TEGUCIGALPA\PANAMA CITY, July 2 (Xinhua) -- The
Honduran interim government Thursday said it was open to an early election to
resolve the country's political crisis, while ousted Honduran President Manuel
Zelaya insisted he had no fear of returning home.
Roberto Micheletti, Hondura's
interim president, told reporters that as long as it was within the law, he
would have no objections to bringing forward a Nov. 29 presidential election in
an effort to resolve the country's political problem caused by the ouster of
Zelaya.
A pro-Zelaya protestor rallies
in front of the UN Bureau to Honduras
in Tegucigalpa, capital of Honduras, July 2, 2009. Rival rallies for and
against Honduras' post-coup government continued into their fifth day on Thursday, with
at least three cities seeing large gatherings, local media reported.
(Xinhua/David De La Paz) Photo
Gallery>>>
If there is a "political solution... we have no
problem (advancing the elections), whenever it will be for the good of all
Hondurans," Micheletti said, softening his previous stance.
In an interview with the HRN radio, Zelaya's defense
minister Aristides Mejia said Zelaya has no idea of seeking a re-election and is
willing to drop plans on constitutional amendments that led to his ouster.
Zelaya was removed from office in a military coup
Sunday, just hours after some 200 soldiers surrounded his official residence and
forced him to board a plane to Costa Rica.
A referendum scheduled for the same day on changing
the country's constitution has put Zelaya at odds with the military, the courts
and the legislature.
In the vote, Hondurans were to be asked whether they
would back an official referendum in November, to be held alongside the
scheduled presidential election, to change the constitution to allow a president
to seek a reelection.
The oppositions accused Zelaya, whose current term
expires in January next year, of seeking a reelection through the referendum,
and the Supreme Court and the attorney general have announced that the vote was
illegal.
The Honduran Congress announced later Sunday that
Micheletti would replace Manuel Zelaya as the country's acting president.
In another development, more than 6,000 Zelaya's
supporters staged their largest demonstration since the coup in the Honduran
capital Thursday, while a roughly equal number of Micheletti's supporters held a
rival rally in the country's second largest city of San Pedro Sula.
ZELAYA SAYS NO FEAR OF RETURNING
In Panama City, where Zelaya had a short stay for attending the inauguration ceremony of Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli before going to El Salvador, the ousted leader indicated that he may forgive the coup participants and was preparing for going home.
Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya waves to the
supporters upon his arrival in San Salvador, capital
of EL Salvador, July 2, 2009. Zelaya said Thursday that he planned
to return to Honduras on Saturday, instead of his previously announced Thursday
when the ultimatum issued by the Organization of American States
(OAS) expires. (Xinhua/Oscar rivera) Photo
Gallery>>>
The coup plunged Honduras into a crisis and may lead
to international isolation for the country, he told a press conference.
Zelaya also said that the secretary-general of the
Organization of American States (OAS), Jose Miguel Insulza, will visit Honduras
on Friday, shortly before the end of an OAS deadline for Honduras to bring back
Zelaya or face a membership suspension, to deliver an ultimatum to coup leaders
on Zelaya's reinstatement.
"I have no fear of returning," Zelaya said.
Zelaya, who vowed to return home this weekend, said
several political figures, including Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de
Kirchner and her Ecuadoran counterpart Rafael Correa Delgado, had been invited
to join him on the trip.
Meanwhile, Insulza, who was in Guyana for a regional
meeting, dismissed any idea of negotiating with the coup participants.
"We are not going to Honduras to negotiate, we are
going to Honduras to ask them to change what they have been doing now, and find
ways in which we can return to normalcy," he said.
Supporters of Honduras' President Manuel
Zelaya stage a rally in Tegucigalpa, capital of Honduras, July 1, 2009.
Honduras' President Zelaya said he will postpone his return to Honduras 72
hours to the weekend, instead of Thursday, as originally planned.
(Xinhua/David De La Paz) Photo
Gallery>>>
QUITO, July 2 (Xinhua) -- The heads
of nine Latin American legislatures promised to accompany ousted Honduran
President Manuel Zelaya back to his country, Ecuadorian congress leader said
Thursday. Full story
TEGUCIGALPA, July 1 (Xinhua) --
Honduras' post-coup government will not negotiate with the OAS and allow ousted
President Manuel Zelaya to return to office, the interim government said
Wednesday.
"Anyone who has violated the law cannot be reinstated,"
the newly-appointed foreign minister Enrique Ortez Colindrez told the media.
"Honduras' sovereignty cannot be negotiated with the
Organization of American States (OAS), nor with anyone," said the minister, who
was named by the acting president Roberto Micheletti immediately after the
coup. Full story
TEGUCIGALPA, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Interim Honduran President
Roberto Micheletti Wednesday accused Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of
intervening Honduras' affairs.
"The intervention of the government of Hugo Chavez is
clear and definite in the situation that Honduras is experiencing," Micheletti
said. Full story
The ousted President of Honduras Manuel
Zelaya speaks during a press conference at the UN headquarters in New
York, the United States, June 30, 2009. Manuel Zelaya expressed his
gratitude toward the international community and tearfully described the
last moments in his home country before being thrown onto a plane and
whisked away. (Xinhua/Gu Xinrong) Photo
Gallery>>>
WASHINGTON, July 1 (Xinhua) -- Ousted Honduran
President Manuel Zelaya said here on Wednesday that he would postpone his plan
to return home after the Organization of American States (OAS) gave the country
an ultimatum to restore him to power. Full story
TEGUCIGALPA, June 30 (Xinhua) -- The deposed Honduran
President Manuel Zelaya on Tuesday vowed to return to the country despite an
arrest threat that could put him in jail for 20 years.
Zelaya has won wide international supports, and he
will make a high-profile comeback flanked by the president of the UN General
Assembly, the secretary-general of the Organization of American States (OAS) and
presidents of Argentina and Ecuador on a flight to Honduras on
Thursday. Full story
UNITED NATIONS, June 30 (Xinhua) -- The UN General
Assembly on Tuesday adopted a resolution to condemn the military coup in
Honduras and demand the immediate restoration of the government of ousted
President Manuel Zelaya.
The resolution also asked all the countries not to
recognize the military regime that took power by force. Full story
