Honduras' Zelaya
Denies Thinking About
Re-Election, Confident In Returning Office
Mexico City - Ousted
Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said
Tuesday he had never thought of running for
re-election and that he was confident he
could return to office within two weeks.
"That (re-election claim) is a campaign by
my opponents. There is not one single
declaration of mine that supports it," he
said at a press conference held at the
Mexican Foreign Ministry.
Zelaya was roused from his bed and sent into
exile in a military coup on June 28, just
hours before a planned controversial vote
asking Hondurans to sanction a future
referendum on a constitutional change, which
the army said might allow him to run again
in November elections.
The Honduran army has said it was forced to
remove Zelaya from office to defend the
country, because he was seeking a backdoor
route to re-election that would violate the
constitution.
Zelaya said the result of the vote would
call a binding referendum on rewriting the
country's constitution along with the
general election. Yet as a new president
would be chosen in November, he would no
longer have a chance to be re-elected.
The ousted president added he hoped the coup
would not last another month.
"I think international solidarity can
survive long enough to make the reforms my
nation needs, but I hope I don't have to
wait more than a couple of weeks," he said.
However, Zelaya voiced his intention to wait
as long as necessary.
"I have all the time in the world. My goal
is not just to return to the post but to
reinstate the will of Honduras' people. I
have been in power for three and a half
years, and I have done a lot," he said.
While meeting with Mexican President Felipe
Calderon earlier on Tuesday, Zelaya said the
role he and his supporters play will be a
peaceful one.
"I don't believe in Talion's law of an eye
for an eye. I take a pacifist position," he
said.
Zelaya said that his camp in Ocotal, a town
on the Nicaraguan border with Honduras, was
a symbol of peaceful resistance, adding that
his followers did not respond to violence
from Honduras' post-coup government with
violence, but with peaceful means.
He also said his move was based on article
three of Honduras' Constitution, which
stipulates that "no one should obey a
government that takes office by force of
arms."
"Insurgency is a right enshrined in the
Constitution and I am calling for a peaceful
insurgency," he stressed.
Calderon pledged continued support to the
government in exile.
"We receive Zelaya with open arms as we have
always done and as we will always do with
our brother Honduras," he said. "From the
day of the despicable coup, we have shown
solidarity with Honduras and supported the
reinstatement of Zelaya as the country's
president."
Honduras' post-coup government, led by
former parliamentary leader Roberto
Micheletti, has refused to allow Zelaya to
return to the presidency, one of the key
points in a seven-point peace deal proposed
by mediator Costa Rican President Oscar
Arias last month.
Micheletti has called Zelaya a criminal and
says he can only return to the nation to
face trial.
On Tuesday, Zelaya also warned that, while
the obvious fear was of a return to the
1970s and 1980s, when many Latin American
nations were led by military juntas, there
were new dangers that could take advantage
of the precedent of a successful coup.
"If the ruling class believes that the best
way to avoid dialogue is to use arms, that
sets a dangerous precedent for our society.
Clandestine movements can now also be
financed by drug traffickers," he said.
Zelaya has also called on the United States,
the major importer of Honduran products, to
take more action to bring down the post-coup
regime.
"The United States has not done enough, but
it has been taking action,' he said. "It is
not the only nation that should be taking
action, but 70 percent of Honduras' trade is
with the United States."
Zelaya arrived in Mexico City late Monday.
Zelaya said his next stop after Mexico would
be Brazil, at the invitation of Brazilian
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
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