The coup government of Honduras has hired U.S. public relations firms to craft their image as that of a legitimate government. The government has spent $400,000 so far on corporations that have close ties to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Sen. John McCain. The right-wing coup government of Michelletti already has close ties to the U.S. ruling class, which sees Honduras as a chess piece in their attempts to stop the surge of popular resistance to imperialism in Latin America
The U.S. government has mildly rebuked the coup leaders but has not taken the actions necessary to undermine the coup. Some familiar faces from the horrors of Latin America in the 1970s and 1980s, including Otto Reich, Roger Noriega and Daniel W. Fisk, are assisting the coup leaders. A group of senators are now holding up State Department appointments to try to pressure others to lift sanctions on Honduras.