The U.S. government has denounced the recent legitimate presidential election in Nicaragua, while supporing flawed elections in Haiti and Honduras over the last two years. While this U.S. policy may appear baffling, it begins to make sense when you consider the long-standing U.S. political agenda in the region.

Over the past few weeks U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and latter-day media "experts" have hailed Manuel Zelaya's return to Honduras and the pending reintegration of the country into the OAS as a restoration of democracy. Here in Honduras, it is clear that such claims could not be further from the truth. Honduras today is no closer to reconciliation than it was in the months following the June 28, 2009 military coup.

On November 28 Haitians went to the polls to vote for a new president. However, while the Organization of American States and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) validated the elections, other observers have documented that the voting process was rift with irregularities. The following photos question the election's legitimacy, especially with so much at stake in a country in desperate need of reconstruction after the January 12 earthquake.