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CENTRAL AMERICA |
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Prospects
Darken for a Settlement in Honduras
TEGUCIGALPA – A draft accord to resolve the
crisis sparked by the June 28 ouster of
Honduran President Mel Zelaya seemed to fall
apart when the de facto regime headed by
Roberto Micheletti denied that negotiators
had agreed on the crucial point:
reinstatement of the deposed head of state.
“We have managed to achieve a consensus on a
unified text that will be submitted to the
discussion and analysis of President Manuel
Zelaya Rosales and Mr. Roberto Micheletti,”
a member of the ousted leader’s Cabinet,
Victor Meza, told reporters Wednesday
outside the Tegucigalpa hotel hosting the
talks.
The same message was conveyed separately by
Micheletti delegate Vilma Morales, a former
Supreme Court chief justice.
Both Meza and Morales said the contents of
the draft would remain secret until Zelaya
and Micheletti rendered their opinions.
By Wednesday evening, the Micheletti camp
had thrown a bucket of cold water on hopes
for the restoration of Zelaya, whose term
ends in January.
“The dialogue on this point has been cordial
and the two parties have achieved important
progress. However, up until now there is no
final accord regarding this point,” the de
facto regime said in a statement.
Zelaya’s foreign minister, Beatriz Valle,
appeared to agree, telling reporters: “We
are positive, we are optimistic. There’s no
accord, but there are proposals; the
proposals are on the table, different texts
are being drafted.”
But Zelaya adviser and spokesman Rasel Tome
insisted to Efe that negotiators had
established common ground on the basis of
the San Jose Accord, a proposal put together
by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias.
What remains to be achieved is “political
validation,” Tome said.
He said Zelaya believes the next step
belongs to Congress, which must pass a
resolution undoing the June 28 decree –
approved by a plurality of lawmakers – that
ratified the coup and installed Micheletti
as “interim” president.
Micheletti, meanwhile, says only the Supreme
Court can authorize Zelaya’s return to
office.
The Micheletti camp contends Zelaya’s ouster
was not a coup, insisting that the soldiers
who dragged him from the presidential palace
and put him on a plane to Costa Rica 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.
Zelaya, who slipped back into the country on
Sept. 21 and remains holed up at the
Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa, has
pledged to abandon his push for
constitutional reform, an initiative
bitterly opposed by the military, the
political establishment and the 25 families
that dominate the country’s economy.
Time is running out to settle the conflict
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. EFE
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