Thursday July 30, 2009

Honduran rulers insist Zelaya cannot be president

By Gustavo Palencia

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - The de facto Honduran government insisted on Thursday it would not allow ousted President Manuel Zelaya to return to office, cooling hopes of a deal to end a political crisis following a coup last month.

Honduras' ousted President Manuel Zelaya talks to supporters in Ocotal city, Nicaragua July 29, 2009. (REUTERS/Oswaldo Rivas)

Rafael Pineda, who as minister of the presidency is No. 2 in the interim government headed by Roberto Micheletti, told Reuters the administration was "firm, unchangeable" against Zelaya's return to power.

Micheletti, named by Congress as president after Zelaya was ousted in a coup on June 28, asked on Wednesday for a special envoy to come to Honduras "to cooperate in the start of dialogue in our country."

The coup leaders are under pressure from the United States to reinstate Zelaya and a source close to the de facto government said on Wednesday that Micheletti might be willing to consider letting Zelaya come back if there were assurances the ousted president did not try to derail democracy.

But Pineda rejected a return to office for Zelaya, who upset conservative critics by allying with socialist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

"The position of the government in this issue is firm, unchangeable," Pineda told Reuters. "The agreement, if there has to be one, can only happen if President Zelaya is not reinstated in the presidency of the republic," he said.

Pineda earlier told a morning show on Honduran television that the de facto government was committed to dialogue but also ready to hold out until a presidential election set for November if talks do not produce a deal.

He said Micheletti could quit as part of an accord that Costa Rican President Oscar Arias is trying to broker.

"President Micheletti has said that to avoid the shedding of Honduran blood ... he would be willing to stand down but only on condition that his standing down does not mean Zelaya's return to the presidency," he said.

Washington this week revoked diplomatic visas for four members of Micheletti's administration to pressure it to reverse the coup, which has has also been condemned by Latin American governments and the U.N. General Assembly.

HIGH-PROFILE ENVOY

Micheletti on Wednesday asked Arias to send a high-profile envoy, possibly former Inter-American Development Bank head Enrique Iglesias, to Honduras to breathe life into crisis talks.

It was unclear whether the request showed a genuine opening to a deal that would include Zelaya's return, or was rather a tactic to buy time for the Honduran leadership.

Honduran political analyst Juan Ramon Martinez said Micheletti might be trying to float a more flexible image to the outside world while entrenching his position inside Honduras, where there have been large marches against Zelaya.

Speaking on television on Thursday, Pineda said the Honduran people were prepared to endure hardship for a while rather than accept a solution that leads to many years of governments "on the margins of the law."

"I believe the position of the government and the position of the majority of the people ... is that it does not matter what limits and poverty we must endure in these six months," Pineda said.

He said the government would abide by the ruling of the Supreme Court, which is due to rule this week on Arias' proposal that Zelaya be allowed back to serve out the rest of his time, which ends early next year.

Given that it was the Supreme Court that ordered Zelaya's arrest on June 28, it would be a surprise if it ruled now that it was legal for him to return to power.

Zelaya upset the court and many in Congress by trying to hold a referendum to change the constitution. Critics say he was trying to extend his mandate but he denies that.

The president has left northern Nicaragua's border area with Honduras where he had tried to stage protests against the coup, aides said on Thursday. Zelaya was headed for the Nicaraguan capital.

(Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell in Washington, Marco Aquino, Gabriela Donoso, Mica Rosenberg in Honduras)

News

Thursday July 30, 2009

Honduran rulers insist Zelaya cannot be president

By Gustavo Palencia