavez then proposed that Zelaya seek refuge at the Brazilian embassy instead. Now that he has taken sides, says Castañeda, Lula can no longer serve as a mediator.

Exerting Pressure

In truth, Lula has been trying to rein in the hotheaded Zelaya since the Honduran coup. Celso Amorim, Brazil's foreign minister, has now revealed that Zelaya asked Lula for an aircraft two months ago so that he could return to Tegucigalpa.

Lula had hoped that the United States would exert more pressure on the coup regime. But there was strong disagreement within the Obama administration over the correct strategy, and as a result Washington has offered only lukewarm support for the deposed president. The putschists, for their part, are playing for time, hoping that Zelaya will have been forgotten by the elections in November.

Zelaya's spectacular return will likely accelerate a political solution. Last week, the government imposed a state of emergency, closed anti-government broadcasters and revealed itself to the rest of the world as a dictatorship. Four days later, it announced that it was relaxing the new measures. If the regime remains uncooperative, Brazil intends to bring the matter of the Honduran crisis before the UN Security Council.

But Lula's risky game appears to be working. Support among the Honduran elite for Micheletti, the coup president, has crumbled in recent days. A group of wealthy businessmen unveiled a plan to reinstate Zelaya. Micheletti, for his part, agreed to receive a delegation from the Organization of American States, to which he had previously denied entry. The OAS delegation left Honduras on Thursday without many visible signs of progress being made. However the delegates said they had succeeded in starting a dialogue between the two sides.

In another gesture of rapprochement, Micheletti also withdrew his ultimatum to the Brazilians to turn over Zelaya. In a television address, the beleaguered interim president announced that he was sending Lula a "warm embrace."

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