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CENTRAL AMERICA |
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Honduran Government Ends State of Siege
TEGUCIGALPA – The Honduras government
announced Monday the lifting of a state of
siege imposed 10 days ago.
“We have revoked the (state of siege) decree
in the Council of Ministers,” the former
head of Congress and now head of government,
Roberto Micheletti, told a press conference
in the capital.
“Everything, the entire decree, is
completely revoked,” he said, accompanied by
several members of the cabinet and by U.S.
Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.
Micheletti also said that those responsible
for expelling Zelaya from Honduras on the
day of the putsch would be “punished” for
their “error” in exiling the ousted head of
state to Costa Rica.
While stressing the end of restrictions on
constitutional freedoms, he said that the
two pro-Zelaya media outlets shut down under
the state of siege would have to apply to
the courts for the restoration of their
broadcasting licenses.
A coordinator of the National Resistance
Front against the Micheletti government,
Rafael Alegria, told Efe the cancellation of
the state of siege was “a triumph for the
people and the popular resistance.”
“We are demonstrating that the people are
not disposed to tolerate dictatorships of
any kind, nor disposed to give up the rights
won more than 50 years ago,” he said.
Dozens of pro-Zelaya supporters gathered
Monday outside the U.S. Embassy in
Tegucigalpa to demand former president Mel
Zelaya’s reinstatement and a new
constitution for Honduras.
Zelaya secretly slipped back into Honduras
two weeks ago and remains holed up at the
Brazilian mission in the capital, which is
surrounded by troops and police and has been
sporadically bombarded with acoustic weapons
and gases.
He marked the passage of 100 days since the
coup by renewing his call for the Micheletti
government to immediately sign the San Jose
Accord.
Proposed by Costa Rican President Oscar
Arias, the accord calls for Zelaya to return
and lead a national unity government for the
few months left in his term, and for a
political amnesty that would protect both
the current government and the ousted head
of state, who stands accused of various
offenses.
Micheletti has thus far flatly rejected the
reinstatement of the elected head of state,
although he has shown some signs in recent
days of being willing to compromise.
The Organization of American States
announced that senior officials from 10 OAS
member-nations and Spain will travel to
Honduras on Wednesday to promote a dialogue
between Zelaya and the Micheletti
government.
In the eyes of most Hondurans, Zelaya’s
ouster was not a coup. The soldiers who
escorted Zelaya from the presidential palace
were enforcing a Supreme Court order of
arrest after Zelaya refused to comply with
their earlier order banning his planned
referendum on revising the constitution to
allow for unlimited presidential terms.
The Organization of American States, the
United States and the European Union have
been pressing Micheletti to accept the San
Jose Accord, a proposal put forward by Costa
Rican President Oscar Arias.
The plan calls for Zelaya to return and lead
a national unity government for the few
months left in his term, and for a political
amnesty that would protect both sides in the
dispute.
Time is running out before presidential
elections scheduled for Nov. 29, as both the
European Union and Washington have said they
will not recognize the winner of that
balloting unless Zelaya is restored to
office beforehand.
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