Zelaya's Well-Funded Tour of Washington: the Express Lane Back to Power

In a large suite in Washington's Mayflower Hotel, Manuel Zelaya is surrounded by his brain trust. Several top advisers and diplomats drink coffee and talk strategy with the titular Honduran president, who was overthrown in a coup in late June and was removed from the country. But Zelaya isn't dwelling on the past. What matters to him now is getting his old job back, or at least winning back enough standing to return to his country. After he was denied reentry in early July, he made the rounds of Latin America to be seen with presidents and high-level ministers. It was helpful, but not enough. This week, he took his case to Washington. As others before him have learned, it is here that friendly chats with policymakers and earnest pleas for the rule of law can actually produce results: only yesterday, three days after Zelaya landed and immediately following a meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the State Department announced that it would cut off $30 million in annual aid to Honduras unless Zelaya is restored. It’s easy to see how a fallen leader might hope that Washington could return him to power.

But the dance is a complicated one. The deposed can often seem desperate, even pathetic. So the trick in Washington is somehow to maintain an air of dignity even as you plead, beg, and cajole. Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, ever dignified with her Harvard degree and graceful shawl, did this with some success when she visited Washington in the early 2000s to garner support after being banished from her homeland. (She was able to return and build momentum to again run for prime minister after being granted amnesty in 2007, only to be assassinated two months later.)  Haitian president Jean-Bertrand Aristide came to Washington early and often after being deposed from power initially in 1991, and got more than he might have ever expected—returning to power behind a U.S. Marine invasion in 1994.  
 
"The goal is to appear back home like you're meeting with people with power," says Don Goldberg, who manages crisis communications for strategy firm Qorvis, which is paid by foreign governments including Mexico, Cyprus, and Equatorial Guinea to help navigate Washington. Foreign exiles can’t do this on their own, of course. They need help—sometimes expensive help. Usually, powerful lobby and PR firms plot a leader's meeting schedule and press access during his or her Washington trip. One foreign government strategist, who declined to be identified discussing his rates, told NEWSWEEK that he charges $50,000 a month to set up visits similar to Zelaya's. That kind of money comes with special advice on how to recruit meetings with VIPs, tout their progress, and plant positive stories in the press.
 
A foreign leader's clout—whether he or she is a head of state, an opposition member, a rebel leader, or a deposed president—can be easily gauged by who will agree to meet with him or her. "There's a hierarchy of types of meetings," says a senior consultant for a firm that advises foreign heads of state, who asked not to be identified discussing strategy. Sessions at the White House or joint sessions of Congress, the consultant says, are the top prizes. Further down the line are meetings with congressional staff or think-tank heads. Cautious not to be seen meeting openly with unpopular foreign figures, most congressional leaders and White House officials deny time in their schedules for such an audience.

Every meeting has political meaning. When Bhutto made her rounds to convince policymakers of the dangers of the sitting Pakistani government, she was granted an audience with congressional leaders—a sign of displeasure to politicians in Islamabad at the time. Zelaya did even better. His most noteworthy face time was with Clinton, who agreed to meet with him midday Thursday. A few hours later, Richard Lugar, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, offered a window to talk with the deposed president. Upon hearing of the opportunity, Zelaya cleared his afternoon schedule.

In these situation, all parties are willing to take what they can get—a private audience with a politician, a press interview, a soundbite—but always want to get more. "In every meeting, there has to be an ask," says Goldberg. "You shoot for a press conference, but if some member of Congress is willing to write a letter in support to the president, that's good too." By that standard, Zelaya achieved what he came for. The announcement that the State Department would end aid to Honduras is something like a coup of Zelaya's own. After the meeting with Clinton, the president and his team returned to the Mayflower for more strategy talk. He'll need it. Next week, says an embassy official, he's scheduled to go to Spain.