Zelaya And
Micheletti To Meet Face-To-Face in Costa
Rica
Ousted president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya,
and the de-facto president, Roberto
Micheletti, will for the first time since
June 28, meet face-to-face in Costa Rica in
a US sponsored mediation attempt.
Zelaya said he would be arriving in San Jose
tonight (Wednesday), while Micheletti
confirmed that he will arriving Thursday
morning, where both presidents and their
entourage will meet at the private home of
Costa Rican president, Oscar Arias.
Arias, said he was called upon by US
Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton, to
mediate the crisis and that his home, a
neutral place, is the best place for the
meeting.
The Costa Rican president added that he
doesn't expect that an agreement will be
reached on Thursday, too many differences
exist and the mediation is a process, that
only through dialogue can a consensus be
reached.
Arias, at 68 years of age, is considered by
experts as a clever and "old fox" in
mediation. His baptism was the main conflict
that bled two decades ago to Central America
that led him to be awarded the Nobel Peace
Prize.
Zelaya, in advance of his arrival in San
Jose, said that he would be in agreement to
early elections, but only and when his
government - the government elected by the
people - does so.
Micheletti has not given any advance notice
of his intentions. He is expected to
maintain the hard line attitude of this past
week, asking for Zelaya to hand himself over
to authorities to face charges for criminal
acts committed while in office and that he
would be calling elections for November,
ahead of the 2010 normal presidential
elections.
Expert or not, the mediation of the crisis
will be no easy task for Arias.
As one Spanish language newspaper put it
this morning:
"NOS CAYÓ EL CHICHARRÓN HONDUREÑO".
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