Jose Manuel Zelaya, who was deposed as president of Honduras in a coup 28 June, says he will not participate in a presidential election slated for 29 November and that he has asked his supporters to renounce it. His announcement came in a published letter explaining his case to US President Barack Obama. His decision is a blow to hopes for a negotiated settlement that arose when he and Roberto Micheletti, who pushed him from power, signed a US-brokered agreement in October that called for a unity government until the election. It also called for Congress to decide if Zelaya should be returned to power, but Congress has opted to hand that decision to the country’s highest court. The elections are causing problems for Honduran citizens outside the country, who are unsure where and how to vote: in Florida the Honduran consulate says citizens should vote there, but the Honduran government says the consulate no longer has the authority to authorize this.
The dispute is the latest in a series of diplomatic tussles involving Hondurans. The Honduran ambassador to the UN was expelled from the UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva 14 September after the group’s president, Alex van Meeuwen of Belgium, decided that Delmer Urbizo, the Honduran ambassador, was not the legitimate representative of the government of Honduras. Van Meeuwen made his decision after various points of order called by a group of Latin American countries who questioned the Honduran’s credentials and the legitimacy of the government he represents. Argentina, Brazil, Cuba and Mexico argued that the UN General Assembly had called on organizations not to recognize the interim government of Honduras. But Urbizo has told GenevaLunch there is no Honduran government in exile under former President Zelaya, and therefore the Honduran people is being deprived of its legitimate right to be represented in international forums.
Links to other sites: CNN, Miami Herald
The agreement between the two rival sides in Honduras’ four-month constitutional crisis will be decided by the Congress, which is in recess, after taking into consideration an opinion of the country’s Supreme Court.
The agreement would allow Manuel Zelaya back into the presidential palace to serve out his term at the head of a national unity government to be installed by 5 November, would lift international sanctions on the country, establish a truth and reconciliation commission to investigate the events of the past four months, and sets the stage for elections to be held 29 November whose outcome will be accepted and recognized by the rest of the world.
The Supreme Court in June voted to oust Zelaya for attempting to change the constitution in favour of a second term for himself. Congress then installed interim president Roberto Micheletti. Commentators say it is unlikely the Supreme Court will reverse itself. Congress may decide to vote in favour of the agreement in the interests of ending the strife. The opposition Nationalist party candidate is currently leading the polls. Reuters India, Reuters South Africa, Wall Street Journal
Update 24 October 12:20 The de facto president of Honduras, Roberto Micheletti, has proposed that he resign from the presidency if Manuel Zelaya, the president deposed by the military 28 June and sent into exile, withdraws his claim to be reinstated as president. A government of national reconciliation would be installed until new elections, programmed for 29 November. Zelaya has said that free and fair elections cannot be held in the current circumstances. Zelaya’s term would have ended in January.
Zelaya returned to Honduras secretly two weeks ago and has been in the Brazilian embassy since then
The de facto government made the announcement Friday, 23 October as talks between the two sides broke down, after the government missed a midnight deadline to reinstate Zelaya. Zelaya rejected the demand, which he said was similar to a proposal made several weeks ago. Reuters, Romandie News,
Ousted president Manuel Zelaya returned to Honduras overland from Guatemala, and immediately took refuge in the Brazilian embassy in the capital, Tegucigalpa. Zelaya called on his supporters from a balcony at the Brazilian embassy to converge on the capital to reverse the coup. The interim government of Roberto Micheletti said Brazil would have to accept responsibility for any violence, and imposed a 24-hour curfew, which provoked chaos in the streets as tens of thousands of people tried to get home in time before the curfew took effect. The airports were closed.
Interim President Roberto Micheletti called on Brazil to give Zelaya up to face charges. “I insist that the courts are waiting so he can present himself there and pay for the crimes he committed.” he said. Organization of American States President Miguel Insulzo said he was ready to travel to Tegucigalpa to work out a solution to the crisis. BBC, CNN, El Heraldo, La Prensa, Reuters
The Honduran government is defying international pressure to allow former President Manuel Zelaya, deposed 28 June, to return to power. An Organization of American States (OAS) mission of seven American foreign ministers urged the interim government of Roberto Micheletti to accept a plan worked out by Nobel prize-winner Oscar Arias, former president of Costa Rica, which would allow Zelaya to return to power to serve out his term in exchange for amnesty for the interim government.
Micheletti said Tuesday 25 August at the conclusion of the two-day mission that Honduras would hold elections 29 November as scheduled “whether or not the world recognizes the result” and that “nobody is coming here to impose anything on us, unless troops come from somewhere else and force us.” The US has instructed its embassy in Tegucigalpa not to issue visas to Hondurans. BBC, CNN, El Heraldo (Spa)
The European Union’s external affairs commissioner, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, said Monday 20 July that she was suspending EU aid of €65.5 million to the impoverished Central American nation of Honduras as a result of the political stand-off there. She said the decision was “difficult” . Hillary Clinton called Honduran Interim President Roberto Micheletti from New Delhi, India and warned of “harsh consequences” if the negotiations between the de facto government and ousted president Manuel Zelaya failed to reach an accord. The measures are seen as increasing pressure on the government in Honduras.(CNN).
Talks broke down Sunday 19 July between opposing parties in the Honduran constitutional crisis, mediated by former Costa Rican president Oscar Arias, who said he would try for three more days to reach a settlement. The de facto Honduran government of Roberto Micheletti rejected a proposal to allow ousted president Manuel Zelaya to return as head of a unity government till early elections are held in October. Arias evoked the possibility of civil war if an agreement were not reached, saying most Hondurans had weapons. The Honduran deputy foreign minister, Marta Lorena Alvarado, rejected the possibility of strife, but Zelaya said he was organizing “internal resistance” in Honduras to prepare for his return. Zelaya was bundled into a plane 28 June by Honduran soldiers and flown to Costa Rica, after attempting to push through a referendum on his reelection which had been rejected by most institutions in Honduras. He attempted to fly back to Tegucigalpa, the capital, 5 July but was unable to land. Two people died in clashes with the military that day. BBC, CNN, El Heraldo.hn (Spa)
