Honduras: All aboard with party unity (*except Mel)

Honduras's ruling Liberals (Partido Liberal) held their convention this weekend, sans President Mel Zelaya, who was at the ALBA summit and the Summit of the Americas. Zelaya accused Liberal presidential candidate Elvin Santos of planning the convention so he wouldn't be there, to which Santos, according to La Prensa, "lamented that the president could not be present, but noted that it had not crossed anyone's mind but his own that the convention was planned for those dates for that purpose of avoiding his presence." Santos proposed that the president record his message on DVD instead. Meanwhile it was also reported that one of the reasons the convention was shortened--other than the impact on Elvin's pocketbook--was to avoid the president's appearance to discuss his unpopular proposal for a constituent assembly.

However, the rest of the Liberals seem to have united successfully, at least according to El Heraldo. Despite some boos, Santos saw to it that Roberto Micheletti, the speaker of the legislature and his opponent in the Liberal primaries, was elected head of the party's Central Executive Committee; Elvin knows that he'll need everyone on board in order to defeat National Party candidate Pepe Lobo in November.