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CENTRAL AMERICA |
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Shots Fired at Catholic Seminary in Honduras
TEGUCIGALPA – No one was hurt in a drive-by
shooting at Honduras’s largest Catholic
seminary amid the ongoing standoff between
deposed President Mel Zelaya and the de
facto regime headed by Roberto Micheletti,
police said.
Spokesman Orlin Cerrato told Efe the bullets
hit the wall at the main gate of the Our
Lady of Suyapa Seminary, located on the
outskirts of Tegucigalpa.
The attack occurred around 11:00 a.m.
Sunday, he said.
“We only know that the shots were fired from
a moving vehicle,” he said, adding that
authorities had no information on the
identity of the assailants or a motive for
the assault.
Last Friday, the Honduran Catholic hierarchy
called for a “just, peaceful and agreed
solution” to the crisis ignited by the June
28 ouster of Zelaya, warning that “any kind
of violence” would damage the dialogue
initiated last week under the auspices of
the Organization of American States.
The Suyapa seminary hosted a July 3 meeting
between the country’s Catholic primate,
Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez, and OAS
Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza, that
took place in the context of efforts to
secure Zelaya’s reinstatement.
Delegations representing Micheletti and
Zelaya said last Friday at the end of their
first three days of dialogue that they have
managed to reach agreement on a majority of
the issues on the table, including the goal
of creating a national-unity government.
In separate statements, the delegations told
reporters they made progress on 60 percent
of the points in the San Jose Accord, the
plan laid out by Costa Rican President Oscar
Arias to resolve the crisis.
Arias’ proposal calls for Zelaya to 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.
Delegates for the ousted president said they
would not compromise on their key demand:
the reinstatement of Zelaya, who made a
surprise return to the country on Sept. 21
and is currently holed up at the Brazilian
Embassy with dozens of supporters.
While Zelaya has accepted the terms of the
San Jose Accord, Micheletti remains opposed
to the reinstatement of the elected
president, whose term ends in January.
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.
Though 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 the Nov. 29
presidential elections, 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.
Yet, even as talks are set to continue, the
Micheletti regime announced new media
regulations that will effectively allow it
to keep anti-coup news outlets off the air.
EFE
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