HONDURAS: Hondurans wait to see what negotiations will bring

Record ID: 737986

  • Title: HONDURAS: Hondurans wait to see what negotiations will bring
  • Date: 9th July 2009
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF HEADLINES ON NEWSPAPER MAN READING NEWSPAPER HEADLINE READING: "MEL'S EXIT WAS TO RESPECT THE LAW AND SECURITY"
  • Embargoed: 24th July 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Honduras
  • Country: Honduras
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA9317EC2Z03W3P50JBNS7216PM
  • Story Text: Hondurans were cautiously hopeful on Wednesday (July 08) after the main rivals in Honduras' political crisis agreed to a mediation, hosted by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias.
    The news led Tegucigalpa's headlines and many residents said a resolution was imperative.
    "The situation is critical here because the power group took the country in a disorderly manner. Who will believe there's no coup in Honduras? The people are not stupid. We know what the reality is. Why don't they tell the people the truth?" said Carlos Varela.
    Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, backed by an international community that strongly condemned the coup, said on Tuesday (July 7) he is ready to hold a dialogue with those who toppled him at gunpoint on June 28 and sent him into exile in his pajamas.
    Under the mediation of Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, Zelaya will meet in Costa Rica on Thursday (July 9) with the interim government of caretaker President Roberto Micheletti, who was installed by the Honduran Congress after the coup. Micheletti has agreed to attend the talks, which he called a dialogue -- not negotiation.
    This appeared to steer the ousted president away from more confrontational attempts to return to power, such as his failed bid to land in Tegucigalpa on Sunday in a plane provided by his leftist ally, President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela.
    Chavez is a fierce critic of Washington and a friend of communist-ruled Cuba and Zelaya's closeness with Chavez was one of the reasons cited by those who deposed him.
    The Organization of American States, which on Saturday suspended Honduras after the caretaker government refused to reinstate Zelaya, also expressed support for Arias' mediation.
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