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CENTRAL AMERICA |
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Rivals Edge Toward Talks In Honduras Coup
Crisis
By FREDDY CUEVAS (AP)
TEGUCIGALPA - The factions fighting for
control of Honduras have begun talking days
before a meeting that many hope will end a
political crisis sparked by Central
America's first coup in more than a decade.
Interim President Roberto Micheletti told
reporters that a dialogue is "beginning"
between his supporters and those of
President Manuel Zelaya, who was forced from
office on June 28 by a military-backed coup
and is now holed up in the Brazilian Embassy
in Tegucigalpa.
"We are having talks with different sectors
officially, with people from Mr. Zelaya's
side and with others," Micheletti said
Friday outside the presidential palace,
hours after meeting with a delegation of
four Republican members of the U.S.
Congress.
Zelaya supporters expressed skepticism about
Micheletti's willingness to compromise.
"We do not believe in this coup government
because they say one thing and do another,"
said Juan Barahona, who led a protest of
about 200 people Saturday at a small,
unpaved square in Pedegral, a working-class
neighborhood of Tegucigalpa. "The resistance
is going to be in the streets fighting
permanently against this coup regime. It's
our right."
No security forces were present at the
protest, despite an emergency decree banning
gatherings of more than 20 people.
A delegation from the Organization of
American States, which has taken the lead in
pushing for a negotiated resolution that
restores Zelaya to power, was in the country
ahead of a visit by OAS Secretary General
Jose Miguel Insulza scheduled for Wednesday.
Micheletti said Friday that he had met with
Insulza in recent days and, that while no
agreement was reached, it was a sign of
progress and that "peace is coming back to
our country."
Insulza confirmed Saturday the two had held
talks "in the last few days" in Honduras.
"The meeting was aimed at promoting a
dialogue between the parties in the conflict
with the goal of restoring democracy and the
constitutional order in Honduras," Insulza
said in a statement issued by the OAS
headquarters in Washington.
John Biehl, an OAS special envoy, said both
sides have expressed a willingness to start
talks next week.
"There will be a call next week for dialogue
between the acting government and the other
side and it will be accepted. That has
already been agreed," Biehl told reporters.
Nations around the globe have condemned
Zelaya's ouster and many, including the
United States and the European Union, have
suspended aid to Honduras. Diplomats have
insisted that elections scheduled for Nov.
29 will not be legitimate if the president
isn't restored before then.
Zelaya's critics justify his ouster as a
legitimate reaction to his attempt to hold a
constitutional referendum that his opponents
believed was an attempt to undo a
prohibition on a second term. Zelaya denies
that was his intention.
The ousted president, who has been in the
Brazilian Embassy since Sept. 21 after he
sneaking back into the country from exile,
told The Associated Press in a phone
interview Friday that he still supports a
constitutional referendum — but it should be
in 2010, after his term has expired.
The U.S. Republican legislators said
Micheletti promised that by Monday he would
lift the controversial emergency decree,
which limits civil liberties, including
freedom of the press and assembly.
Wesley Denton, a spokesman for South
Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint, said they received
the assurance in a private meeting with
Micheletti at the presidential palace.
The decree shuttered two broadcasters that
criticized the coup — although one, Radio
Globo, was transmitting over the Internet
after police raided its offices and
confiscated equipment. The decree was
imposed Sunday following the return of
Zelaya.
Many conservative American politicians see
Micheletti as a bulwark against the
expansion of Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez's socialist programs in Latin
America. Zelaya is an ally of Chavez.
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