Roberto Micheletti

On January 26, the day before taking office as the newly elected president of Honduras, Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo was counting on the restoration of normal relations with the United States.

“Starting tomorrow,” he told reporters inquiring about his country’s rift with the United States, “everything will be normal.”

You can’t blame Lobo for being confident. That day, the top U.S. diplomat for Latin America, Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere affairs, Arturo Valenzuela, had arrived, dispatched by President Obama as head of the delegation attending Lobo’s inauguration.

Finally, President Obama's Latin America team has its leader. Six months after his nomination, Arturo Valenzuela was sworn in on Nov. 10 as the top U.S. diplomat in the region: head of the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the State Department. Now Obama's "new chapter of engagement" between the United States and its southern neighbors can begin in earnest.

Four months after the military ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, de facto leader Roberto Micheletti has finally agreed to restore Zelaya to power. Micheletti's change of heart removes the sticking point in negotiations that have frustrated an international community united in its opposition to the coup.

The moment deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya walked into the Brazilian embassy in Honduras' capital, Tegucigalpa, on Sept. 21, Brazil was thrust into the center of the Honduran crisis.

The South American giant has since requested an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council and called for a U.N. investigation of human rights abuses perpetrated by Roberto Micheletti's de facto government in Honduras. At the opening of the U.N. General Assembly, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva demanded Zelaya's "immediate return to the presidency."