Castro blames Bush appointees for Honduran coup

HAVANA — Fidel Castro blames the coup in Honduras on the U.S. Embassy in that Central American country and other American diplomats in the region appointed during the administration of George W. Bush.

“Unscrupulous characters of the extreme right who were trustworthy officials of George W. Bush” toppled the democratically elected government of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, Castro claimed late Thursday.

In a column posted on a government Web site, the 82-year-old former Cuban president stopped short of blaming Barack Obama for Zelaya’s ouster. He suggested the U.S. State Department conspired with the leaders who took power after the coup to broker a false diplomatic solution while Obama was distracted by travels in Russia.

“The idea that the ambassador of the United States in Tegucigalpa, Hugo Llorens, knew nothing about or discouraged the coup is absolutely false,” Castro wrote, referring to America’s top diplomat in the Honduran capital. “He knew about it, as did American military advisers who have not ceased training Honduran troops even for one second.”

The day before the coup, Zelaya publicly praised American officials in Honduras for working to preserve his presidency, and Obama has joined the United Nations, the Organization of American States and other governments in condemning the coup.

The U.S. Embassy in Honduras severed all contact with the new government and suspended more than $18 million in military assistance and development aid programs, though Washington has not joined other nations in recalling their ambassadors to Honduras.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has met with Zelaya personally and promoted the idea of brokering a peace agreement through mediations with Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, a Nobel peace laureate.

But Castro contends that “the Costa Rica peace plan was suggested by the office of the State Department to contribute to the consolidation of the military coup.”

He said the interim government has grown more entrenched and international support for Zelaya has waned.

“The coup plotters were in a hurry. The Costa Rican initiative had the objective of saving them,” he wrote. “It’s obvious that Yankee handiwork does not increase the possibilities for peace but does exactly the opposite.”