Wednesday July 8, 2009

Honduras rivals head for dialogue with U.S. backing

By Patrick Markey and Dan Trotta

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - The two rivals in Honduras' political crisis prepared on Wednesday to open talks on a solution to last month's coup and a senior U.S. official pledged Washington's strong support for the dialogue.

Ousted Honduras President Manuel Zelaya speaks after a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in her office in Washington July 7, 2009. (REUTERS/Larry Downing)

President Barack Obama's administration, facing a major test of its promise to improve relations with Latin America, is counting on mediation by Costa Rica's president, an experienced peacemaker, to prevent bloodshed in one of the region's poorest countries.

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, backed by wide condemnation of the coup from foreign governments, says he is ready to hold a dialogue with those who toppled him at gunpoint on June 28 and sent him into exile in his pajamas.

Under the mediation of Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, Zelaya will meet in Costa Rica on Thursday with the interim government of caretaker President Roberto Micheletti, who was installed by the Honduran Congress after the coup. Micheletti has agreed to start the talks, which he called a dialogue -- not negotiation.

In Washington, the nominee to be the new U.S. assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, Arturo Valenzuela, welcomed Arias' mediation effort and reiterated the Obama administration's condemnation of the ouster.

"We believe there was a coup, it was not legal," Valenzuela said, testifying at a Senate confirmation hearing. "We have to send a very strong signal ... this is unacceptable," he added.

He said the United States should always stand with democracy, even if it involved a country and government with views that were "not favorable" to the United States.

Valenzuela said the Organization of American States and the international community should work to restore consensus, end divisions and reinforce democratic institutions in Honduras.

The OAS on Saturday suspended Honduras after the caretaker government refused to reinstate Zelaya.

Throwing Washington's weight behind Arias' role, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Zelaya in a meeting on Tuesday to "try the dialogue process and see where it leads".

VENEZUELAN "INFLUENCE"

This appeared to steer the ousted president away from more confrontational attempts to return to power, such as his failed bid to fly home on Sunday in a plane provided by his leftist ally, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.

Chavez is a fierce critic of Washington and a friend of communist-ruled Cuba and Zelaya's closeness with Chavez was one of the reasons cited by those who deposed him. They said Zelaya, who took power in 2006 and was due to leave office in 2010, had been illegally trying to lift presidential term limits.

Reflecting the views of some conservative Republicans in the Democratic-controlled U.S. Congress, Senator Jim DeMint told Valenzuela there was no question that Zelaya had been "working with Chavez and others to change the constitution" of Honduras.

He added it was "inexcusable" that the United States was on the same side as Chavez in the Honduran crisis.

Valenzuela acknowledged "probably ... significant influence" from Chavez on Zelaya, but said the Honduran military should not have deposed and exiled Zelaya without judicial process. Supporters of the coup in Honduras say it was a lawful removal.

Arias is a widely respected international peacemaker who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for his work in ending interlocking conflicts in several Central American countries during the Cold War tensions that gripped the region in the 1980s. [ID:nN07345143]

He faces entrenched positions in the Honduran crisis, with both sides saying they have the country's people and the constitution behind them and that their positions are non-negotiable.

Micheletti said if Zelaya returned it would not be as president but to face justice for alleged crimes.

Zelaya was equally adamant that Thursday's talks could only address his return to office. He accused the "government of coup-mongers" of repressing popular street protests by his supporters in Tegucigalpa.

At least one person was killed when Honduran troops prevented the return of Zelaya's plane on Sunday, and clashed with his supporters.

Some analysts were skeptical about the chances for success in the talks.

"It is difficult to see how this mediation will succeed, so long as the coup government knows that they can stall out the rest of Zelaya's term. The only thing that can remove them from office, in conjunction with massive protests, is real economic sanctions," said Mark Weisbrot, co-director of the U.S.-based Center for Economic and Policy Research think tank.

(Additional reporting by Anahi Rama, Enrique Andres Pretel in Tegucigalpa, and Susan Cornwell in Washington; Writing by Pascal Fletcher; Editing by Frances Kerry)

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