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BBC MUNDO RADIO
By Blake Schmidt and Daniel Cancel
Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Honduras’s deposed President Manuel Zelaya breathed new life into his efforts to regain office by slipping into the country and taking shelter in the Brazilian Embassy, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.
Clinton, speaking in New York after meeting with Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, who has mediated the Honduran political crisis, said Zelaya’s return to the capital, Tegucigalpa, created the chance to restore “constitutional and democratic order” and move ahead with elections in November. Arias, pushing his 11-point plan, said he will continue to mediate if asked.
Zelaya’s homecoming “makes it easier for us to put some more pressure on the de facto government,” Arias said last night in New York, adding achieving his return was the main hurdle to implementing the so-called San Jose accord.
Even as Clinton and Arias called for dialogue, the deposed president’s presence in the city is likely to move the conflict into the streets, said Brookings Institute analyst Kevin Casas- Zamora. Acting President Roberto Micheletti’s resistance to talks will intensify after Zelaya let his ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, announce his return and invited Jose Miguel Insulza, the secretary-general of the Organization of American States, to lead discussions in Honduras.
“What we’re about to witness is a series of demonstrations and counter-demonstrations and there’s also a great risk of violence,” said Casas-Zamora, former vice president of Costa Rica under Arias.
Kicked Out
Zelaya was overthrown in June and kicked out of the country after the Supreme Court ruled his push for constitutional change was illegal. His opponents claim he was planning to follow in the footsteps of Chavez and attempt to modify the Honduran Constitution so that he could stay in power.
The ousted leader’s surprise homecoming prompted the Micheletti government to impose a 15-hour curfew starting at 4 p.m. yesterday after the ousted leader, donning his signature cowboy hat, greeted crowds of supporters who marched to the Brazilian embassy to support him, according to images broadcast on Venezuela’s government-owned Telesur network. The Micheletti government also closed the country’s airports today, the Spanish news agency EFE reported.
“I’m here in the Honduran capital, in the first place carrying out the people’s will, which has insisted on my restoration,” Zelaya said on the Telesur network. “I’m here to initiate a dialogue.”
Road Blocks
Chavez announced Zelaya’s return during a conversation with the deposed leader and his wife yesterday on the telephone during a live broadcast on Venezuelan state television. Chavez said Zelaya hid in a car trunk and a tractor to get through police roadblocks, traveling with four people across rivers and mountains in a two-day trek to Tegucigalpa. He didn’t give details of Zelaya’s route.
Zelaya spent the past three months trying to sustain international support for his return to power. The U.S. formally halted aid and other humanitarian assistance to Honduras on Sept. 3 in response to the coup.
Micheletti, who assumed power after Zelaya’s overthrow, has maintained Zelaya violated the constitution by plotting to extend his term. Zelaya’s removal from office and arrest was approved by the country’s Supreme Court.
Arias’s U.S.-backed effort to resolve the crisis stalled on Micheletti’s refusal to restore Zelaya as president.
Call to Brazil
Micheletti called on the Brazilian government yesterday to hand over the ousted leader, telling reporters in Tegucigalpa that Zelaya faces charges including treason, fraud and abuse of power.
Brazil’s Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said Zelaya had arranged his shelter at the embassy a few hours before he arrived through an intermediary.
Amorim said Brazil’s ambassador in Washington is briefing the U.S. and he hoped Zelaya’s return would prompt renewed talks for his peaceful restoration to office.
The OAS passed a declaration late yesterday backing Insulza’s plan to travel to Honduras and calling on both sides to “immediately” sign Arias’s proposal to avoid further violence.
Zelaya aborted an attempt to return to Honduras aboard a Venezuelan jet in July when the military prevented his landing at the capital’s airport and briefly crossed the border from Nicaragua to speak with soldiers later that month.
At least three protesters in Honduras have been killed since Zelaya’s ouster, and Amnesty International has alleged police targeted Zelaya supporters at protests for beatings and mass arrests.
To contact the reporters on this story: Blake Schmidt in San Salvador at bschmidt16@bloomberg.net; Daniel Cancel in Caracas at dcancel@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: September 22, 2009 00:16 EDT
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