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Argentine
President Calls For
Restraint By All Sides of Honduras
Buenos Aires - Argentine
President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner on
Sunday called on all sides in Honduras to
keep restraint to avoid the escalation of
domestic chaos after the June 28 coup, local
media reported.
She made the call in Washington before
heading for El Salvador, also reiterating
her support for Honduran ousted leader
Manuel Zelaya.
She said she hoped that the Honduran
political crisis could be resolved
peacefully and citizens' rights be fully
protected.
The Argentine president had planned to
accompany Zelaya to return home on Sunday
together with Ecuadoran President Rafael
Correa Delgado and Paraguayan President
Fernando Lugo.
But as the Honduran post-coup government
refused to let Zelaya's plane land in
Tegucigalpa, the Organization of American
States (OAS) decided that Zelaya would be
accompanied by the current President of the
UN General Assembly Miguel d'Escoto
Brockmannnn while the three presidents would
go to El Salvador.
Zelaya's plane failed to land at the airport
in the Honduran capital Sunday because the
runway was blocked by military vehicles and
groups of soldiers.
Zelaya had to land in Nicaragua and is
expected to fly to El Salvador. He vowed to
try again Monday or Tuesday to return home
for a reinstatement.
The Argentine president's office said Zelaya
will hold talks with OAS Secretary-General
Jose Miguel Insulza, Cristina, Correa and
Lugo in El Salvador on how to handle the
situation.
Zelaya was removed from office in a military
coup on June 28, just hours after some 200
soldiers surrounded his official residence
and forced him to board a plane to Costa
Rica after a referendum scheduled for the
same day on changing the country's
constitution put Zelaya at odds with the
military, the courts and the legislature.
In the vote, Hondurans were asked whether
they would back an official referendum in
November, to be held alongside the scheduled
presidential election, on changing the
constitution to allow a president to seek
re-election.
The opposition accused Zelaya, whose current
term expires next January, of seeking
reelection through the referendum, while the
Supreme Court and the attorney general said
that the vote was illegal.
The Congress announced after the coup that
Roberto Micheletti would replace Zelaya as
the country's acting president.
Both the United Nations and the OAS have
condemned the coup and called for an
immediate reinstatement of Zelaya.
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