Honduras' Zelaya: "Reinstate Me or Else"

Ousted President Issues Ultimatum to Coup Regime as Negotiations Drag on

(AP)  Negotiations to end Honduras' political crisis are facing a new challenge after the ousted president vowed to act on his own if he is not returned to power in the next round of talks, possibly this weekend.

Manuel Zelaya, who was toppled by a military-backed coup and flown out of the country in his night clothes on June 28, is clearly frustrated by the slow movement of negotiations mediated by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, which have produced no breakthrough after two rounds.

"We are giving the coup regime an ultimatum," Zelaya said Monday at a news conference in Nicaragua, where he arrived Sunday night following a brief trip to Washington.

If at the next round of talks the interim government does not agree to reinstate him, "the mediation effort will be considered failed and other measures will be taken," he said. He did not say what those measures would be.

The interim government of Roberto Micheletti, which insists the coup is legal since it was backed by Honduras' Supreme Court and Congress, has refused to bend on reinstating Zelaya and is trying to make life return to normal in the impoverished Central American nation.

On Sunday, the government lifted a nighttime curfew in place since the coup and it successfully urged tens of thousands of Honduran teachers and students to return to class Monday.

Micheletti said late Monday that a Honduran negotiating team could return to the bargaining table as early as this weekend to try to end the stalemate caused by the coup.

At the swearing-in ceremony of a new foreign minister Monday, Micheletti said his team of delegates was "ready for another meeting."

Zelaya accused the Micheletti government of using the talks "as a means to distract attention" from repression in Honduras, where protests for and against Zelaya's return have filled the streets, though they have waned in recent days.

Members of Micheletti's administration did not immediately respond to Zelaya's comments.

Arias, the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize winner for his role in helping end Central America's civil wars, was expected to announce the date for new talks soon.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly reiterated U.S. support for Arias' mediation efforts.

"It is not a process that's being led by the United States of America. We just have to give time for this process to work. And I'll just say, we're standing firmly behind President Arias," Kelly said.

Despite Kelly's comments, Washington has clearly been playing an influential role in the negotiations: It was U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who invited Arias to mediate and Zelaya supporters have been urging the United States in particular to take firm action that they say would force the interim government to back down.

The coup has drawn international condemnation and nations have urged that Zelaya be restored to his post as the democratically elected president.

Honduras' Supreme Court, Congress and military say they legally removed Zelaya for violating the constitution. They accuse him of trying to extend his time in office. But Zelaya denies that, saying he is the democratically elected leader of Honduras who was toppled by the country's military and business elite.

Both Zelaya and Micheletti, the congressional president who was appointed by lawmakers to serve out the final six months of Zelaya's presidential term, met separately with Arias last week but they refused to talk face to face. Zelaya is scheduled to travel to Guatemala on Tuesday, where he will meet with President Alvaro Colom, said Ronaldo Robles, a spokesman from Colom's office.

Former Honduran Foreign Minister Carlos Lopez, a Micheletti representative at the talks, said his side had not ruled out the possibility of early elections as a way out of the crisis.

As the crisis drags on, the interim government has urged people to resume their lives as usual in Honduras. About 38,000 teachers heeded a request to return to class Monday - but more than 20,000 remained on strike to protest the coup.

High school director Alejandro Ventura said that thousands of teachers decided to go back to school because there is no solution in sight for the political crisis. "We cannot keep acting irresponsibly with our children," he said.

Most of the children affected by the walkout also returned to class, said teacher's union leader Eulogio Chavez.

Zelaya supporters have said the interim government is trying to restore normality to the nation with the hope of sapping the energy of the protest movement and staying in power until the November presidential election.

Daily demonstrations for and against Zelaya continue in the country, but are steadily losing steam. Turnout at demonstrations has fallen from several thousand to only a few hundred this week.

"Each day fewer people come and our leaders are disorganized," said Rosaura Izaguirre, one of about 300 Zelaya supporters blocking a main road connecting the Caribbean coast to the capital for two hours Monday.

[hccanada]

The Zelaya ouster was not a "military" coup. It was the removal of a constitutional usurper by lawful judicial authority.

Read this blog:

http://honduras-not-a-military-coup.blogspot.com/

[ttinsly]

This article was presented in a way that could only be designed by a propagandist. You tell me about how Zelaya, and his "Marxist thugs" have threatened democracy here. That is laughable. This man is hardly a radical. His own party is not very radical at all. The history of this country is horrible, rife with coups that the US has been involved in. A military government that has assassinated, tortured, and controlled its populations to the likes that we will never know. They have learned well from our "School of the Americas" Torture manuals, CIA operatives, and military aid. Is there any mention of how someone was killed in a demonstration there recently for Zelaya; or how media blackouts and censorship have occurred? NO! This does not matter to the corporate media. Instead, they will focus on Chavez not renewing the license of a private channel that openly called for a coup against Chavez. I wonder how Emperor Bush would have responded to such a call by our own media. But that was something Bush never had to worry about as our media censors itself due to the fact that War Street is its owner. In the meantime, those that can think for themselves are asking if what Zelaya did was illegal, why not attempt impeachment or something similar; instead of a coup and a cancellation of a democratic plebiscite with plenty of international observers aimed at reforming the constitution and allowing for more than one 4 year term for president (hardly a radical proposition). Does this have something to do with the fact that the indigenous populations of Honduras have rarely ever had anyone in power who cares about them; and that this "radical" man dared to raise the miminum wage and allow children to have a school snack?

[rocketjl]

There has got to be a heck of a lot more that folks are not telling us. So many people jumped on the side of one guy violating his country's law, disregarding the rest of the government trying to maintain the legal process in the country. Suggest the US government back off or explain to the American people what they are doing and why.

Have we put guns and our government into the hands of the wrong kind of people?

[pvperson3]

"Have we put guns and our government into the hands of the wrong kind of people"? DON'T WE ALWAYS?

[1notrub11]

Oh, OK. How about or else? Let's see what you've got big boy. I am sure the Honduran government would have a position on this.

Based on reports I have seen, the guy went outside the law to have things like ballots printed, particularly when such action was rejected from within the country. Play by the rules, if honesty is the best policy.