Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Honduras’s deposed President Manuel Zelaya breathed new life into his efforts to regain office by slipping into the country and taking shelter in the Brazilian Embassy, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.
Clinton, speaking in New York after meeting with Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, who has mediated the Honduran political crisis, said Zelaya’s return to the capital, Tegucigalpa, created the chance to restore “constitutional and democratic order” and move ahead with elections in November. Arias, pushing his 11-point plan, said he will continue to mediate if asked.
Zelaya’s homecoming “makes it easier for us to put some more pressure on the de facto government,” Arias said last night in New York, adding achieving his return was the main hurdle to implementing the so-called San Jose accord.
Even as Clinton and Arias called for dialogue, the deposed president’s presence in the city is likely to move the conflict into the streets, said Brookings Institute analyst Kevin Casas- Zamora. Acting President Roberto Micheletti’s resistance to talks will intensify after Zelaya let his ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, announce his return and invited Jose Miguel Insulza, the secretary-general of the Organization of American States, to lead discussions in Honduras.
“What we’re about to witness is a series of demonstrations and counter-demonstrations and there’s also a great risk of violence,” said Casas-Zamora, former vice president of Costa Rica under Arias. Kicked Out
Zelaya was overthrown in June and kicked out of the country after the Supreme Court ruled his push for constitutional change was illegal. His opponents claim he was planning to follow in the footsteps of Chavez and attempt to modify the Honduran Constitution so that he could stay in power.
The ousted leader’s surprise homecoming prompted the Micheletti government to impose a 15-hour curfew starting at 4 p.m. yesterday after the ousted leader, donning his signature cowboy hat, greeted crowds of supporters who marched to the Brazilian embassy to support him, according to images broadcast on Venezuela’s government-owned Telesur network. The Micheletti government also closed the country’s airports today, the Spanish news agency EFE reported.
“I’m here in the Honduran capital, in the first place carrying out the people’s will, which has insisted on my restoration,” Zelaya said on the Telesur network. “I’m here to initiate a dialogue.”
Imagine if Thaksin had the balls to do something like this.
It would be a bold move.
It might even be a little macho.
Thaksin ain't macho.
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