Zelaya meets today with Micheletti and mediator Oscar Arias in Costa Rica
July 7 (Bloomberg) -- The political standoff in Honduras between deposed President Manuel Zelaya and the regime that ousted him will be mediated by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias in negotiations the U.S. helped to broker.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the mediator’s role for Arias today after meeting with Zelaya in Washington, where the exiled leader came to rally support for his return to office. Zelaya agreed to join the talks, to be held in Costa Rica, rather than try to go back to Honduras. The de facto government also agreed, she said.
“It is a better route for him to follow at this time than to attempt to return in the face of the implacable opposition of the de facto regime,” Clinton said. “Instead of another confrontation that might result in loss of life, let’s try the dialogue process and see where that leads.”
The negotiations may provide an avenue for both sides to back away from a confrontation that has triggered fatal clashes between Zelaya’s supporters and security forces. As tensions mounted following the military’s overthrow of Zelaya on June 28, de facto President Roberto Micheletti pledged to arrest him if he returns. Meanwhile, Zelaya has won backing from the U.S., Europe and every nation in Latin America.
“I’m not against returning as a citizen to face justice,” Zelaya said today in an interview with Honduras’s Radio Globo.
The Organization of American States said today in a statement that it supports negotiations headed by Arias, who won the Nobel Prize for uniting Central American leaders behind a plan in 1987 to end the region’s civil wars.
Violent Protests
The Honduran military, supported by the Supreme Court and Congress, prevented a Venezuelan plane carrying Zelaya from landing in Honduras last weekend as protests at the airport left two people dead from gunshots. Micheletti has said Zelaya faces at least 18 charges handed down by the Supreme Court involving violations of the constitution and abuse of power.
“The best thing you can do is try to negotiate early elections,” said Riordan Roett, director of Western Hemisphere Studies at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.
‘Immediately’
Micheletti has offered to hold elections ahead of their scheduled November date.
Clinton said Arias told her he’d be willing to start the talks “immediately.”
Zelaya’s ouster has forced the U.S. to back a leader it would like to see leave office after elections, said Daniel Erikson, senior associate for U.S. policy at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington.
Opposition to the Zelaya government grew over the past year as he strengthened commercial and diplomatic agreements with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a self-proclaimed socialist revolutionary who is critical of U.S. policy toward Latin America.
“This has been a very erratic leader, someone who has inflamed a lot of opposition against himself in Honduras and overtly allied himself with Hugo Chavez, making himself an irritant,” in the U.S.-Honduran relationship, Erikson said.
Zelaya set in motion the events leading to last month’s coup when he tried to hold a national poll to gauge support for his proposal to rewrite the constitution, which the Supreme Court ruled was illegal. He then said he’d ignore a court order that barred him from firing the head of the military for refusing to help administer the poll. Later, he led a group of civilians onto a military base to seize ballots for the poll impounded by the court.
Zelaya, 56, said talks in Costa Rica will focus on removing the country’s “coup government” from power peacefully.
“Respect for the country’s presidential system isn’t something that’s negotiated,” he said at a press conference in Washington after meeting with Clinton. “This isn’t about a negotiation. This is about planning the exit of the coup leaders from the country.”
Yesterday on 100% Noticias television in Nicaragua Zelaya said he would try again to get into Honduras. He refused to tell reporters in Managua how he planned to do it.
The de facto regime came under increased pressure last weekend as the OAS voted 33-0 to suspend Honduras from the regional group. Micheletti sent a group of former Honduran foreign ministers to Washington yesterday to begin possible talks between his government and the OAS.
‘Polarized Environment’
Chavez would be the chief beneficiary of any stalling by the transitional government to reach an agreement with the OAS and international community, giving him a chance to foster a “polarized environment,” said Christopher Sabatini, policy director for the Council of the Americas in New York.
The U.S. has resisted taking the lead in seeking a resolution to the conflict, deferring to the OAS, and now to Arias. It is the kind of multilateral approach that Obama pledged before taking office.
“It has been my view for several days that the most useful role we could play is to convince all that are directly concerned, not only President Zelaya, but also the de facto regime, the OAS, the UN, everyone that we needed to have a process where the Hondurans themselves sat down and talked to each other,” Clinton said today.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the mediator’s role for Arias today after meeting with Zelaya in Washington, where the exiled leader came to rally support for his return to office. Zelaya agreed to join the talks, to be held in Costa Rica, rather than try to go back to Honduras. The de facto government also agreed, she said.
“It is a better route for him to follow at this time than to attempt to return in the face of the implacable opposition of the de facto regime,” Clinton said. “Instead of another confrontation that might result in loss of life, let’s try the dialogue process and see where that leads.”
The negotiations may provide an avenue for both sides to back away from a confrontation that has triggered fatal clashes between Zelaya’s supporters and security forces. As tensions mounted following the military’s overthrow of Zelaya on June 28, de facto President Roberto Micheletti pledged to arrest him if he returns. Meanwhile, Zelaya has won backing from the U.S., Europe and every nation in Latin America.
“I’m not against returning as a citizen to face justice,” Zelaya said today in an interview with Honduras’s Radio Globo.
The Organization of American States said today in a statement that it supports negotiations headed by Arias, who won the Nobel Prize for uniting Central American leaders behind a plan in 1987 to end the region’s civil wars.
Violent Protests
The Honduran military, supported by the Supreme Court and Congress, prevented a Venezuelan plane carrying Zelaya from landing in Honduras last weekend as protests at the airport left two people dead from gunshots. Micheletti has said Zelaya faces at least 18 charges handed down by the Supreme Court involving violations of the constitution and abuse of power.
“The best thing you can do is try to negotiate early elections,” said Riordan Roett, director of Western Hemisphere Studies at the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.
‘Immediately’
Micheletti has offered to hold elections ahead of their scheduled November date.
Clinton said Arias told her he’d be willing to start the talks “immediately.”
Zelaya’s ouster has forced the U.S. to back a leader it would like to see leave office after elections, said Daniel Erikson, senior associate for U.S. policy at the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington.
Opposition to the Zelaya government grew over the past year as he strengthened commercial and diplomatic agreements with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a self-proclaimed socialist revolutionary who is critical of U.S. policy toward Latin America.
“This has been a very erratic leader, someone who has inflamed a lot of opposition against himself in Honduras and overtly allied himself with Hugo Chavez, making himself an irritant,” in the U.S.-Honduran relationship, Erikson said.
Zelaya set in motion the events leading to last month’s coup when he tried to hold a national poll to gauge support for his proposal to rewrite the constitution, which the Supreme Court ruled was illegal. He then said he’d ignore a court order that barred him from firing the head of the military for refusing to help administer the poll. Later, he led a group of civilians onto a military base to seize ballots for the poll impounded by the court.
Zelaya, 56, said talks in Costa Rica will focus on removing the country’s “coup government” from power peacefully.
“Respect for the country’s presidential system isn’t something that’s negotiated,” he said at a press conference in Washington after meeting with Clinton. “This isn’t about a negotiation. This is about planning the exit of the coup leaders from the country.”
Yesterday on 100% Noticias television in Nicaragua Zelaya said he would try again to get into Honduras. He refused to tell reporters in Managua how he planned to do it.
The de facto regime came under increased pressure last weekend as the OAS voted 33-0 to suspend Honduras from the regional group. Micheletti sent a group of former Honduran foreign ministers to Washington yesterday to begin possible talks between his government and the OAS.
‘Polarized Environment’
Chavez would be the chief beneficiary of any stalling by the transitional government to reach an agreement with the OAS and international community, giving him a chance to foster a “polarized environment,” said Christopher Sabatini, policy director for the Council of the Americas in New York.
The U.S. has resisted taking the lead in seeking a resolution to the conflict, deferring to the OAS, and now to Arias. It is the kind of multilateral approach that Obama pledged before taking office.
“It has been my view for several days that the most useful role we could play is to convince all that are directly concerned, not only President Zelaya, but also the de facto regime, the OAS, the UN, everyone that we needed to have a process where the Hondurans themselves sat down and talked to each other,” Clinton said today.
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