TEGUCIGALPA, (Reuters) – Honduras’ rival leaders agreed yesterday to new talks to end the country’s political crisis, but they were still bitterly divided over the reinstatement of ousted President Manuel Zelaya.
Carlos Lopez, the interim government’s foreign minister, said it would not give in to international demands for Zelaya’s return to power in the third round of talks mediated by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias.
“This hypothesis of a possible return of Mr. Zelaya to occupy the presidency is completely ruled out,” Lopez said.
Arias was expected to make changes to proposals rejected by the de facto leaders, but a Costa Rican government source said he will stick to the position backing Zelaya’s return, which has been supported by the United States and Latin America.
Zelaya was also sending negotiators to the talks, a source said, but has promised to go back to Honduras without a deal if necessary, raising fears of violence.
Zelaya was seized by the military and whisked out of the country on June 28 after Honduras’ Congress and Supreme Court accused him of violating the constitution by trying to extend presidential term limits. A leftist, he had angered the country’s business elite by moving the country closer to Venezuela’s firebrand leader Hugo Chavez.
Talks to broker an end to Central America’s worst crisis in almost two decades broke down over the weekend, but Arias has apparently brought a new proposal to the table.
Honduras’ de facto leader Roberto Micheletti, installed by Congress after Zelaya’s ouster, has pledged to arrest the deposed leader if he tries to return.
