Coup and Political Development in Honduras

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The Associated Press: Honduras imposes daytime curfew for border

Honduras imposes daytime curfew for border


(AP) – 3 hours ago

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduras' coup-installed government has ordered people off the streets along its border with Nicaragua as the country's deposed president prepares to return home.

The administration of Roberto Micheletti says all people must stay indoors starting at noon Friday until 6 a.m. Saturday "to keep the peace."

The restriction applies only to the region along its border with Nicaragua, where ousted President Manuel Zelaya has set up a base to plan an attempt to return home and reclaim the presidency. He was overthrown in a July 28 coup.

The rest of Honduras is under a curfew running from midnight to 4:30 a.m. daily.

The government announced the measure in a national broadcast Friday.

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

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Honduras' coup-installed government has ordered people off the streets along its border with Nicaragua as the country's deposed president prepares to return home.

The administration of Roberto Micheletti says all people must stay indoors starting at noon Friday until 6 a.m. Saturday "to keep the peace."

The restriction applies only to the region along its border with Nicaragua, where ousted President Manuel Zelaya has set up a base to plan an attempt to return home and reclaim the presidency. He was overthrown in a July 28 coup.

The rest of Honduras is under a curfew running from midnight to 4:30 a.m. daily.

The government announced the measure in a national broadcast Friday.
 

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Gulf Times ? Qatar?s top-selling English daily newspaper - Americas

Latest Update: Friday24/7/2009July, 2009, 11:19 PM Doha Time


Honduran troops tighten border to stop Zelaya

Reuters/El Paraiso, Honduras
Honduran troops and police tightened the border with Nicaragua yesterday against an attempt by deposed President Manuel Zelaya to enter the country after he was removed in a military coup and sent into exile.
Security forces fired tear gas at dozens of pro-Zelaya supporters trying to reach the border to greet the president near the coffee town of El Paraiso, said Reuters reporter Esteban Israel, who witnessed the scene.
The leftist president, toppled on June 28, has sworn to return to Honduras from northern Nicaragua this weekend but the de facto government that replaced him says he will be arrested if he steps on Honduran soil.
Troops killed a Zelaya supporter at the Tegucigalpa airport in a previous attempt by the president to return.
“We have to reverse this coup and I plan to do it peacefully. With my presence in Honduras, the people will surround me and the soldiers will lower their rifles,” Zelaya said in Nicaragua.
The US and Latin American governments have demanded Zelaya’s reinstatement but Honduran interim leader Roberto Micheletti insists he will be detained for violating the constitution and other charges if he returns.
The US State Department said it backed a Costa Rican plan to end the crisis which calls for Zelaya to return, but advised the president not to enter Honduras without a political deal.
Talks this week in Costa Rica about the standoff - Central America’s worst political crisis in 20 years - appear to have fallen apart, raising the threat of violence inside Honduras.
 

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Ousted president Zelaya says returns to Honduras | International | Reuters

Ousted president Zelaya says returns to Honduras
Mon Sep 21, 2009 1:41pm EDT

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Ousted President Manuel Zelaya announced on Monday he has returned to Honduras almost three months after he was toppled in a coup, but the country's de facto ruler denied Zelaya had come back.

"I am here in Tegucigalpa. I am here for the restoration of democracy, to call for dialogue." Zelaya told Honduras' Canal 36 television network.

A close aide said Zelaya, a close ally of Venezuela's socialist President Hugo Chavez, was in a U.N. building in the capital Tegucigalpa.

But Roberto Micheletti, a bitter rival of Zelaya who has run Honduras since the June 28 coup, denied that the president had returned, saying he was still in exile in neighboring Nicaragua.

Honduras' de facto rulers, led by Micheletti, have vowed to arrest Zelaya if he returns to the Central American country.

Soldiers toppled Zelaya and sent him into exile after he upset conservative opponents, who accused him of wanting to change the constitution to allow presidents to seek re-election.

Hondiras' Supreme Court had ordered Zelaya's arrest and Congress backed the new facto government, but the coup was condemned by the U.S. government, the European Union and leaders throughout Latin America.

(Reporting by Gustavo Palencia; Editing by Kieran Murray)
 

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EU threatens further sanctions on Honduras | International | Reuters

EU threatens further sanctions on Honduras
Tue Sep 15, 2009 5:46am EDT

* EU warns of further sanctions after July steps

* Calls for peaceful settlement ahead of elections



BRUSSELS, Sept 15 (Reuters) - The European Union warned the de facto government of Honduras on Tuesday it risked further sanctions unless a peaceful solution is found to a crisis triggered by the coup against President Manuel Zelaya.

A statement approved by EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels said the 27-nation bloc would continue to restrict political contacts with the de facto government installed after the June 28 military takeover and warned of tougher sanctions.

"Until a peaceful settlement is found, the EU will stand ready to take further restrictive measures including targeting those members of the de facto government who are seen to be blocking progress on a negotiated solution," it said.

In July, the European Commission said it was suspending all budgetary support payments to Honduras after the failure to resolve a crisis. It has also suspended development assistance.

On Tuesday the European Union reaffirmed its support for mediation by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias and the Organization of American States and called on all parties to work for a peaceful negotiated solution and a restoration of the constitutional order ahead of November elections.

It also expressed deep concern about reported human rights violations, including threats to rights activists, arbitrary detentions and repression of peaceful demonstrators.

"The resolution is important because it means a zero tolerance towards the coup in Honduras and against the authorities that participated in this coup or against the people that are now an obstacle to coming back to normality," Diego Lopez Garrido, Spanish junior minister for EU affairs said.

The United States announced last week it was terminating more than $30 million in non-humanitarian aid to Honduras to pressure the de facto government to step down and reinstate Zelaya, who is in exile. (Reporting by Bate Felix and Julien Toyer; Editing by David Brunnstrom and Jon Hemming)
 

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AFP: Clinton to meet Oscar Arias over Honduran crisis

Clinton to meet Oscar Arias over Honduran crisis

(AFP) – 3 days ago

WASHINGTON — US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will meet with Costa Rican President Oscar Arias next week to discuss the Honduran political crisis, her spokesman said.

The meeting will take place on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, which begins Monday, State Department spokesman PJ Crowley told reporters, without providing further details.

"I would expect next week we'll continue to look for ways to support the San Jose process," Crowley said, referring to the peace process brokered by Arias to restore president Manuel Zelaya following the military-backed coup that ousted him from power on June 28.

Washington has halted most visa services in Honduras, revoked visas for the interim regime and cut off over 30 million dollars in non-humanitarian aid.

Interim leader Roberto Micheletti acknowledged in an interview with Fox television late Wednesday that he had ruled out attempting to travel to New York for the UN General Assembly due to the restrictions.
 

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Mary O’Grady: Hillary’s Honduras Obsession - WSJ.com

* OPINION: THE AMERICAS * SEPTEMBER 21, 2009

By MARY ANASTASIA O'GRADY


Hillary's Honduras Obsession
The U.S. is trying to force the country to violate its constitution.

"The Supreme Court of Honduras has constitutional and statutory authority to hear cases against the President of the Republic and many other high officers of the State, to adjudicate and enforce judgments, and to request the assistance of the public forces to enforce its rulings."

—Congressional Research Service, August 2009

Ever since Manuel Zelaya was removed from the Honduran presidency by that country's Supreme Court and Congress on June 28 for violations of the constitution, the Obama administration has insisted, without any legal basis, that the incident amounts to a "coup d'état" and must be reversed. President Obama has dealt harshly with Honduras, and Americans have been asked to trust their president's proclamations.

Now a report filed at the Library of Congress by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) provides what the administration has not offered, a serious legal review of the facts. "Available sources indicate that the judicial and legislative branches applied constitutional and statutory law in the case against President Zelaya in a manner that was judged by the Honduran authorities from both branches of the government to be in accordance with the Honduran legal system," writes CRS senior foreign law specialist Norma C. Gutierrez in her report.

Do the facts matter? Fat chance. The administration is standing by its "coup" charge and 10 days ago, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton went so far as to sanction the country's independent judiciary. The U.S. won't say why, but its clear the court's sin is rejecting a U.S.-backed proposal to restore Mr. Zelaya to power.


Martin Kozlowski

The upshot is that the U.S. is trying to force Honduras to violate its own constitution and is also using its international political heft to try to interfere with the country's independent judiciary.

Hondurans are worried about what this pressure is doing to their country. Mr. Zelaya's violent supporters are emboldened by the U.S. position. They deface some homes and shops with graffiti and throw stones and home-made bombs into others, and whenever the police try to stop them, they howl about their "human rights."

But it may be that Americans should be even more concerned about the heavy-handedness, without legal justification, emanating from the executive branch in Washington. What does it say about Mr. Obama's respect for the separation of powers that he would instruct Mrs. Clinton to punish an independent court because it did not issue the ruling he wanted?

Since June 28, the U.S. has been pressuring Honduras to put Mr. Zelaya back in the presidency. But neither Mrs. Clinton's spurious "rule of law" claims or the tire iron handed her by Mr. Obama to use against this little country have been effective in convincing the Honduran judiciary that it ought to abandon its constitution.

It seems that Mrs. Clinton is peeved with the court because it ruled that restoring Mr. Zelaya to power under a proposal drafted by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias is unconstitutional. Thus, the State Department decided that in defense of the rule of law it would penalize the members of the Supreme Court for their interpretation of their constitution. Fourteen justices had their U.S. visas pulled.

Since the U.S. already had yanked the visa of the 15th member of the court, the one who signed the arrest warrant for Mr. Zelaya, this action completed Mrs. Clinton's assault on the independence of a foreign democracy's highest court. The lesson, presumably, is that judges in small foreign nations are required to accept America's interpretation of their own laws.

Thousands of readers have written to me asking how all this can happen in the U.S., where democratic principles have been recognized since the nation's founding. Many readers have written that they are "ashamed" of the U.S. and have asked, in effect, "How can I help Honduras?" A more pertinent question may turn out to be, how can they help their own country?

In its actions toward Honduras, the Obama administration is demonstrating contempt for the fundamentals of democracy. Legal scholars are clear on this. "Judicial independence is a central component of any democracy and is crucial to separation of powers, the rule of law and human rights," writes Ahron Barak, the former president of the Supreme Court of Israel and a prominent legal scholar, in his compelling 2006 book, "The Judge in a Democracy."

"The purpose of the separation of powers is to strengthen freedom and prevent the concentration of power in the hands of one government actor in a manner likely to harm the freedom of the individual," Mr. Barak explains—almost as if he is writing about Honduras.

He also warns prophetically about the Chávez style of democracy that has destroyed Venezuela and that Hondurans say they were trying to avoid in their own country. "Democracy is entitled to defend itself from those who seek to use it in order to destroy its very existence," he writes. Americans ought to ask themselves why the Obama administration doesn't seem to agree.

Write to O'[email protected]
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A17
 

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Honduras envoy says "ordered out" of U.N. rights body | International | Reuters

Honduras envoy says "ordered out" of U.N. rights body
Mon Sep 14, 2009 3:03pm EDT

* Brazil, Argentina say envoy represents illegal government

* Dispute stalls proceedings at U.N. Human Rights Council

* U.S. takes voting seat, to back Israel at 47-member body

(Adds council president's statement)

By Robert Evans

GENEVA, Sept 14 (Reuters) - The Honduran ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva said on Monday he had been ordered out of the U.N. Human Rights Council after other Latin American countries accused him of representing an "illegal" regime.

After a day of confusion which stalled the start of the three-week session of the 47-nation council, envoy J. Delmer Urbizo left the hall declaring loudly in English and Spanish: "We will be back! Volveremos!"

The dramatic scenes came after Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Cuba insisted that Delmer Urbizo, who has served as ambassador in Geneva for three years, could not stay unless he was approved by ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya.

Alex Van Meeuwen, the Belgian president of the Human Rights Council, told the envoy he could not speak in response since Honduras is only an observer in the forum, and should leave while his credentials were checked overnight.

"I was ordered out. They have put security guards on me to make sure I left," Delmer Urbizo told reporters as blue-shirted U.N. police stood by. "But we will be back, make no mistake, and these people will see what they have done."

Van Meeuwen later issued a statement saying he became aware late on Monday afternoon that Zelaya's government had reportedly written a letter on Aug. 20 indicating Delmer Urbizo "did not represent the constitutional president".

"I hope to have clarification on this technical and organisational yet very sensitive matter, so the Human Rights Council can proceed with its work and follow the programme we have set out together," he said.

"We will continue to discuss this matter as it is still on the table. I should state very clearly that the Human Rights Council does not exclude any country from participating in its sessions."

Delmer Urbizo said he and other diplomats from the country's mission in Geneva -- where he has declared his support for Honduras' de facto ruler Roberto Micheletti -- would return after elections set for November.

There was no rival delegation from Zelaya's government in exile in the hall, but no country spoke in Delmer Urbizo's defence. The U.N. General Assembly has called on its members not to recognise the Micheletti government, which took power after a June military coup.



U.S. "WILL NOT LOOK THE OTHER WAY"

The day-long squabble as Latin American countries and U.N. officials sought a solution to the issue led to the postponement of the delivery of a keynote address from U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay.

In her speech, whose text was circulated early on Monday, Pillay said millions of women were denied fundamental freedoms, mentioning the Gulf states, Sudan and Afghanistan.

"Women's rights continue to be curtailed in too many countries," her speech read, pointing to a "severe backlash against women's rights" in Afghanistan during its election.

The council is due to tackle other issues, including Israel's invasion of Gaza at the turn of the year. A major U.N. report on the Israeli assault, being condemned in advance by Jewish groups, is due out later this month.

It is the first council session in which a U.S. delegation is participating as a voting member, following its election to the body in May [ID:nN12320910].

Esther Brimmer, an assistant U.S. Secretary of State, told the council Washington wanted it to focus on violations no matter where they took place or which sensitivities they invoke.

"The United States will not look the other way in the face of serious human rights abuses," she said. "While we will aim for common ground, we will call things as we see them and we will stand our ground when the truth is at stake."

Developing states often vote as a majority bloc to criticise Israel at the council. Critics say that is a tactic to divert attention from human rights abuses elsewhere in the world.

This has raised questions about whether the body created in 2006 is any more effective than its predecessor, the U.N. Human Rights Commission, which former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan overhauled because it was strangled by geopolitics. (Additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay and Laura MacInnis; editing by Andrew Roche)
 

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The Associated Press: Brazil's president says he spoke with Zelaya

Brazil's president says he spoke with Zelaya

By MICHAEL ASTOR (AP) – 29 minutes ago

NEW YORK — Brazil's president says he has asked deposed Honduras President Manuel Zelaya not to provide a pretext for coup leaders to invade the Brazilian embassy.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he spoke with Zelaya by phone on Tuesday morning.

Zelaya has been holed up at the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa since Monday, when he slipped back into the country.

Silva said that by allowing Zelaya into its embassy, Brazil only did what any democratic country would do.

Supported by the U.S. and other governments since his ouster, Zelaya has called for negotiations with the leaders who forced him from the country at gunpoint. But interim President Roberto Micheletti has urged Brazil to turn Zelaya over to Honduran authorities for trial.
 

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The Associated Press: Curfew lifted, Hondurans seek normalcy

Curfew lifted, Hondurans seek normalcy

By MARK STEVENSON (AP) – 5 hours ago

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — If it weren't for the deposed president holed up in the Brazilian embassy, life would be almost back to normal in Honduras on 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.

Some schools remained closed, but the busy streets were a dramatic shift after the past three days, when Hondurans have been forced to scramble through looted stores for food and police have blasted water cannons and tear gas at violent demonstrations.

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

Thursday morning, there remained just one tense part of the capital. Hundreds of troops and police continued to ring the Brazilian Embassy, where an increasingly exhausted President Manuel Zelaya, his family and about 70 supporters, have been sheltered since he sneaked back into Honduras on Monday.

Zelaya was forced out of Honduras at gunpoint June 28 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.

Interim President Roberto Micheletti has vowed 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 Obama, have called for Zelaya's reinstatement ever since he was ousted, and his surprise arrival has prompted new calls for Micheletti to step down.

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."

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!"

A coffee shop handed out espresso to the participants, who ended their protest without incident.

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 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.

Zelaya supporters, meanwhile, marched through working-class neighborhoods to rally backers.

Police arrested about 20 people for blocking roads and other disturbances, police spokesman Victor Lopez said.

It's still unclear whether demonstrators were killed in the previous day's protests, which turned violent. Zelaya has told various media outlets that 10 protesters were killed by police, he has given no details and authorities dispute this.

Local hospitals report several people have been treated for gunshot wounds.

Associated Press Writers Freddy Cuevas in Tegucigalpa and Martha Mendoza in Mexico City contributed to this report.
 

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U.N. Security Council to discuss Honduran crisis | International | Reuters

U.N. Security Council to discuss Honduran crisis

Thu Sep 24, 2009 8:32pm EDT



UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations Security Council will meet on Friday to discuss the political crisis in Honduras and the future of ousted President Manuel Zelaya, a U.N. official said on Thursday.

Zelaya was overthrown in a military coup in June. On Monday he returned to his country and took refuge in Brazil's embassy, leading to a tense standoff between supporters and opponents.

This week at the U.N. General Assembly, Brazil had asked the council to meet urgently about the crisis.

A diplomat said the council was not expected to take any formal action to reinstate Zelaya but would hold talks about the crisis.

The United Nations has temporarily suspended cooperation with Honduras' election commission ahead of a presidential election in November, saying conditions were not in place for a credible vote.

(Reporting by Patrick Worsnip; Editing by Anthony Boadle)
 

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The Associated Press: Ousted Honduran president: 1st talks a failure

Ousted Honduran president: 1st talks a failure

By MARK STEVENSON (AP) – 26 minutes ago

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduras' coup-installed government plans to block the arrival of a commission of foreign ministers heading to the country this weekend to help resolve the country's political standoff, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias said Friday.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate who moderated previous talks between Honduras' opposing factions said the government of interim President Roberto Micheletti has told the Organization of American States not to send the ministers because they will not be allowed into the country.

Arias made the announcement on the Costa Rican radio program Nuestra Voz.

His announcement signaled a setback just as the two sides appeared to be edging toward possibly restarting talks to end the turmoil sparked by the ousting of President Manuel Zelaya on June 28.

Micheletti's government spokesman Rene Zepeda said interim leaders want Arias to visit Honduras first so they can explain the situation to him, and that the ministers would be welcome next week.

Arias said he has no immediate plans to visit Honduras.

Zelaya has been holed up at the Brazilian Embassy since Monday after sneaking back into the country. He said he will remain at the army-surrounded compound, accompanied by his family and about 70 supporters.

He conversed late Wednesday with an unnamed Micheletti official and said Thursday that it was "the beginning" to finding "peaceful solutions."

But later, Zelaya said the Micheletti administration took "an extremely hard" stand when the two met.

The ousted leftist leader is demanding he be restored to power after soldiers marched him out of the country at gunpoint. So far, Micheletti's government has said that is not negotiable.

The standoff virtually shut down the country for three days after Zelaya's surprise return. Airports, schools and border crossing reopened Thursday and by Friday morning the curfews were lifted nationwide.

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.

Micheletti has pledged to arrest Zelaya if he leaves the embassy.

International leaders, including Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and U.S. 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 on a letter from Brazil seeking an emergency meeting on Honduras.

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.

Negotiations moderated by Arias 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.

Associated Press Writers Freddy Cuevas in Tegucigalpa and Marianela Jimenez in San Jose, Costa Rica, contributed to this report.
 

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http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/29/world/americas/29honduras.html?_r=1&em

Honduras Says It Will Reverse News Clampdown

Rodrigo Abd/Associated Press
Honduran soldiers and police officers outside Radio Globo after its closure in Tegucigalpa on Monday.


By ELISABETH MALKIN and GINGER THOMPSON
Published: September 28, 2009

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — The de facto government backed off Monday from its attempt to shut down protests and limit free speech after congressional leaders warned that they would not support the measure.

The revolt by Congress, the first public crack in the coalition that ousted President Manuel Zelaya three months ago, showed that the de facto president, Roberto Micheletti, faces limits on his power to crack down on dissent.

In an extraordinary televised news conference Monday evening, Mr. Micheletti asked for “forgiveness from the Honduran people” and said he would lift the decree “as quickly as possible.”

But the government’s reversal came on the same day that the United States sent mixed messages about the crisis, comments that some experts said could embolden the coup-imposed government.

The Micheletti government announced the decree Sunday night, imposing sweeping restrictions on civil liberties. The decree allowed the government to shut down broadcasters and ban unauthorized public meetings, and lets the police detain suspects without warrants.

Early Monday, masked police officers took over a television station and soldiers formed a barricade around a radio station, shutting down two media outlets that had been the principal voices of opposition to the June 28 coup that ousted Mr. Zelaya.

Later, hundreds of police officers cordoned off either side of a street where several hundred protesters had gathered for a march that Mr. Zelaya had billed as a final offensive. The ousted president’s supporters appeared to have been scared off, and the march was prevented.

But by midafternoon, the congressional leadership arrived at the presidential palace to tell Mr. Micheletti that Congress would not approve the decree, which Honduran law requires it to do.

“We need to lower the pressure, and all begin to calm down so that we can have a dialogue,” said José Alfredo Saavedra, the president of Congress and a member of the delegation that met with Mr. Micheletti.

The American response to the crisis on Monday was somewhat equivocal.

The State Department condemned the government’s actions. “I think it’s time for the de facto regime to put down the shovel,” said a spokesman, Philip J. Crowley. “With every action, they keep on making the hole deeper.”

But at the headquarters of the Organization of American States in Washington, where diplomats met in an emergency session to discuss the Micheletti government’s expulsion of four of its diplomats on Sunday, the American ambassador reserved his strongest condemnation for Mr. Zelaya.

The ambassador, Leslie Anselm, called Mr. Zelaya “irresponsible and foolish” for returning to Honduras before a negotiated settlement was reached.

“The president should stop acting as though he were starring in an old movie,” Mr. Anselm said.

Chris Sabatini, an analyst at the Council of the Americas, said that the United States government was embarrassed at being linked to Mr. Zelaya, “a dangerously capricious leader.” But he said the mixed messages could also be an attempt “to soften Micheletti’s position by showing that they are even-handed.”

He added, “The effect is, however, that the United States looks a little weak-kneed before the de facto government.”

José Miguel Vivanco of Human Rights Watch said that if the United States was trying to spread the blame, the strategy was not working. “It has the effect of defusing the pressure,” he said. “Micheletti is the one who is taking away freedoms to an outrageous degree and the United States need to be focusing all its attention on him.”

Despite international condemnation and an aid cutoff, the Micheletti government has gambled that it can hold out until scheduled elections go ahead on Nov. 29 and a new president takes office in January.

But Mr. Zelaya’s clandestine return to Honduras last week seems to have forced Mr. Micheletti’s hand, drawing him into taking ever more severe and self-isolating measures.

On Saturday, the de facto government told diplomats from Spain, Mexico, Argentina and Venezuela to turn in their credentials if their governments did not recognize the Micheletti government.

On Sunday, the government turned back four diplomats from the O.A.S. who had arrived to begin setting up a visit of foreign ministers from O.A.S. countries. It threatened to shut down Brazil’s embassy within 10 days if Brazil did not either turn over Mr. Zelaya for trial or grant him asylum, a threat Brazil rebuffed.

The congressional response to the decree appears to reflect differences in strategy within the governing coalition, if not in the final goal. While the de facto government seemed willing to disregard international opprobrium in its efforts to muzzle the opposition, the main parties in Congress have a strong self-interest in finding a political way out of the crisis.

The leaders who confronted Mr. Micheletti on Monday appeared to be concerned that the decree went too far and would undercut the legitimacy of the election and jeopardize future foreign aid, which accounts for 20 percent of the country’s budget.

The United States and other countries have suggested that they will not recognize a new president elected under the existing political conditions. The emergency decree, which was to have expired just two weeks before the elections, made it much less likely that the elections would be seen as free and fair.

Over the past week, a few tentative steps at negotiations have begun. Four presidential candidates met with Mr. Zelaya at the Brazilian Embassy and the auxiliary archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Juan José Pineda, has been meeting with both sides.

On Monday evening, the Micheletti government also announced that it would invite another O.A.S. visit next week.

Elisabeth Malkin reported from Tegucigalpa, and Ginger Thompson from Washington.
 

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The Associated Press: Arias warns Honduran elections won't be recognized

Arias warns Honduran elections won't be recognized

By JENNIFER KAY (AP) – 1 hour ago

CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Costa Rica's President Oscar Arias on Tuesday commended the interim president of Honduras for saying he will reverse an emergency decree suspending civil liberties in his country.

But he warned that the results of the Nov. 29 presidential election in Honduras would not be internationally recognized if it is held while interim President Robert Micheletti's government is in charge.

Arias said Micheletti's government "has not moved an inch" in negotiations to return ousted President Manuel Zelaya with limited authority.

He called the June 28 coup that propelled Micheletti to power a "dramatic, historical backward step" that needs to be corrected through free and transparent elections under Zelaya's government.

"It's the assurance of the continuity of democracy in Latin America," Arias said. "The cost of failure of leaving a coup d'etat unpunished is setting up a bad precedent for the region."

Arias spoke at the Americas Conference, a business and political forum hosted by The Miami Herald.

Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, brokered a plan to reinstate Zelaya, but Micheletti's government refused to accept it. He said his San Jose Accord could be modified, but it was "the only thing on the table right now."

"You could have remembrances of a bad Latin American past, insisting on elections under these circumstances and overlooking items in the San Jose Accord," Arias said, addressing the conference in Spanish.

Micheletti said late Monday that he would accept congressional calls for him to reverse the emergency decree he had announced on Sunday. He also said he would allow an Organization of American States team, whose arrival was blocked this weekend, into Honduras. The OAS hopes to convince the coup leaders to bow to international demands to reinstate Zelaya, who was arrested and expelled from the country in June.

The interim government had said the decree suspending freedoms of speech and assembly was needed to counter calls for an uprising by Zelaya's supporters.

Zelaya has been holed up at the Brazilian Embassy in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, since sneaking back into his country Sept. 21.

Arias said the June 28 coup was the result of Central America's governments spending more money on their militaries than on their schools or on fighting poverty.

Also to blame was the Honduran constitution, he said. He called it "the worst in the entire world" and "an invitation to coups."

It lacks an impeachment process, "so I imagine the only way of calling the president to account was to oust him," he said. "This is something that will have to be resolved, and the best way to do this is, if we can't have a constitutional election, is to have certain reforms so this Honduran constitution ceases to be the worst in the entire world."

Former President Bill Clinton, the U.N. Special Envoy to Haiti, addressed the conference later Tuesday.

Days before he leads a trade delegation to Haiti to encourage investment there, he called for more coordination between reforestation, storm mitigation and economic development programs in the impoverished Caribbean country. He said helping Haiti will help stabilize the Caribbean and the rest of Latin America.

Clinton also voiced his support for granting temporary protected status to Haitians living illegally in the U.S. The protection allows eligible immigrants to stay and work in the U.S. when they cannot return home because of an ongoing conflict, environmental disaster or other temporary conditions.

"I am pushing for that hard," he said, adding that his wife, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, agreed with him. The Department of Homeland Security, meanwhile, continues to deport Haitians and discourages them from trying to reach U.S. shores illegally.

On the Net:

* http://www.miamiherald.com/americasconference
 

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AFP: US denies policy change in Honduras crisis

US denies policy change in Honduras crisis

(AFP) – 3 hours ago

WASHINGTON — The United States denied Tuesday that its criticism of ousted President Manuel Zelaya as "irresponsible and foolish" for returning to Honduras marked a change in US policy on the crisis.

"We have said throughout this process that all sides need to act constructively, avoid the kind of provocative statements or actions that would precipitate violence and inhibit the resolution of this situation," said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley.

A statement Monday by Lewis Amselm, the US representative to the Organization of American States, slamming Zelaya was "not at all" a reversal of position, he said.

"What he said yesterday is fully consistent with our concern that, you know, both sides need to take constructive action, affirmative action," he said.

Zelaya's return to Honduras September 21 has set off a tense confrontation in Tegucigalpa between his supporters and the de facto regime that threw him out of the country three months ago.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton initially said it was an opportunity to resolve the crisis under the terms of a Costa Rican-brokered plan that called for Zelaya's reinstatement followed by elections.

But Amselm appeared to depart from the script Monday at an OAS session during which he called Zelaya's decision to secretly return to Tegucigalpa before an agreement had been reached "irresponsible and foolish."

"Both sides, ultimately, need to, you know, sign onto the San Jose process and begin a transition to a new government that the people of Honduras can support," Crowley said.

"So it is time for the de facto regime to have dialogue with President Zelaya and come to some resolution of this current situation," he said.

Crowley reiterated a call made late Monday by the State Department for the de facto government in Honduras to rescind a decree suspending certain civil rights, including free speech and rights to assembly.
 

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AFP: Honduras crisis deepens after collapse of deal

Honduras crisis deepens after collapse of deal

(AFP) – 1 day ago

TEGUCIGALPA — Honduras sunk into further disarray after President Manuel Zelaya, ousted in a military-backed coup, said a US-brokered deal to end the nation's four-month crisis had collapsed.

Presidential elections due on November 29 were in jeopardy as Zelaya called on his supporters to boycott them and return to the streets of the polarized nation.

Hundreds marched from the Congress to the Brazilian embassy, where Zelaya has been holed up since September 21, in a protest in the capital Friday.

Zelaya said last week's crisis deal was no longer valid after de facto leader Roberto Micheletti formed a new "national unity" government without his participation.

"The accord now has no value," Zelaya told AFP Friday.

Zelaya said there was no point continuing with negotiations because "the agreements have been constantly violated."

He also said that he had to "take some decisions," without elaborating. He said he had not decided whether he would stay in the Brazilian embassy until his term runs out on January 27.

The latest setback dealt a blow to foreign and US diplomats, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who had hailed last week's agreement as a triumph for democracy.

"We urge both sides to act in the best interests of the Honduran people and return to the table immediately to reach agreement on the formation of a unity government," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said in Washington.

"We're disappointed that both sides are not following the very clear path laid out" in Costa Rican accords aimed at resolving the crisis, Kelly added.

The accord had given Zelaya and Micheletti's camps until midnight Thursday to set up a reconciliation government to represent both sides.

Although it did not require that Zelaya be reinstated, the pact said that decision should be left to Congress, without setting a deadline for the vote, which has not yet taken place.

Shortly before midnight, Micheletti announced a unity government without including Zelaya ministers.

The ousted leader had refused to present nominees for the posts unless he was first reinstated to "reverse the coup" of June 28.

The head of the Organization of American States, Jose Miguel Insulza, called Friday for Congress to make the decision on Zelaya's return and for the agreement to be met "without subterfuge."

Zelaya reiterated Friday that he would not back the November presidential polls.

"I'm not ready to legitimize a fraud ... nor to whitewash this coup," Zelaya said.

Foreign observers have said they will not take part until political stability is restored.

The European Union, the United States and multilateral agencies cut off vital foreign aid to protest the coup, and were supposed to restore it if the pact was fulfilled.

Many feared further social unrest after a heavy-handed crackdown by the de facto regime on protests by Zelaya supporters, including the media, in past months.

This week a grenade was detonated at a radio station seen as sympathetic to Micheletti, and two other grenade attacks were reported.

In a travel advisory, the State Department urged US citizens to "exercise caution" when traveling to Honduras, and to defer "all non-essential travel" to the capital Tegucigalpa until further notice.

The Supreme Court, Congress and business leaders backed the ouster of leftist Zelaya amid a dispute over his plans to change the constitution, which they saw as a bid to extend his single term.
 

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The Associated Press: Honduras leadership in limbo as accord dissolves

Honduras leadership in limbo as accord dissolves


By MARTHA MENDOZA and OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ (AP) – 1 day ago

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — They can't both be right. Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya says a deal that could have returned him to power is defunct. Roberto Micheletti, who took power after a coup, says the same deal has been successfully accomplished.

The Obama Administration, caught in the middle of a power struggle in this tiny Central American nation, was urgently pressing Friday for the survival of an accord it hailed as "a historic victory for democracy."

"No, it's not dead, but maybe sleeping for the time being," said State Department press spokesman Fred Lash.

A senior State Department official said the stakes are high and time is short.

"If the parties let this fall apart you're going to see problems with international recognition of the elections," the official said, insisting on speaking anonymously due to the sensitive nature of the discussions.

Micheletti's backers hope a clean vote for a new president will force the world to accept that politics has returned to normal in Honduras. Zelaya's backers accuse the coup-installed officials of trying to delay his return to power — at least until the election.

Honduras, one of the poorest nations in the hemisphere, plunged into political crisis four months ago when Zelaya was forced out of bed in his pajamas and flown to Costa Rica. He sneaked back into his country on September 21, and has been holed up in the Brazilian Embassy ever since under threat of arrest.

With a presidential election just three weeks away, the U.S. and the rest of the international community — which cut off most foreign aid and diplomatic ties after the coup — are urgently seeking a resolution.

But the key players seemed less inclined to find common ground.

"The negotiations have come to an end," Zelaya, who huddled with supporters, told The Associated Press. "We have declared that there is no possibility of recognizing that accord."

Last week's accord called for a national unity government with backers of both sides to oversee elections. Congress would decide whether to reinstate Zelaya — and the ousted leader had assumed that would happen.

Micheletti negotiator Vilma Morales said the interim government does not consider the accord broken and plans to continue implementing it.

"Each of the negotiators signed each one of the points that were agreed and it is our responsibility to fulfill what was agreed," Morales said. "We have to continue complying with it."

Meanwhile, Hondurans went back to work as normal and streets were busy with shoppers and traffic, but many were uneasy about what might come next after Friday's setback on the accord.

Maria del Carmen Altamirano, a 60-year-old housewife, said she is afraid the country might spiral into violence.

"I can't sleep, thinking that there is a war coming, that we'll have a civil war," Altamirano said. "Neither one of them wants to give in. They are both arrogant and are not thinking about the people's suffering because all they care about is power and money. What I want is to leave this country, but I'm too poor and don't have the money."

Javier Padilla, a 52-year-old insurance salesman, said he doesn't support Zelaya but believes his return would bring peace back to the Central American country.

"The best way to end this problem is for Zelaya to return," Padilla said.

Jacinto Martinez, a construction worker, said the crisis is draining.

"I am tired of so many things happening in Honduras and I just want things to go back to the way they were," he said. "People want a quick solution to this problem."

But there has been nothing quick in Honduras since Zelaya was kicked out in June. The military ousted Zelaya after the Supreme Court ruled his attempts to amend the Honduran constitution were illegal. Opponents claimed Zelaya was trying extend his time in office by lifting the ban on presidential re-election. Zelaya denied that was his goal.

Just a week after the U.S. was enjoying wide praise for brokering the difficult agreement, the State Department was fighting to prevent a potentially embarrassing failure.

But with both sides continuing to demand fundamentally different resolutions, concerns are now shifting toward what might happen at the end of the month, when voters go to the polls.

"The choices are not palatable here for the U.S, but they need to find a way to be able to legitimize the elections," said Eric Farnsworth, vice president of the Council of the Americas.

If not?

"Then Honduras degenerates into perpetual political crisis, and that's the last thing Honduras needs," said Farnsworth.

Ray Walser, an analyst for The Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington-based think tank, said the international community should focus on what is best for the Honduran people.

"Later this month Hondurans are going through with elections and they're going to choose a new leader," said Walser, a retired Latin America foreign service officer. "The question is, are we going to punish the Honduran people for what Mr. Micheletti and Mr. Zelaya are doing?"

Associated Press writers Martha Mendoza reported this story from Mexico City and Olga R. Rodriguez from Tegucigalpa.
 

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Al Jazeera English - News

UPDATED ON:
Sunday, November 08, 2009
14:42 Mecca time, 11:42 GMT

ANALYSIS: HONDURAS

Winners and losers in Honduras
By Will Stebbins, Al Jazeera's bureau chief in Washington


There are fears that instability could return to Honduras if a political accord is not observed [EPA]


Al Jazeera's Will Stebbins takes stock of the winners and losers in the wake of the Tegucigalpa-San Jose power-sharing accord which ended the four-month Honduran constitutional crisis.

The crisis was precipitated in June when the Honduran military, backed by the Supreme Court, led a coup against Manuel Zelaya, the president, and ousted him from power. He was forced into exile in Costa Rica before returning to Honduras in September.

However, Zelaya remains in internal exile, marooned inside the Brazilian embassy in the capital Tegucigalpa. After a bold and deft campaign to regain power, and with the prize within his grasp, he committed a critical, strategic blunder.

Zelaya believed that it would be enough to sacrifice his social project, and the mass movement that backed it, to convince his political enemies to restore him to the presidency.

His representatives signed an agreement that categorically forbids the convening of a national constituent assembly, or any other form of popular referendum on the constitution, but without a written guarantee of a return to power for Zelaya.

That was left up to the congress, who appear poised, in the face of US indifference, to deny him even this hollow victory.

Upcoming elections

Thomas Shannon, Washington's envoy to Latin America, has said that the US would recognise the November 29 presidential elections, whether Zelaya was reinstated or not. He also suggested that the deposed president had no one but himself to blame for entrusting his fate to the Honduran congress.

Apart from this uncharacteristic innocence in believing that the interim government would adhere to anything but the strict letter of the accord, Zelaya had another tragic flaw.

He had clearly come to confuse his personal drama with the fate of the country. Sounding like France's 17th century monarch Louis XIV, Zelaya claimed that peace would be restored to Honduras once he was returned to power.

For the trade unions and social movements that had put their bodies on the line in protest against the coup which removed him from power, the story would not have ended there. Zelaya was never seen as the embodiment of Honduran democracy, but rather as the unlikely champion of a mass movement to reshape society, and end the monopoly on political power held by a privileged elite.

The power-sharing accord offers very little to the movement that formed behind the ousted president. It provides no relief from the summary detentions, or suspension of civil liberties, to which they have been subject. There is mention of 'deepening democracy', but much like returning Zelaya to power, it does not include a timetable.

The clear winners



Zelaya, centre, has been in internal exile at the
Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa [EPA]


It is the oligarchy, as the privileged elite are known, that are the clear winners. In signing the agreement, they have effectively eliminated the very cause of the June 28 coup, which was the spectre of mass political mobilisation, in the form of a popular referendum, that they feared had the potential of altering the status quo.

The accord proscribes any changes to the current political system that guarantees their hold on power.

The oligarchy may, however, be overreaching in their belief that they do not have to pay the small price of allowing an emasculated Zelaya to serve out the last few, symbolic months of his presidency.

What could have been a diplomatic victory for Washington, is now looking like another example of its clumsiness, which will end up exacerbating ideological divisions. If the agreement does collapse there will be repercussions, and collateral damage, throughout the region.

Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president who from the start condemned the negotiating track led by Costa Rican president Oscar Arias as a trap, will be vindicated.

It will not only provide the script for the next episode of his television show, Alo Presidente, but also nurture his suspicions about the threat posed by the planned US military bases in neighbouring Colombia.

Smoldering regional war?

This will be felt most acutely along the Venezuelan-Colombian border, where a cold war between the two countries has begun to smoulder, with drive by shootings, and unexplained mass killings.

Inacio Lula de Silva, the Brazilian president may be faced with the question of what to do about the lodger at his embassy in Tegucigalpa.

He has been unequivocal in his support for Zelaya, and his government has made repeated statements about their dissatisfaction with US efforts to restore him to power.

If the deal unravels, one unforeseen victim may be the US aircraft manufacturer, Boeing.

Brazil has been planning to renew its fleet of air force jets, and has been reviewing competing offers from the US, France, and Sweden. It appeared that France had won the bid, for what is a much sought after order in difficult economic times; but after intense US lobbying, the Boeing offer is now being reconsidered.

It will be interesting to see if Lula is sufficiently annoyed enough by perceived US carelessness in Honduras that Brazil will end handing the French the air force contract.
Source: Al Jazeera
 

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The Associated Press: Pact to restore ousted Honduran leader in Congress

Pact to restore ousted Honduran leader in Congress

By ESTEBAN FELIX (AP) – Oct 30, 2009

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduran legislators now have the final say over a U.S.-brokered agreement that could return deposed President Manuel Zelaya to power, and diplomats urged them not to delay.

All sides in the 4-month-old dispute spawned by Zelaya's military-backed ouster on June 28 declared the negotiated solution a victory, and it drew praise from figures as diverse as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.

"We want to congratulate the people of Honduras for the battle they have won," Chavez said in Venezuela. Clinton called the developments "a big step forward for the inter-American system," and Assistant U.S. Secretary of State Thomas Shannon insisted the pact was "a huge accomplishment for Honduras."

Zelaya hopes to be back in office in about a week, but Congress — which received the plan Friday — has not set a date for voting on his return.

The legislature backed Zelaya's removal, but congressional leaders have since said they won't stand in the way of an agreement that ends Honduras' diplomatic isolation and legitimizes the presidential elections planned for Nov. 29.

Diplomats urged the body not to delay.

"Naturally, I am sure the members of Congress will fully realize the importance and political urgency of these matters, and I hope they will act as quickly as possible," said Organization of American States Political Affairs Secretary Victor Rico.

The pact is a U.S. foreign policy victory but casts doubt on Latin America's ability to work out its own problems without Washington's help. In the four months since the coup, talks repeatedly broke down as the government of President Barack Obama tried to let Latin American governments take the lead.

In the end, the top U.S. envoy for the Americas flew in Wednesday and won a deal the following night — just a month before presidential elections the U.S. and other countries warned would not be recognized if held under the interim government.

The power-sharing agreement calls for Congress to decide whether to reinstate Zelaya and allow him to serve the remaining three months of his term.

Zelaya told The Associated Press on Friday he expects a decision in "more or less a week." Meanwhile, he said, he will remain at the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa, where he took refuge after slipping back into the country on Sept. 21.

"I'm not going anywhere," he said.

Shannon said the two sides finally made concessions after realizing the warning that the November election would not be recognized was serious.

"There was no more space for them to dither," Shannon said at a news conference in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa.

He cautioned "there are a variety of moving parts to this agreement" and said he would stay in Honduras while the two sides negotiate the details.
 

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The Associated Press: Rights activist who protested Honduras coup killed

Rights activist who protested Honduras coup killed

By FREDDY CUEVAS (AP) – 1 day ago

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduran police promised to thoroughly investigate the killing of a gay rights activist who joined in protests against the June coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya.

The anti-coup National Resistance Front said gunmen in a car shot Walter Trochez on Sunday as he walked in downtown Tegucigalpa. Friends rushed him to a hospital, where he died.

"Trochez was an active militant in the resistance and an example of the fight against the dictatorship," the group said in a statement released on the day the victim was buried.

The front, which until recently staged daily protests to demand Zelaya's restoration to the presidency, blamed the attack "on the repressive forces that the oligarchy uses to stop the demands of the Honduran people for liberty and democracy."

Police spokesman Orlin Cerrato said Tuesday that the case was "being exhaustively investigated." He named no suspects but dismissed the possibility that police were involved.

The front claimed that Trochez, 27, was often harassed and threatened by police and soldiers because of his activism on behalf of homosexuals.

A Honduran rights group said Trochez was briefly kidnapped Dec. 4 by four masked men who beat him. The assailants threatened to kill Trochez because of his participation in the anti-coup movement, the International Observatory on the Human Rights Situation said.

International rights groups have denounced widespread repression under the government of interim President Roberto Micheletti, the former congressional leader who took power after soldiers ousted Zelaya on June 28. The coup came after the president continued a campaign to change the constitution despite the Supreme Court ruling his effort illegal.

Several anti-coup activists have been killed during protests, while security forces have raided the offices of groups opposed to the Micheletti government. Police say the raids are part of investigations into homemade bombs that have periodically exploded in the Central American country since the coup.

There also have been a string of killings of government security officials and relatives of politicians, including a nephew of Micheletti, but there is no indication those slayings related the coup. Political assassinations are not uncommon in Honduras, which has one of the highest homicide rates in Latin America, much of it related to the drug trade.

Months of international pressure failed to restore Zelaya to finish his four-year term, which ends Jan. 27. Diplomats are now focused on producing a deal that would allow Zelaya to leave Honduras without being arrested on treason and abuse of power charges.

On Monday, the United States and Brazil urged Micheletti to step down, saying his resignation would allow Zelaya safe passage out of Honduras.

Micheletti dismissed that idea Tuesday. He told HRN radio he planned to stay in power until the new president-elect, Porfirio Lobo, takes office next month. Lobo, a wealthy conservative rancher, won the Nov. 27 presidential election, which had been scheduled before the coup.

Zelaya, who is holed up in the Brazilian Embassy, vowed in a statement not to renounce his claim to the presidency.

Last week Micheletti's government stopped two attempts by Zelaya to leave Honduras because the ousted leader refused to concede he is no longer president.

Late Tuesday, the Micheletti government said it would seek Honduras' withdrawal from a Venezuela-led trade bloc known as ALBA. The government will introduce a motion in Congress on Wednesday to have Honduras drop out of the bloc, said chief Cabinet minister Rafael Pineda.

Honduras joined ALBA in August 2008 as Zelaya sought closer relations with leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez — an alliance that alienated the Honduran business community and most of Zelaya's own political party.

Chavez stopped oil shipments to Honduras to protest Zelaya's ouster.

"The decision was made because some presidents who belong to ALBA. have been disrespectful and offensive against a friendly country like Honduras," Pineda said.
 

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