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CENTRAL AMERICA |
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OAS Urges Both Sides in Honduras to Reach
Accord
TEGUCIGALPA – Talks between representatives
of ousted Honduran President Mel Zelaya and
the de facto regime led by Roberto
Micheletti began on Wednesday under a
warning from the Organization of American
States that time is running out for a
solution to the crisis sparked by the June
28 military coup.
The consequences of failure would be
“profoundly negative” for the Central
American nation, OAS Secretary-General Jose
Miguel Insulza said in his speech opening
the dialogue.
Honduras, he said, must “return to the
democratic institutionalism that reigned”
prior to the putsch and thus, free itself of
the sanctions reluctantly imposed on
Tegucigalpa by the OAS and the international
community.
Insulza is heading a delegation of diplomats
and officials from the OAS, Spain and the
United Nations who are hoping to accomplish
what two previous mediation efforts by Costa
Rican President Oscar Arias could not:
persuade the Micheletti regime to accept
Zelaya’s reinstatement.
Yet the OAS mission is attempting to build
on Arias’ plan to resolve the crisis, the
San Jose Accord, which Insulza described as
the essential basis for the current talks.
He listed what he regarded as the five key
aspects of the accord: Zelaya’s return to
office; a “guarantee” that he won’t press
for an assembly to rewrite the Honduran
constitution; formation of a national unity
government; a political amnesty for Zelaya
and the coup leaders, and mechanisms for
international supervision to ensure the pact
is honored.
Zelaya accepted those terms weeks ago, but
Micheletti has been adamant in rejecting the
reinstatement of the elected president,
whose term ends in January.
Pressure for a negotiated solution has
increased sharply since Zelaya slipped back
into Honduras two weeks ago and took up
residence in the Brazilian mission, which is
surrounded by troops and police and has been
sporadically bombarded with acoustic weapons
and gas.
Micheletti contends Zelaya’s ouster was not
a coup, insisting that the soldiers who
dragged him from the presidential palace
were simply enforcing a Supreme Court ban on
the president’s planned non-binding
plebiscite on the idea of revising the
constitution.
While the coup leaders accuse Zelaya of
seeking to extend his stay in office, any
potential constitutional change to allow
presidential re-election would not have
taken place until well after the incumbent
stepped down.
Time is running out before presidential
elections scheduled for Nov. 29, as both the
European Union and Washington have said they
will not recognize the winner of that
balloting unless Zelaya is restored to
office beforehand. EFE
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