Jim Colbert, JINSA's Communications Director, was a direct witness to the historic elections in Honduras that took place Nov. 29. Colbert served alongside international observers that came to Honduras from 31 other countries. Here is his story of those elections and how Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez's attempts to subvert Honduran democracy were thwarted.

The members of the ad hoc Washington Observers Group that included JINSA Communications Director Jim Colbert issued the following statement on the National Elections in Honduras, Sunday November 29, 2009.

While the U.S. Government has expended enormous political, economic and military assets on the Middle East and Asia, benign neglect of South and Central America and the Caribbean could find America losing her neighbors economically to China and India, and politically to nations such as Iran that have aligned with Cuba and Venezuela. A March 2008 JINSA visit to the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) located near Miami and Joint-Interagency Task Force South (JIATF-S) in Key West focused on the issues, challenges, successes and failures of U.S. foreign policy.