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COSTA RICA |
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Arias:
Honduras Vote Must Be Backed If
Fair
Costa Rican president, Oscar Arias, while
visiting Israel, promised to restore
ties with Honduras after it elects a new
president on Sunday, joining other nations
in rejecting ousted President Manuel
Zelaya's insistence that recognizing the
vote would legitimize a June coup.
The front-runner in the elections, Porfirio
Lobo.
Arias said on Friday that he expected other
Latin American countries gradually to follow
suit. "Some who are saying today they won't
recognize the vote have told me they will
recognize the elections," he said.
Lobo promised that if he wins, he will
include Zelaya in national reconciliation
talks; he also suggested the ousted leader
would be able to leave his refuge inside the
Brazilian Embassy without fear of arrest.
Zelaya has been holed up there since
sneaking back into the country in September.
"They have to get him out. If not, how?"
said Lobo, who declined to answer whether he
would grant Zelaya a pardon on abuse of
power and other charges.
Arias' decision to acknowledge the next
administration is a new setback for Zelaya,
who is urging the international community
not to recognize the vote.
Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, was a
chief mediator in largely unsuccessful
negotiations to restore Zelaya to power. He
now says the world should not punish the
next Honduran government for the coup.
"Why should we punish them with a second
Hurricane Mitch by not recognizing the next
government, isolating it, denying it
cooperation?" Aria said. The 1998 hurricane
killed thousands in Honduras.
Arias' decision to acknowledge the next
administration is a new setback for Zelaya,
who is urging the international community
not to recognize the vote.
"If the elections are transparent, there are
no accusations of fraud, the observers find
there was nothing incorrect, I am going to
ask Ibero-American countries to recognize
the future Honduran government," Arias said
in statement released during a visit to
Israel.
Western Hemisphere countries, once united in
condemning the June 28 coup, are divided on
recognizing the results of the elections,
which were scheduled long before Zelaya's
ouster.
Left-led countries, including Brazil and
Argentina, argue recognizing the vote is
tantamount to whitewashing the coup.
But the United States, the chief source of
foreign investment and development aid in
Honduras, had indicated it will support the
election if they are fair and clean. Panama
and Peru have taken the same stance.
Washington, which has cut off development
aid and anti-drug trafficking cooperation
with Honduras, has warned that the Central
American country must still implement a
U.S.-brokered accord, which calls for the
formation of a unity government and for
Congress to decide on whether to reinstate
Zelaya until the next president takes office
Jan. 27.
Zelaya declared the accord a failure when
interim President Roberto Micheletti tried
to install a unity government last month
before Congress has voted on the ousted
leader's fate. Zelaya accused Micheletti of
maneuvering to stay in power and violate the
spirit of the agreement.
U.S. Ambassador Hugo Llorens expressed
optimism that accord would be fully
implemented after the elections.
"The newly elected government will have a
vested interest that the Micheletti
government did not have to engage with the
international community," Llorens told
foreign reporters.
Congress is scheduled to vote on Zelaya's
fate Dec. 2. On Thursday, the Supreme Court
recommended that lawmakers vote against
reinstating him.
"Our preference is obviously that Congress
restore Zelaya," Llorens said.
From reports by Associated Press |
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