A number of angry responses have come my way, based on a reprinted translation in El Libertador of my earlier article WOLA vs. Honduran Democracy, in which substantive changes were made to my original claims. I'm writing to publicly clarify here that I have never accused WOLA or María Otero of working for the CIA; I have only made arguments that I can back up with concrete evidence. To wit: the only claim I make about Otero in the article is that she is "Secretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs María Otero, who herself was instrumental in creating the case for recognizing the illegal elections"—the latter unremarkable claim based on statements I witnessed her make supporting the elections in a State Department Public Forum last December 11th (and which you can look up on the State Department's website). Despite this, El Libertador titles the translation of my article (reprinted and altered without permission): Maria Otero, la sub secretario del Departamento de Estado y el esposo han trabajado para la CIA y a favor del golpe en Honduras—"María Otero, Sub Secretary of the State Department and her husband have worked for the CIA and in favor of the coup in Honduras." I never made the claim that either of them worked for the CIA, nor would I. I did not authorize these words and they did not come from me; nonetheless I would like to offer my personal apology for their having been printed to Joe Eldridge and María Otero, both of whom I deeply respect despite our profound differences with regard to Honduras policy.

I furthermore sincerely hope that Otero will take the opportunity of her current visit to Honduras to do the right thing and apologize for the State Department's role in legitimating last year's military coup d'etat, and begin to implement Obama's broken (but mendable) promise of a new era of multilateral relations between the U.S. and Latin America.