Ousted leader returns to Honduras, defies arrest

[samanthajane13]

By FREDDY CUEVAS, Associated Press Writer Freddy Cuevas, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 6 mins ago

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Deposed President Manuel Zelaya made a dramatic return to Honduras' capital Monday, taking shelter from arrest at Brazil's embassy and calling for negotiations with the leaders who forced him from the country at gunpoint.

The interim government initially ordered a 15-hour curfew, but then extended it to a 26-hour shutdown of the capital, but thousands of Zelaya supporters ignored the decree and remained outside the embassy, dancing and cheering.

Others in the capital rushed home, lining up at bus stands and frantically looking for taxis. Electricity was cut off for hours at a time on the block housing the embassy and in areas of Tegucigalpa where news media offices are located — something that happened the day of the coup that ousted the leftist leader.

Security Vice Minister Mario Perdomo said checkpoints were being set up on highways leading to the capital to keep out Zelaya's supporters from other regions, to "stop those people coming to start trouble." Later, Defense Minister Lionel Sevilla said all flights to Tegucigalpa had been suspended indefinitely.

Without giving any specifics, Zelaya said he snuck into the country by traveling for 15 hours overland in a series of vehicles — pulling off a homecoming that created a sharp new challenge for the interim government that had threatened repeatedly to throw him in jail if he returned.

Chants of "Yes we could! Yes we could!" bellowed from the crowd outside the Brazilian Embassy.

Zelaya told The Associated Press that he was trying to establish contact with the interim government to start negotiations on a solution to the standoff that started when soldiers flew him out of the country June 28.

"As of now, we are beginning to seek dialogue," he said by telephone, though he gave few details. Talks moderated by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias have been stalled for weeks over the interim government's refusal to accept Zelaya's reinstatement.

He also summoned his countrymen to come to the capital for peaceful protests and urged the army to avoid attacking his supporters.

"It is the moment of reconciliation," he said.

The government of interim President Roberto Micheletti, who took power after Zelaya's ouster and has promised to step aside following a presidential election scheduled for November, said the curfew would continue until 6 p.m. (0000 GMT) Tuesday. It first declared a curfew running from 4 p.m. Monday until 7 a.m. Tuesday.

The government said in a statement the army and police were ready to "guarantee the safety of people."

The shifting orders reflected the surprise of Zelaya's arrival, which caught the interim government off guard. Only minutes before he appeared publicly at the embassy, officials said reports of his return were a lie.

Zelaya's presence could revive the large demonstrations that disrupted the capital following the coup and threatens to overshadow the presidential election campaign.

Teachers union leader Eulogio Chavez announced that the country's 60,000 educators would go on strike indefinitely Tuesday to back Zelaya's demand to be reinstated.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged both sides to look for a peaceful solution to the crisis.

"It is imperative that dialogue begin, that there be a channel of communication between President Zelaya and the de facto regime in Honduras," Rodham Clinton told reporters on the sidelines of the annual U.N. General Assembly session in New York.

The U.S. State Department announced Sept. 4 that it would not recognize results of the presidential vote under current conditions. The coup has shaken up Washington's relations with Honduras, traditionally one of its strongest allies in Central America.

The secretary general of the Organization of American States, Jose Miguel Insulza, called for calm and warned Honduran officials to avoid any violation of the Brazilian diplomatic mission. "They should be responsible for the safety of president Zelaya and the Embassy of Brazil," he said.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorin said neither his country nor the OAS had any role in Zelaya's journey before taking him in.

"We hope this opens a new stage in negotiations," Amorin said. He also warned: "If something happens to Zelaya or our embassy it would be a violation of international law," which bars host countries from arresting people inside diplomatic missions.

Honduras' Foreign Relations Department criticized Brazil, saying it was violating international law by "allowing Zelaya, a fugitive of Honduran justice, to make public calls to insurrection and political mobilization from its headquarters."

Micheletti urged Brazil in a nationwide radio address to turn Zelaya over to Honduran authorities.

In the days following the coup, at least two of the thousands of demonstrators who took to the streets were killed during clashes with security forces. Thousands of other Hondurans demonstrated in favor of the coup.

The country's Congress and courts, alarmed by Zelaya's political shift into a close alliance with leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuba, backed Zelaya's removal.

He was arrested on orders of the Supreme Court on charges of treason and abuse of power for ignoring court orders against holding a popular referendum on reforming the constitution.

Micheletti said Zelaya sought to remove a ban on re-election — grounds for immediate removal from office under the Honduran constitution. Zelaya denies any such plan.

International leaders were almost unanimously against the armed removal of the president, alarmed that it could return Latin America to a bygone era of coups and instability. The United States, European Union and other agencies have cut aid to Honduras to press for his return.

Zelaya said he had "evaded a thousand obstacles" to return, traveling 15 hours by land in different vehicles. He declined to give specifics on who helped him cross the border, saying that he didn't want to jeopardize their safety.

His staunch supporter, Chavez, described the journey: "President Manuel Zelaya, along with four companions, traveled for two days overland, crossing mountains and rivers, risking their lives. They have made it to Honduras."

Sevilla, the defense minister, told reporters that Zelaya allegedly entered Honduras from Nicaragua in a car licensed in a South American nation that "is not Venezuela."

If the interim administration attempts to imprison Zelaya, protesters who have demonstrated against his ouster could turn violent, said Vicki Gass at the Washington Office on Latin America.

"There's a saying about Honduras that people can argue in the morning and have dinner in the evening, but I'm not sure this will happen in this case," said Gass. "It's been 86 days since the coup. Something had to break and this might be it."

___

Associated Press writers Catherine E. Shoichet, Martha Mendoza and Alexandra Olson in Mexico City, Fabiola Sanchez in Caracas, Venezuela, and Matthew Lee in New York contributed to this report.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090922/..._honduras_coup

[samanthajane13]

Deposed Honduran president holed up in embassy
By MARCOS ALEMAN, Associated Press Writer Marcos Aleman, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 41 mins ago

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Baton-wielding soldiers used tear gas and water cannons to chase away thousands who demonstrated outside the Brazilian embassy, leaving deposed President Manuel Zelaya and 70 friends and family trapped inside without water, electricity or phones.

"We know we are in danger," Zelaya said during interviews with various media outlets on Tuesday. "We are ready to risk everything, to sacrifice."

Heavily armed soldiers stood guard on neighboring rooftops and helicopters buzzed overhead.

Zelaya, forced out of his country at gunpoint, triumphantly popped up in the capital on Monday, telling captivated supporters that after three months of international exile and a secretive 15-hour cross country journey, he was ready to lead again.

Interim President Roberto Micheletti's response was terse: initially he said Zelaya was lying about being there, and then — after Zelaya appeared on national television — Micheletti pressed Brazil to hand Zelaya over so he could be arrested under a warrant issued by the Supreme Court charging treason and abuse of authority.

Some officials suggested even the embassy would be no haven.

"The inviolability of a diplomatic mission does not imply the protection of delinquents or fugitives from justice," said Micheletti's foreign ministry adviser, Mario Fortinthe.

Police and soldiers set up a ring of security in a three-mile (five-kilometer) perimeter around the Brazilian embassy.

Security Ministry spokesman Orlin Cerrato told The Associated Press that two policemen had been beaten and 174 people were being held on charges of disorderly conduct and vandalism.

A doctor interviewed by Radio Globo reported that 18 people had been treated at the public hospital for injuries.

Micheletti repeated his insistence that there had never been a coup — just a "constitutional succession" ordered by the courts and approved by Congress.

"Coups do not allow freedom of assembly," he wrote in a column published Tuesday in the Washington Post. "They do not guarantee freedom of the press, much less a respect for human rights. In Honduras, these freedoms remain intact and vibrant."

Meanwhile Micheletti closed airports and borders, and baton-wielding police fired tear gas to chase thousands of demonstrators away from the embassy where Zelaya's supporters had gathered.

Some gas canisters fell inside the walls of the Brazilian embassy, where Zelaya, his wife, some of their children, Cabinet members and journalists held hushed conversations, napped on couches and curled up on the floor beneath travel posters of Brazilian beaches.

Zelaya said he had no plans to leave and he repeatedly asked to speak with Micheletti.

Those negotiations have yet to begin, and with his embassy the current hotspot for the Honduran crisis, Brazil's president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called Zelaya and pressed him not to do anything that might provoke an invasion of the diplomatic mission.

Embassy staff were told to stay home and most did, while and embassy charge d'affaires Francisco Catunda Resende said water, phone and electricity services had been cut, leaving the mission with a diesel powered generator, according to a spokesman with Brazil's Foreign Ministry who did not give his name in keeping with policy.

A senior U.S. official said that Brazil has asked for U.S. assistance in restoring power and water to the embassy, and in acquiring generators, fuel and water. He said that the U.S. was looking for ways to help, but did not say what the U.S. was doing. The official asked for anonymity, because he was not authorized to speak on the record on the issue.

Diplomats around the world, from the European Union to the U.S. State Department, were urging calm while repeating their recognition of Zelaya as Honduras' legitimate president.

The secretary general of the Organization of American States, who is trying to convince Micheletti to step down and return Zelaya to power, said he was "very concerned" that the situation could turn violent.

"It's a hostile situation and I hope the de facto government fulfills its obligation to respect this diplomatic seat," said Jose Miguel Insulza.

Zelaya apparently timed his surprise arrival in Honduras' capital to coincide with world leaders gathering this week at the United Nations in New York, putting renewed international pressure on the interim government, which has already shrugged aside sharp foreign aid cuts and diplomatic denunciations since the coup.

A 26-hour curfew imposed Monday afternoon left the closed businesses and schools, leaving the capital's streets nearly deserted. All the nation's international airports and border posts were closed and roadblocks set up to keep Zelaya supporters from massing for protests.

Zelaya loyalists ignored the decree and surrounded the embassy, dancing and cheering and using their cell phones to light up the streets after electricity was cut off on the block housing the embassy Monday night.

Police cleared them away with clubs, tear gas, jets of water and deafening music early Tuesday.

Zelaya was removed in June after he repeatedly ignored court orders to drop plans for a referendum on reforming the constitution. His opponents feared he wanted to end a constitutional ban on re-election — a charge Zelaya denied.

The Supreme Court ordered his arrest, and the Honduran Congress, alarmed by his increasingly close alliance with leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuba, backed the army as it forced him into exile in Costa Rica.

For the past three months Zelaya has traveled to around the region to lobby for support from political leaders, including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

U.S.-backed talks moderated by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias stalled over the interim government's refusal to accept Zelaya's reinstatement to the presidency. That proposed power-sharing agreement would limit his powers and prohibit him from attempting to revise the constitution.

___

Associated Press writers Freddy Cuevas in Tegucigalpa, Michael Astor in New York, Desmond Butler in Washington and Marco Sibaja in Brasilia, Brazil contributed to this report.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090922/..._honduras_coup

[samanthajane13]

Hondurans ordered off streets after violent night
By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer Mark Stevenson, Associated Press Writer – 48 mins ago

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Honduras' interim government extended an already long curfew through most of Wednesday after police skirmished with backers of ousted President Manuel Zelaya throughout the night and arrested more than 100 people for vandalism and looting.

Zelaya remained holed up with a shrinking core of supporters at the increasingly isolated Brazilian Embassy in Honduras. Diplomats and activists streamed out of the compound late Tuesday, and Brazil urged the U.N. Security Council to guarantee the embassy's safety.

The country remains shut down under the nearly round-the-clock curfew decreed by the interim government that ousted Zelaya in June. Airports and the border crossings also were closed for a third day, after a night of violence.

Zelaya said six of his supporters died in confrontations with police. Authorities denied that and said one person suffered a gunshot wound. Officials did not give further details.

Police arrested 113 people on various charges.

Zelaya's backers ventured out at several points in Honduras' capital to skirmish with police, after hundreds of their colleagues were routed by baton-wielding soldiers from the street in front of the embassy and police roadblocks sealed off the mission building Tuesday.

Police said vandals seized on the opportunity to loot stores and vandalize businesses.

"These are reputable and delinquent acts, by people who live in these sectors of the capital who have intentionally ignored the state of emergency in which we are living," said Orlin Cerrato, spokesman for the federal police.

The government initially ordered everyone indoors the entire day and later allowed people to go out on the streets for six hours.

Residents in the capital picked through items tossed on the floor at looted supermarkets. Streets remained blocked with burning trash bins placed there in the night by protesters.

The interim government accused Zelaya of sneaking back into the country Monday to create disturbances and disrupt the Nov. 29 election scheduled to pick his successor.

Foreign Minister Carlos Lopez said the government would not try to enter the embassy to arrest Zelaya, but he also said Honduras' interim leaders had no intention of yielding on the central point demanded by the international community: the reinstatement of Zelaya to serve out the remaining four months of his term.

The government briefly set up loudspeakers near the embassy and shut off water and power to the building, apparently to harass Zelaya's supporters inside. At least 85 Zelaya supporters and part of the embassy's staff later left the building; none were detained. Services were later restored to the building.

At the United Nations, Brazilian Ambassador Maria Luiza Viotti voiced concerns about the safety of the embassy and of Zelaya in asking the Security Council to hold an emergency meeting on Honduras.

Zelaya, forced out of his country at gunpoint June 28, triumphantly popped up in the capital Monday, telling captivated supporters that after three months of international exile and a secretive 15-hour cross-country journey, he was ready to lead again.

He said Tuesday that he had no plans to leave the embassy and he repeatedly asked to speak with interim President Roberto Micheletti.

Micheletti offered to talk to Zelaya with the participation of the Organization of American States.

"I am ready to discuss how to resolve the crisis, but only inside the parameters of the Constitution," Micheletti said in a nationally broadcast message read by Lopez.

Lopez said the offer did not include allowing Zelaya to serve out his presidential term or avoid arrest on a Supreme Court warrant charging the ex-leader with treason and abuse of authority.

Zelaya called Micheletti's offer an attempt to drag out the process until the elections, saying, "He does not have the will to resolve what is happening in Honduras."

Diplomats around the world, from the European Union to the U.S. State Department, urged calm while repeating their recognition of Zelaya as Honduras' legitimate president.

Zelaya was removed after he repeatedly ignored court orders to drop plans for a referendum calling for a popular assembly to reform the constitution. His opponents accused him of wanting to end the constitutional ban on re-election — a charge Zelaya has repeatedly denied.

The Supreme Court ordered his arrest, and the Honduran Congress, alarmed by his increasingly close alliance with leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuba, backed the army as it forced him into exile in Costa Rica.

Since his ouster, Zelaya has traveled around the region to lobby for support from political leaders, including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

U.S.-backed talks moderated by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias stalled over the interim government's refusal to accept Zelaya's reinstatement to the presidency. Arias' proposal would limit Zelaya's powers and prohibit him from attempting to revise the constitution.

_____

Associated Press writer Freddy Cuevas in Tegucigalpa contributed to this report.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090923/..._honduras_coup

[samanthajane13]

Ousted Honduran president: 1st talks a failure
By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer Mark Stevenson, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 16 mins ago

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said late Thursday that his first talks with the interim government that kicked him out of the country in June were a failure.

An official with the administration of interim President Roberto Micheletti took "an extremely hard" stand when the two met Wednesday night, Zelaya told TV Channel 36.

The comment was a direct reversal of Zelaya's remarks earlier Thursday, when he told Radio Globo that the talks were "the beginning to find peaceful solutions."

In contrast, Zelaya told Channel 36 that the government's positions are "totally outside of any possibility of agreement."

Zelaya also again insisted that any agreement with the interim government must include his reinstatement as president.

Zelaya also met Thursday with the four leading candidates competing in the presidential election this fall and said that he plans to meet with business and social leaders this week. No details of the encounter with the candidates were available late Thursday.

Zelaya has said in the past that the Nov. 29 election won't be legitimate unless he is restored to office.

Zelaya had been demanding to talk with interim President Roberto Micheletti since Monday when he sneaked back into the country and took shelter at the Brazilian Embassy.

Micheletti's government did not immediately comment Thursday.

Troops still surrounded the Embassy, where an increasingly exhausted Zelaya, his family and about 70 supporters remained sheltered.

But life outside the gates of the two-story compound was almost back to normal Thursday: After days of paralyzing curfews, most children returned to school, airplanes began landing at the airport, borders were open and downtown streets were again crammed with taxis, buses and vendors hawking newspapers, snacks and bubble gum.

"It feels excellent," said Dagoberto Castillo, 27, a mechanic who opened his body-repair shop for the first time this week.

The government, however, declared a partial curfew for border areas and the northern industrial city of San Pedro Sula, the country's second-largest city, from late Thursday until Friday morning.

Zelaya was kicked out of Honduras after the Supreme Court endorsed charges of treason and abuse of authority against the leader for repeatedly ignoring court orders to drop plans for a referendum on whether the constitution should be rewritten.

A report by the Library of Congress released Thursday by Republican U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock found Zelaya's removal from office was legal but his expulsion from the country was illegal.

Schock, a Republican from Illinois, told a news conference Thursday in Washington that the interim government should allow Zelaya to leave the Embassy, forgoing any further punishment and allowing him to live as a regular citizen. He also called on the Honduran government to issue a general amnesty for Zelaya and everyone else involved in the crisis.

Micheletti has pledged to arrest Zelaya if he leaves the shelter of the diplomatic mission.

Zelaya told Radio Globo in Honduras on Thursday that "calm will not return to the country as long as its president is locked up."

International leaders, including Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and President Barack Obama, have called for Zelaya's reinstatement ever since he was ousted, and his surprise arrival in Honduras has prompted new calls for Micheletti to step down.

The U.N. Security Council scheduled consultations for Friday on a letter from Brazil seeking an emergency meeting on Honduras.

Rene Zepeda, the interim government's information minister, said Honduras has no intention of breaking ties with Brazil so it can go after Zelaya inside the compound.

But he added: "Brazil should make Zelaya be quiet and provide the conditions so that he can dialogue with our government instead of unleashing violence in Honduras."

Brazilian presidential spokesman Marcelo Baumbach said that Zelaya can stay as long as he needs to in the Embassy. And in an interview with PBS' "News Hour with Jim Lehrer," Silva called Zelaya and his followers "refugees."

"It's not the first time in the world's history that people who are being persecuted want refuge in foreign embassies," Silva said. "They are refugees."

About 3,000 Micheletti supporters marched toward the Brazilian Embassy and stopped in front of soldiers guarding the compound Thursday. The group of smartly dressed lawyers, wealthy homemakers and others held signs saying "Get out, Brazil!" as they chanted "We want elections not intervention!"

Pro-Zelaya protesters held marches in working-class neighborhoods.

Micheletti has said the conflict will be resolved when Hondurans elect their next leader Nov. 29, although the U.S. and other countries have said they may not recognize the vote if Zelaya is not reinstated.

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, whose nonprofit center in Atlanta is dedicated to resolving conflicts, has been in touch with the Honduran government to express concern about the current situation, Carter Center spokeswoman Deanna Congileo told The Associated Press in an e-mail.

Micheletti invited the Nobel Peace laureate to mediate new talks but Congileo said Carter is simply supporting efforts made by the Organization of American States and Costa Rican President Oscar Arias — another Nobel Peace laureate who moderated previous U.S.-backed talks.

Those negotiations broke down after Micheletti's government refused to accept a plan that would allow Zelaya to return to the presidency with limited powers and prohibit him from attempting to revise the constitution. Zelaya's term ends in January.

Micheletti announced in a statement Thursday that he told Carter he hopes Arias visits Honduras to hold talks with him and Zelaya.

_____

Associated Press Writers Freddy Cuevas in Tegucigalpa; Martha Mendoza in Mexico City; Alan Clendenning in Sao Paulo, and Edith M. Lederer in New York City contributed to this report.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090925/..._honduras_coup

[samanthajane13]

Honduras limits key freedoms to block rebellion
By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer Mark Stevenson, Associated Press Writer – 20 mins ago

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Honduras' interim leaders late Sunday suspended key civil liberties in response to "calls for insurrection" by ousted President Manuel Zelaya, empowering police and soldiers to break up "unauthorized" public meetings, arrest people without warrants and restrict the news media.

The announcement came just hours after Zelaya called on supporters to stage mass marches Monday marking the three-month anniversary of the June 28 coup that ousted him. Zelaya described the marches as "the final offensive" against the interim government.

Zelaya, who surprised the world when he sneaked back into the country last Monday and holed up in the Brazilian Embassy, is demanding he be reinstated to office, and has said that the government of interim President Roberto Micheletti "has to fall."

The government announced the decree in a nationwide broadcast, saying it was "to guarantee peace and public order in the country and due to the calls for insurrection that Mr. Zelaya has publicly made."

The measure empowers police and soldiers to arrest without a warrant "any person who poses a danger to his own life or those of others," although unlike martial law, it requires that anyone arrested be turned over to civilian prosecutors. The Honduran Constitution forbids arrest without warrants except where a criminal is caught in the act.

The measure also permits authorities to temporarily close news media outlets that "attack peace and public order."

The media restrictions appear aimed at pro-Zelaya radio and television stations that — while subject to brief raids immediately after the coup — had been allowed to operate freely, openly criticizing the government and broadcasting Zelaya's statements.

But under Sunday's order, authorities may now "prevent the transmission by any spoken, written or televised means, of statements that attack peace and the public order, or which offend the human dignity of public officials, or attack the law."

The decree states that the country's national telecommunications commission, known as Conatel, is authorized "through police and the armed forces ... to immediately suspend any radio station, cable or television network whose programming does not comply with these regulations."

Pro-Zelaya television station Channel 36 warned earlier Sunday that restrictions on the news media were coming, and said they were part of a pattern by the interim government of quashing constitutional rights.

The government had previously bragged about the democratic atmosphere in the country, citing outlets such as Channel 36 as proof. The station continued broadcasting without interruption on Sunday night.

The interim government also Sunday expelled personnel from the Organization of American States looking to set up a mediation effort and gave Brazil a 10-day ultimatum to either hand over Zelaya or give him political asylum and get him out of the country.

OAS Special Adviser John Biehl told reporters in the capital, Tegucigalpa, that he and four other members of an advance team — including two Americans, a Canadian and a Colombian — were stopped by authorities after landing at the international airport Sunday. Biehl, who is Chilean, said he was later told he could stay, but the others were put on planes leaving the country.

"A high-ranking official told us we were expelled, that we had not notified (the interim government) that we were coming," he said.

Biehl said he was in Honduras to set up a visit by OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza, who he said would arrive "at the appropriate time."

Interim President Roberto Micheletti has previously said the OAS was welcome to come, but suggested that representatives begin arriving Monday. Foreign Minister Carlos Lopez said that the team's arrival didn't come "at the right time ... because we are in the middle of internal conversations."

Talks between Zelaya and Micheletti's representatives have produced no results.

A Micheletti spokesman warned Brazilian authorities Sunday to "immediately take measures to ensure that Mr. Zelaya stops using the protection offered by the diplomatic mission to instigate violence in Honduras."

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva immediately rejected the missive, saying his government "doesn't accept ultimatums from coup-plotters."

Micheletti didn't specify what he would do after 10 days. He has said previously that he plans to arrest Zelaya, who faces treason and abuse of authority charges for ignoring court orders to drop plans for a referendum on rewriting the constitution.

Brazil — like the rest of the international community — recognizes Zelaya as Honduras' legitimate president, and says it wants to protect him.

On Tuesday, the day after Zelaya's return, baton-wielding soldiers used tear gas and water cannons to chase away thousands of his supporters outside the Embassy.

Since then, the diplomatic mission has been surrounded by police and soldiers. Zelaya and about 65 supporters inside accused authorities of temporarily cutting off water and electricity early in the week, and later said the government released an unidentified gas that caused headaches, nosebleeds and nausea.

Zelaya accused Micheletti's government Sunday of bombarding the Embassy with "electromagnetic radiation." In a statement broadcast by Channel 36, Zelaya did not offer any other details, nor did he specify whether the alleged radiation had hurt anyone.

The U.N. Security Council has issued a statement that "called upon the de facto government of Honduras to cease harassing the Brazilian Embassy."

New talks to resolve the dispute began after Zelaya reappeared in Honduras last Monday following what he described as a secret, 15-hour journey. Many nations have announced they would send diplomatic representatives back to Honduras to support negotiations.

But the Honduran government said Sunday it would not automatically accept ambassadors back from some nations that withdrew their envoys.

Countries including Spain, Mexico, Argentina and Venezuela will have to negotiate re-establishing diplomatic relations with the foreign ministry and reaccredit their diplomatic representatives, the government said.

___

Associated Press writers Fabiola Sanchez in Porlamar, Venezuela; and Freddy Cuevas in Tegucigalpa, contributed to this report.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090928/..._honduras_coup

[samanthajane13]

Honduras' interim government raids media outlets



TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Honduras' coup-installed government has silenced two key dissident broadcasters hours after it suspended civil liberties to prevent an uprising by backers of ousted President Manuel Zelaya.

Dozens of soldiers raided the offices of Radio Globo on Monday. Officials have also shut down the Channel 36 television station, which is broadcasting only a test pattern.

Interim government spokesman Rene Zepeda says the two outlets have been taken off the air under a government emergency decree announced late Sunday that limits civil liberties and allows authorities to close news media that "attack peace and public order."

It was the second time soldiers have raided Radio Globo since Zelaya was ousted June 28.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Interim government leaders have suspended constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties in a pre-emptive strike against widespread rebellion Monday, three months to the day since they ousted President Manuel Zelaya in a military-backed coup.

Zelaya supporters said they would ignore the decree issued late Sunday and march in the streets as planned. Some already had arrived in the capital, Tegucigalpa, from outlying provinces.

The measures — announced just hours after Zelaya called on his backers to stage mass protest marches in what he called a "final offensive" against the government — are likely to draw harsh criticism from the international community, which has condemned the June 28 coup and urged that Zelaya be reinstated to the presidency and allowed to serve out his term, which ends in January.

Officials also issued an ultimatum to Brazil on Sunday, giving the South American country 10 days to decide whether to turn Zelaya over for arrest or grant him asylum and, presumably, take him out of Honduras. They did not specify what they would do after the 10 days were up.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva responded, saying that his government "doesn't accept ultimatums from coup-plotters."

Interim President Roberto Micheletti has pledged not to raid the Brazilian Embassy building where Zelaya has been holed up with more than 60 supporters since he sneaked back into the country a week ago. The building is surrounded by armed police and soldiers. On Tuesday, the day after Zelaya's return, baton-wielding troops used tear gas and water cannons to chase away thousands of his supporters.

Protesters say at least 10 people have been killed since the coup, while the government puts the toll at three.

Interim Foreign Minister Carlos Lopez has said that, because Brazil has broken off diplomatic relations with the interim government, it would have to remove the Brazilian flag and shield from the Embassy "and it (the building) becomes a private office."

The government's suspension of civil liberties violates rights guaranteed in the Honduran Constitution: The decree prohibits unauthorized gatherings and allows police to arrest without a warrant "any person who poses a danger to his own life or those of others."

The Honduran Constitution forbids arrests without warrants except when a criminal is caught in the act.

The government measures also permit authorities to temporarily close news media outlets that "attack peace and public order."

In a nationally broadcast announcement, the government explained it took the steps it did "to guarantee peace and public order in the country and due to the calls for insurrection that Mr. Zelaya has publicly made."

There was no immediate reaction from Zelaya, who is demanding to be reinstated and has said that Micheletti's government "has to fall."

Zelaya's supporters pledged to ignore the restrictions and forge ahead with their scheduled demonstrations.

"The protest is on," said pro-Zelaya leader Juan Barahona. "Tomorrow we will be in the streets."

The media restrictions appear aimed at pro-Zelaya radio and television stations that — while subject to brief raids immediately after the coup — had been allowed to operate freely, openly criticizing the interim government and broadcasting Zelaya's statements.

Under Sunday's order, authorities may now "prevent the transmission by any spoken, written or televised means, of statements that attack peace and the public order, or which offend the human dignity of public officials, or attack the law."

The decree states that the country's national telecommunications commission, known as Conatel, is authorized "through police and the armed forces ... to immediately suspend any radio station, cable or television network whose programming does not comply with these regulations."

Pro-Zelaya television station Channel 36 warned earlier Sunday that restrictions on the news media were coming and said they were part of a pattern by the interim government of quashing constitutional rights.

Micheletti's administration had previously bragged about the democratic atmosphere in the country, citing media outlets such as Channel 36 as proof. The station continued broadcasting without interruption Sunday night.

Talks between Zelaya and interim government officials aimed at resolving the political standoff have gotten nowhere. Prospects for success appeared even grimmer after the government expelled at least four members of an advance team from the Organization of American States who had arrived Sunday to re-establish negotiations.

Micheletti has previously said the OAS was welcome to come, but suggested that representatives begin arriving Monday. Foreign Minister Carlos Lopez said that the team's arrival didn't come "at the right time ... because we are in the middle of internal conversations."

In addition, while many nations have announced they would send diplomatic representatives back to Honduras to support negotiations, the interim government said Sunday that it would not automatically accept ambassadors back from some nations that withdrew their envoys.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090928/..._honduras_coup

[samanthajane13]

Desperate Honduran leaders vow to restore freedoms
By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer Mark Stevenson, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 16 mins ago

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – The coup-installed president of Honduras backed down Monday from an escalating standoff with protesters and suggested he would restore civil liberties and reopen dissident television and radio stations by the end of the week.

Riot police ringed supporters of ousted President Manuel Zelaya who gathered for a large-scale protest march, setting off a daylong standoff. The government of interim President Roberto Micheletti declared the march illegal, sent soldiers to silence dissident broadcasters, and suspended civil liberties for 45 days.

But in a sudden reversal, Micheletti said Monday afternoon that he wanted to "ask the Honduran people for forgiveness" for the measures and said he would lift them in accordance with demands from the same Congress that installed him after a June 28 coup. He said he would discuss lifting the measures with court officials "as soon as possible," adding: "By the end of this week we'll have this resolved."

He also repeated his pledge not to attack the Brazilian Embassy, where Zelaya has been holed up with 60 supporters since sneaking back into the country on Sept. 21. He even sent "a big hug" to Brazil's president, a day after giving him a 10-day ultimatum to expel Zelaya or move him to Brazil.

His government also said it would welcome an advance team from the Organization of American States into the country starting Friday, after expelling four members of a similar team Sunday, and said an OAS commission of foreign ministers could visit on Oct. 7.

The increasingly authoritarian measures by the government had prompted international condemnation, though the U.S. representative to the OAS also had harsh words for Zelaya, calling his return to Honduras "irresponsible and foolish."

The Micheletti government says Zelaya supporters are planning a violent insurrection.

"Some radio stations, some television stations, were calling for violence, for guerrilla war, and that had us in the government super worried," Micheletti said.

So far, protests have seen little bloodshed — the government says three people have been killed since the coup, while protesters put the number at 10. Protest leader Juan Barahona said that could change.

"This mass movement is peaceful, but to the extent they repress us, fence us in and make this method useless, we have to find some other form of struggle," he said.

Micheletti made clear that even if the emergency measures are lifted, "that doesn't mean the police are going back to barracks."

Monday's march drew hundreds of people, many of whom covered their mouths with tape to protest government censorship. Protest leaders insisted that thousands more were trying to join but were stopped from leaving poorer neighborhoods or from traveling from the countryside.

"There is brutal repression against the people," Zelaya told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Monday.

The emergency decree issued Sunday bans unauthorized gatherings and lets police arrest people without warrants, rights guaranteed in the Honduran Constitution. It also allows authorities to shut news media for "statements that attack peace and the public order, or which offend the human dignity of public officials, or attack the law."

In the late afternoon, police allowed the protesters to board buses and leave.

Government soldiers raided the offices of Radio Globo and the television station Channel 36, both critics of the Micheletti government, and silenced both. Afterward, the TV station broadcast only a test pattern.

Radio Globo employees scrambled out of an emergency exit to escape the raid that involved as many as 200 soldiers.

"They took away all the equipment," said owner Alejandro Villatoro. "This is the death of the station."

Two journalists covering the raid for Mexico's Televisa and Guatemala's Guatevision were beaten by security forces, who also took their camera, according to Guatemala's ambassador to the OAS, Jorge Skinner. He asked the InterAmerican Human Rights Commission to intervene.

The OAS held an emergency meeting in Washington on Monday after Honduras expelled the OAS advance team. Foreign Minister Carlos Lopez said the team had not given advance notice of its arrival.

U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley condemned the expulsion.

"I think it's time for the de facto regime to put down the shovel," he said. "With every action they keep on making the hole deeper."

Lew Amselem, the U.S. representative to the OAS, also condemned the expulsion as "deplorable and foolish." But had equally harsh words for Zelaya. He said returning without an agreement "serves neither the interests of the Honduran people nor those seeking the peaceful reestablishment of the democratic order in Honduras."

He added: "Those who facilitated President Zelaya's return ... have a special responsibility for the prevention of violence and the well-being of the Honduran people." He did not say to whom he was referring.

The increasingly authoritarian actions by the interim government signaled an abrupt shift in strategy after appealing for foreign support and arguing it ousted Zelaya to preserve democracy.

Only last week, Micheletti argued in a letter to the Washington Post that his government was not a coup, citing as evidence that freedom assembly was still allowed: "They do not guarantee freedom of the press, much less a respect for human rights. In Honduras, these freedoms remain intact and vibrant."

He argued that the international community will have no choice but to recognize a Nov. 29 vote — "the ultimate civil exercise of any democracy — a free and open presidential election."

Zelaya supporters noted that the emergency decree effectively outlawed any campaigning until two weeks before election day.

"If they can't campaign ... what happens then to the electoral solution?" asked protest leader Rafael Alegria.

Analysts called the shift a sign that the Micheletti government is feeling increasingly threatened.

"It certainly shows that they're worried that Zelaya might be able to disrupt the government," said Heather Berkman, a Honduras expert with the New York-based Eurasia Group. "Zelaya's only recourse really is to mobilize people on the streets. I'm sure that Micheletti and the government know that and they're going to do whatever they can to prevent that."

She called it a risky move: "They're damaging their own credibility, and really hurting the economy."

___

Associated Press writers contributing to this report included Freddy Cuevas in Tegucigalpa and Martha Mendoza and Catherine Shoichet in Mexico City.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090929/..._honduras_coup

[samanthajane13]

Diplomats converge on Honduras for talks
By BEN FOX, Associated Press Writer Ben Fox, Associated Press Writer – 21 mins ago

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Diplomats from throughout the hemisphere were converging Wednesday on Honduras to resolve a standoff that has left the impoverished Central American country with two presidents, a capital scarred by protests and a bitterly divided population.

Delegates from more than 10 Latin and North American countries will be on hand to mediate talks between representatives of President Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted by the military three months ago, and the government of interim President Roberto Micheletti, who has the support of Honduras' Congress and Supreme Court but has faced intense international pressure to allow his predecessor's return.

Micheletti set an optimistic tone in a national address late Tuesday, saying the talks would address with a "new spirit" the main issues of dispute over the San Jose Accord, a plan brokered by Nobel Prize-winning former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias.

"To consolidate political stability and normalize our country's relations with the international community, I believe the time is right to intensify the national dialogue," he said in the brief speech.

Micheletti did not go into specifics, but said two crucial issues would be discussion of the "powers of the state" and amnesty, apparent references to the key areas of dispute over the San Jose Accord, which would allow Zelaya to return without being prosecuted for his alleged crimes.

Some political observers have said members of the Micheletti government will also need amnesty for any involvement in the ouster of Zelaya, who was still in his pajamas when he was forced at gunpoint into a military truck and whisked by plane into exile in Costa Rica in a June 28 coup.

Micheletti spokeswoman Marcia Facusse repeated that the interim president had offered to step down if Zelaya agreed to renounce his claim to the presidency, something the ousted leader has refused to do.

"From there we can find a place to start the dialogue because the conflict would cease to be about two men and become a search for what's best for the country," Facusse told HRN radio.

Zelaya was forced from office for trying to hold a referendum on rewriting the constitution. His opponents charged he wanted to lift the charter's provision limiting presidents to a single term — an accusation he denies.

Zelaya sneaked back into the country last month and remains holed up in the Brazilian Embassy with dozens of supporters. He has not announced any plans to leave his refuge, and will be represented in the talks by members of his deposed government.

The U.S., along with much of the rest of the international community, has called for Zelaya, as the democratically elected president, to be returned to office to serve out the rest of his term, which ends in January. New elections are scheduled for Nov. 29.

The talks were brokered by the Organization of American States and the delegates were expected to include OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza as well as representatives of the U.S., Canada, Mexico and other countries in the region.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091007/..._honduras_coup

[samanthajane13]

Diplomats urge return of ousted Honduran president
By BEN FOX, Associated Press Writer Ben Fox, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 42 mins ago

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Diplomats from across the hemisphere on Wednesday told Honduras' interim government to reinstate ousted President Manuel Zelaya during at-times confrontational talks aimed at ending a standoff that has paralyzed this impoverished Central American nation.

Delegations from about a dozen countries met with representatives of Zelaya and the coup-installed government behind closed doors in Honduras' capital, then later held talks with interim President Roberto Micheletti in a confrontation broadcast on local television.

Micheletti, his voice at-times bristling with rage, scolded the diplomats for refusing to recognize what he insisted was the lawful removal of Zelaya under the Honduran constitution and for isolating his country and suspending aid to one of the poorest countries in the hemisphere.

"You don't know the truth or you don't want to know it," Micheletti said, imploring the delegates from the United States, Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean to "reflect on the damage you are doing to a country that has done nothing to you."

The diplomats sat stone-faced, a few rubbing their eyes in apparent fatigue during his outburst. Canada's minister of state for the Americas, Peter Kent, then told Micheletti that the international community respects the Honduran Constitution, but it oppose the military's ouster of Zelaya.

"However it happened, a mistake was made on June 28," Kent told the interim president. "A democratically elected leader, whatever his behavior in recent years, was undemocratically removed."

The diplomats took turns urging Micheletti and his ministers to reconsider their position, but no breakthroughs were announced. The delegates, brought to Honduras by the Organization of American States, were scheduled to leave Thursday.

"Today we saw Hondurans sitting together, working on a Honduran solution," Ronald Robinson, a Jamaican representing the Caribbean Community, said during the meeting. "For me, I thought it was a good step in the right direction."

After the talks with Micheletti, the delegation met with Zelaya in the Brazilian Embassy, where the ousted president has been holed up with dozens of supporters since sneaking back into the country from his forced exile.

The diplomats returned to their hotel later without commenting on their meetings to waiting journalists. Organization of American States Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza would only say there would be a news conference Thursday to discuss the progress.

Tensions rose before Wednesday's meeting, with riot police firing tear gas to disperse about 200 Zelaya supporters protesting near the U.S. and Brazilian embassies.

Micheletti and his supporters say Zelaya's military-backed ouster was legal because it was sanctioned by Honduras' Supreme Court after he defied of a court order that he drop a referendum on changing the constitution. Most of the international community maintains the coup was illegal and must be reversed.

"We are not here to create a debate. We are here to find concrete solutions to a situation that cannot be prolonged," Insulza said before the round of meetings started.

Insulza presented a proposal to restore Zelaya as head of a unity government until his term ends in January and offer amnesty to both the coup leaders and the deposed president, who faces abuse of power and other charges in Honduras.

The proposal, which also would require Zelaya to abandon any ambitions to change the constitution, is very similar to one proposed months ago by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, known as the San Jose Accord, and rejected by the interim government.

Zelaya gave negotiators an ultimatum, calling for the postponement of upcoming presidential election if he is not restored to office before Oct. 15. The interim government wants to go ahead with the election — scheduled before Zelaya's overthrow — and move past the crisis.

The Canadian minister said it was imperative for an agreement to be reached before the Nov. 29 election, which many countries in the Americas have warned would not be recognized if Zelaya remains out of the power.

"I sense that everybody involved understands that we are nearly out of time and this crisis needs to be resolved now," Kent said.

Interim Vice President Marta Lorena Alvarado, however, said she did not expect an agreement Wednesday.

"It would be fantastic, but the problem is difficult and there are a lot of players. I don't think it will be today," she said.

She insisted the world was too quick to condemn Zelaya ouster. Still, she said, the two sides were "initiating conversations that had not occurred before and expectations are positive" for an eventual resolution.

Zelaya warned that the interim government would seek to persuade the delegates to pursue a new plan that would prevent his return to office.

"We warn the ministers that the de facto regime is planning to stay in power longer and to deepen the crisis by preventing the return of the elected president and continuing the repression of the people," Zelaya said in a statement.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091008/..._honduras_coup

[samanthajane13]

OAS diplomats get talks started in Honduras crisis
By BEN FOX, Associated Press Writer Ben Fox, Associated Press Writer – Thu Oct 8, 5:00 pm ET

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Diplomats pushed the two sides of the Honduran political conflict into direct talks for the first time in nearly three months, but left the country Thursday with no commitment from the coup-installed government to reinstate ousted President Manuel Zelaya.

Members of the delegation sponsored by the Organization of American States characterized the result of their one-day visit — the establishment of a "table of dialogue" and an agenda for the talks — as a positive step even though the rivals appeared as far apart as ever.

Costa Rican Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno said representatives of Zelaya and the government of interim President Roberto Micheletti agreed to discuss the main international proposal for resolving the crisis and will have "logistical" support from OAS staff left behind.

Any resolution, however, will be in their hands.

"This is going to be an exclusively Honduran dialogue," Stagno told reporters as the delegation headed to the airport. "This is a divided family and they have to reconcile."

The depth of that division was clear as Stagno spoke: About 200 pro-Zelaya supporters massed boisterously at the front door of the hotel where the direct talks are held, calling for the ousted leader's return. Dozens of police, some in riot gear with tear gas at the ready, blocked them from entering the building and they left after about an hour.

"The truth is they don't want a solution," 50-year-old protester Maritza Burgos said of the interim government. "They want to be in power, stay in power and keep President Manuel Zelaya, the only Honduran president, from getting back in office."

Canada's minister of state for the Americas, Peter Kent, said Honduras cannot hold its scheduled Nov. 29 presidential election with international support if Zelaya isn't returned to office soon, even with limited powers in a coalition government as outlined in a mediator's settlement proposal. Still, he said the visit wasn't a failure.

"We had both sides speak to each other in a positive way," Kent said in an interview with The Associated Press. "This was really only the first step in a much longer process."

The June 28 military-backed coup that toppled Zelaya has paralyzed this impoverished Central American nation with street protests, the suspension of foreign aid, diplomatic isolation and a standoff between the rival claimants to the presidency. The crisis deepened when Zelaya slipped back into the country in late September and took refuge with dozens of supporters in the Brazilian Embassy.

Governments throughout the world insist the ousted president serve out the final months of his term and be restored to his office in time to prepare for the November election.

The international community has also called for an amnesty that would prevent Zelaya from being prosecuted for what his opponents say was an illegal effort to change the Honduras' constitution. Amnesty would also keep a reinstated Zelaya from going after those who overthrew him.

The OAS dispatched foreign ministers and other senior diplomats from about a dozen countries in North and South American and the Caribbean. They met on Wednesday with Zelaya in a cramped and stuffy room of the Brazilian Embassy for about 90 minutes and with Micheletti around a conference table in the stately presidential palace, where he subjected them to an angry defense of his government.

Kent said the diplomats were surprised by the outburst, which he said was in sharp contrast to the "fairly civil" meetings between the representatives of the two sides. Zelaya, he said, has already agreed to a downgraded role if he is returned to the presidency.

"He would not be returned to office with the powers he has when he was originally elected," the minister said as he headed to the airport for his return to Ottawa. "He has agreed that he would come back under controlled circumstances."

Among the requirements is that he would not be able to "tinker" with the constitution.

In a statement released at the official close of its mission, the OAS group urged the interim government to "resolve the problem of the Brazilian Embassy," where Zelaya and dozens of supporters are virtual prisoners, sleeping on the floor and receiving shipments of food while soldiers have it cordoned off.

The delegation also called on Micheletti's administration to allow the resumption of operations at two pro-Zelaya broadcasters, whose equipment was confiscated under an emergency decree limiting civil liberties.

Zelaya has made no public comments on the negotiations.

Victor Meza, who represents the ousted president in the talks, said results had been "satisfactory" so far. Pro-Zelaya protest leader Juan Barahona, also taking part in the negotiations, said the ousted president must be returned by Oct. 15 in time to prepare for the election.

"If there's no resolution by then, I don't know what is going to happen," he told the AP.

Zelaya was forced from office for trying to hold a referendum on rewriting the constitution. His opponents charge he wanted to lift the charter's provision limiting presidents to a single term in a bid to stay in office or to be re-elected later. Zelaya says that was not his intention.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091008/..._honduras_coup

[samanthajane13]

Diplomats leave; talks go on in Honduras crisis
By BEN FOX, Associated Press Writer Ben Fox, Associated Press Writer – Thu Oct 8, 8:51 pm ET

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Diplomats pushed the two sides of the Honduran political conflict into direct talks for the first time in nearly three months, but left the country Thursday with no commitment from the coup-installed government to reinstate ousted President Manuel Zelaya.

Members of the delegation sponsored by the Organization of American States characterized the result of their one-day visit — the establishment of a "table of dialogue" and an agenda for the talks — as a positive step even though the rivals appeared as far apart as ever.

Costa Rican Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno said representatives of Zelaya and the government of interim President Roberto Micheletti agreed to discuss the main international proposal for resolving the crisis and will have "logistical" support from OAS staff left behind.

Any resolution, however, will be in their hands.

"This is going to be an exclusively Honduran dialogue," Stagno told reporters as the delegation headed to the airport. "This is a divided family and they have to reconcile."

The depth of that division was clear as Stagno spoke: About 200 pro-Zelaya supporters massed boisterously at the front door of the hotel where the direct talks are held, calling for the ousted leader's return. Dozens of police, some in riot gear with tear gas at the ready, blocked them from entering the building and they left after about an hour.

"The truth is they don't want a solution," 50-year-old protester Maritza Burgos said of the interim government. "They want to be in power, stay in power and keep President Manuel Zelaya, the only Honduran president, from getting back in office."

Canada's minister of state for the Americas, Peter Kent, said Honduras cannot hold its scheduled Nov. 29 presidential election with international support if Zelaya isn't returned to office soon, even with limited powers in a coalition government as outlined in a mediator's settlement proposal. Still, he said the visit wasn't a failure.

"We had both sides speak to each other in a positive way," Kent said in an interview with The Associated Press. "This was really only the first step in a much longer process."

The June 28 military-backed coup that toppled Zelaya has paralyzed this impoverished Central American nation with street protests, the suspension of foreign aid, diplomatic isolation and a standoff between the rival claimants to the presidency. The crisis deepened when Zelaya slipped back into the country in late September and took refuge with dozens of supporters in the Brazilian Embassy.

Governments throughout the world insist the ousted president serve out the final months of his term and be restored to his office in time to prepare for the November election.

The international community has also called for an amnesty that would prevent Zelaya from being prosecuted for what his opponents say was an illegal effort to change the Honduras' constitution. Amnesty would also keep a reinstated Zelaya from going after those who overthrew him.

The OAS dispatched foreign ministers and other senior diplomats from about a dozen countries in North and South American and the Caribbean. They met on Wednesday with Zelaya in a cramped and stuffy room of the Brazilian Embassy for about 90 minutes and with Micheletti around a conference table in the stately presidential palace, where he subjected them to an angry defense of his government.

Kent said the diplomats were surprised by the outburst, which he said was in sharp contrast to the "fairly civil" meetings between the representatives of the two sides. Zelaya, he said, has already agreed to a downgraded role if he is returned to the presidency.

"He would not be returned to office with the powers he had when he was originally elected," the minister said as he headed to the airport for his return to Ottawa. "He has agreed that he would come back under controlled circumstances."

Among the requirements is that he would not be able to "tinker" with the constitution.

In a statement released at the official close of its mission, the OAS group urged the interim government to "resolve the problem of the Brazilian Embassy," where Zelaya and dozens of supporters are virtual prisoners, sleeping on the floor and receiving shipments of food while soldiers have it cordoned off.

The delegation also called on Micheletti's administration to allow the resumption of operations at two pro-Zelaya broadcasters, whose equipment was confiscated under an emergency decree limiting civil liberties.

Mayra Mejia, Zelaya's labor minister and one of his three representatives in the talks, said at the close of the meeting with her three counterparts from the interim government that the group had resolved 25 percent of their differences. She declined to go into details, saying the negotiators agreed not to discuss specifics in public.

The parties plan to meet every day at least through the weekend, Mejia said. "We have lost a lot of time," she said. "The solution has to be in the short term."

For his part, Zelaya told reporters with him inside the Brazilian Embassy that it wasn't just elections the country needed but government action to ease poverty and curb the privileges of the elite.

"What's needed to solve the crisis are real social reforms in our country to address the massive inequalities that Honduras has historically suffered to the detriment of the vast majority," he said.

Zelaya was forced from office for trying to hold a referendum on rewriting the constitution. His opponents charge he wanted to lift the charter's provision limiting presidents to a single term in a bid to stay in office or to be re-elected later. Zelaya says that was not his intention.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091009/..._honduras_coup

[samanthajane13]

Hondurans agree on constitution; no deal on Zelaya
By JUAN CARLOS LLORCA, Associated Press Writer Juan Carlos Llorca, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 38 mins ago

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Honduras' opposing factions agreed Tuesday on nearly every point of a pact to end the political crisis except the central issue: ousted President Manuel Zelaya's return to the presidency.

Negotiators said Zelaya's camp has promised that if he returns to power, he will drop his efforts to change the Honduran constitution, an initiative that led to his June 28 ouster.

Juan Barahona, a Zelaya supporter who has led street protests against the coup, walked out of the talks Tuesday in protest of the agreement on the constitution. He vowed to continue fighting for a new constitution on his own even if Zelaya is restored to office.

Critics say Zelaya was seeking to extend his time in office by removing a constitutional ban on presidential re-election, as his ally Hugo Chavez has done in Venezuela. Zelaya denied that was his intention, but soldiers flew him into exile at gunpoint after he ignored court orders to drop a referendum to ask Hondurans if they wanted an assembly to rewrite the constitution.

Zelaya sneaked back into Honduras on Sept. 21 and is holed up at the Brazilian Embassy. The United States and other countries have suspended aid to the Central American country to pressure the interim government to restore Zelaya.

Vilma Morales, a spokeswoman for the coup-installed government, said the two sides began discussing the subject of Zelaya's return to power Tuesday and would continue the debate Wednesday.

"Tomorrow we will continue discussing different scenarios and alternatives," Morales said.

Mayra Mejia, a spokeswoman for Zelaya negotiators, emphasized that the ousted leader's return to power is not negotiable. "The ball is in their court. We wait their response tomorrow," she said.

Morales said the two sides have agreed on every other aspect of the pact, first proposed by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias. One point includes a commission to monitor that both sides stick to their part of the agreement.

Morales gave few other details. However, Barahona said the two sides had agreed to renounce amnesty from prosecution. The Arias plan had proposed amnesty for both the coup perpetrators and Zelaya, who faces abuse of power charges stemming from his efforts to change the constitution.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091014/..._honduras_coup

[samanthajane13]

Honduras, already poor, sinks further after coup
By BEN FOX, Associated Press Writer Ben Fox, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 54 mins ago

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – A woman caring for six grandchildren can no longer afford milk. A bricklayer who used to work six days a week now is lucky to get two. A shop manager has seen his earnings evaporate.

Nearly four months after the military ousted President Manuel Zelaya, Hondurans are feeling the sting of a political crisis that has eroded an already fragile economy and increased hunger in one of the Western Hemisphere's poorest countries.

"Everything has gone up since the coup," said 50-year-old Leticia Medina as she walked along an unpaved road in the ramshackle Honduran capital. "It was hard before, but now you can buy even less."

Honduras wasn't in great shape economically before the June 28 coup — the global recession had cut demand for exports and slowed the remittances many families depend on. But the political chaos, with its protests, curfews, blockaded streets and international isolation, made things worse.

Tourists have stayed away from the country's beaches, Mayan ruins and rainforests — a decline driven in part by a U.S. State Department alert recommending people avoid non-essential travel to the country.

In Roatan, a world-class diving destination far from the troubles in the capital, tourism dropped 85 percent after the coup, said Mario Pi, president of the island's Tourist Information Center.

"For the hotels, it's been a disaster," said Pi, who predicted the resort would finish the year down 50 percent.

Meanwhile, ordinary shoppers in the capital, Tegucigalpa, are staying away from stores out of economic anxiety or fear of the protests and traffic jams they cause.

Countries around the world have demanded Zelaya be allowed to return and serve out his term, which ends in January, in a coalition government. Many have cut off aid to isolate the interim government: the U.S. suspended about $40 million in non-humanitarian assistance while the European Union halted $90 million. Multi-lateral lending agencies have also blocked the country's access to credit.

These measures have had severe ripple effects in Honduras, where more than 70 percent of the population of about 7.7 million are considered poor and more than 1.5 million get by on $1 a day or less.

Among those feeling the effects are 65-year-old Susan Trimino, who is caring for six grandchildren and can no longer afford milk on her husband's meager earnings as a laborer. Instead she is giving them ground up corn and water, she said, as she walked along a dirt road in plastic shoes.

Bricklayer Luis Palma said there is such a shortage of work that he's down to earning less than $8 a day. "In my neighborhood, there's a ton of people with no work," said the 24-year-old Palma, who lives in the capital.

Augusto Reyes, who manages a store selling glass and ceramic dinnerware in the capital's Palmira neighborhood, estimates sales have dropped 90 percent since Zelaya returned last month and took refuge in the nearby Brazilian Embassy.

The once-thriving commercial district of sloping streets has become a militarized zone of blockaded streets and protests, prompting him to cover the windows and door of his shop with plywood.

"In my case, if there are no sales, there are no commissions," the 47-year-old father of three said. "If the crisis continues, it's going to be very difficult for us."

Enrique Nunez, president of the National Association of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, said the group's members have eliminated more than 18,000 jobs — about 65 percent of their work force — amid an "alarming" decrease in demand.

"More than anything, the crisis is creating a climate of uncertainty," said Norman Garcia, an adviser to the Honduran Private Enterprise Council. "Investments that might have been made are being held up because no one knows when there's going to be a return to normalcy."

Interim President Roberto Micheletti and his supporters insist they acted legally under the Honduran constitution to remove a president they considered inept, corrupt and too close to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

The military ousted Zelaya, with the backing of Congress and the Supreme Court, for pushing a referendum that his critics claimed was an attempt to repeal a constitutional ban on term limits — an allegation the deposed president denies.

Negotiators said Wednesday they had reached a consensus on Zelaya's return to the presidency, but later toned down hopes, saying the final text of a deal is still being worked out and talks would continue.

As the two rival factions negotiate for control of the country, the elite are comfortable behind their walled homes, although the U.S. has revoked the visas of some of the country's prominent business and political leaders.

The U.S., citing privacy rules, won't disclose the names. But Adolfo Facusse, a textile manufacturer who heads a business association, said he was among them and was forced to return home after arriving on a flight to Miami with his 11-year-old son.

Many still believe soldiers did the right thing by forcing out Zelaya, a wealthy rancher and timber baron who alienated fellow business leaders with such populist moves as hiking the minimum wage by 60 percent during the global economic crisis and strengthening ties with Chavez.

"It would have been infinitely worse with Zelaya here," said Facusse, who says he had to lay off 800 workers earlier this year because of the recession in the U.S.

Those farther down the economic ladder are just eager for the situation to be resolved.

Miguel Alvarez, manager of an electronics and audio equipment store, said his sales have dropped 60 percent and he has laid off two of his 16 employees. If sales don't pick up, the shop might have to move or close down.

"What we want is that it's resolved in the most peaceful way possible," Alvarez said. "We can't operate in these conditions."

___

Associated Press writers Juan Carlos Llorca and Freddy Cuevas in Tegucigalpa contributed to this report.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091015/...as_costly_coup

[samanthajane13]

Ousted Honduran leader calls charges persecution

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Former Honduran president Manuel Zelaya said Thursday that new corruption charges brought against him by Honduras' newly elected government amount to political persecution.

Zelaya, who was ousted in a coup last June, said in a statement from the Dominican Republic — where he has taken refuge — that the charges undermine efforts to promote national reconciliation following the coup that ousted him.

He said the charges "seek personal revenge and worsen the political persecution against me, forgetting national reconciliation."

Honduras' anti-corruption prosecutor is seeking to charge Zelaya with allegedly diverting $1.5 million in welfare funds to his campaign for a referendum on reforming the constitution.

Zelaya defied a Supreme Court order to drop plans for the vote, and he already faces abuse of power and treason charges over his defiance of the Supreme Court order.

The proposed referendum — which some saw as an attempt by Zelaya to grab power — helped spark the June 28 coup.

In his statement, Zelaya expressed anger that the military chiefs who participated in the coup have been absolved while he faces more criminal charges.

The military chief of staff whose soldiers hustled Zelaya out of the country aboard an airplane was replaced Thursday. Gen. Romeo Vasquez, who Zelaya tried to dismiss as head of the joint chiefs of staff, retired, and President Porfirio Lobo swore in Gen. Carlos Cuellas as his replacement.

Meanwhile, thousands of Zelaya supporters marched through the capital Thursday to protest economic suffering and demand the government pay back wages owed to teachers.

Zelaya's backers once drew tens of thousands to protest marches, but their numbers dwindled after the interim government — which left office in January — declared curfews and temporarily shuttered some pro-Zelaya media outlets.


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