SAN JOSE, July 19 (Xinhua) --
Fears for a return of the country's war-plagued past spread in Honduras as
negotiations for a solution to the political crisis remained deadlocked and both
sides were urged to resume talks in three days.
Costa Rica's President Oscar Arias (2nd
L) stands with Carlos Lopez (L), representative for Honduras' interim
President Roberto Micheletti, Rixi Moncada and Aristedes Mejia (R),
representatives for deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, after
negotiations in San Jose July 19, 2009. Talks to resolve Honduras'
political crisis dragged into a second day on Sunday, with negotiators for
deposed President Manuel Zelaya and coup leaders deadlocked over his
proposed return to power. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>
The two-day talks on ending Honduras' political
crisis failed Sunday in Costa Rica due to both sides' non-compromising
stances.
Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, who is mediating
in the crisis, said he would spend 72 hours to try to convince Honduran
post-coup leader Roberto Micheletti to accept his compromise plan, which would
let ousted President Manuel Zelaya serve out the final months of his term.
Micheletti's negotiating team has rejected the plan,
saying a provision calling for Zelaya's reinstatement was "unacceptable."
Arias called on both sides to resume the talks by
Wednesday and seek a solution to avoid internecine violence in Honduras, where a
great number of people possess weapons.
"Many Hondurans have arms. What happens if one of
them fires on a soldier or a soldier fires on an armed citizen?" he said, adding
that civil war was one of the possibilities.
Representatives for Micheletti, who took power hours
after Zelaya was forced into exile on June 28, accepted Arias' call for a
72-hour reflection, but a spokeswoman for Zelaya's team described the post-coup
regime as "intransigent" and threatened not to return to talks.
At the end of Sunday's talks, Carlos Lopez,
Micheletti's foreign minister and head of the negotiating delegation, told a
press conference that they would never accept Zelaya's restoration as head of
the government.
"We made a counter proposal... under which the
constitutional president, Roberto Micheletti, agreed to step down in exchange
for Mr. Zelaya returning to face trial for his crimes," he said.
Lopez also described Micheletti's government, which
no nation or multilateral organization has yet recognized, as "constitutional"
and said those who think otherwise were interfering in Honduras' sovereign decisions.
Mauricio Villeda, (L) representative of
Honduras' interim President Roberto Micheletti, speaks with Milton Jimenez
representative of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya during
negotiations in San Jose July 19, 2009. Talks to resolve Honduras'
political crisis dragged into a second day on Sunday, with negotiators for
deposed President Manuel Zelaya and coup leaders deadlocked over his
proposed return to power. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>
Responding to Lopez's remarks, Rixi Moncada, who led
Zelaya's delegation, said her team was unable to continue the talks because
Micheletti's government had failed to respect the international community's
wishes.
Earlier in the day, Aristedes Mejia, another member
of Zelaya's team, said all topics that could be discussed were secondary to
Zelaya's return.
Analysts said the two sides were unlikely to reach an
agreement in a near term as neither side was showing any flexibility in their
arguments.
The post-coup government has soon been in power for a
month, and would have to function without any public international recognition,
they said.
After the talks collapsed, Zelaya said returning to
Honduras to fight for his presidency remained an option.
"Absolutely no one can stop me (from returning). I'm
a Honduran. It is my right," he told media over the telephone from Nicaragua,
Honduras' southern neighbor.
Zelaya's previous attempt to fly home on July 5 by a
Venezuelan aircraft was thwarted by Honduran troops, who prevented the plane
from landing in Tegucigalpa, capital of the Central American nation.
The ousted president said he was preparing a series
of alternatives that could be by air, land or sea.
"We have democracy in Honduras. I'd like to ask the
other presidents of Europe and Latin America how they would feel to be tied up
and thrown out. What would they do?" he said.
In Honduras, Zelaya's supporters continued to protest against Micheletti, blocking highways and
holding rallies in eight of the nation's population centers.
Costa Rica's President Oscar Arias (R)
walks next to Carlos Lopez (L), representative for Honduras' interim
President Roberto Micheletti, and Aristedes Mejia (C), representative for
deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, after negotiations in San Jose
July 19, 2009. Zelaya and his rival failed to strike a deal on Sunday to
solve the country's political crisis after two days of
talks.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery>>>
Besides Arias' fear of a civil war in Honduras, there
are also concerns about what could happen if a military government takes root in
the region.
Pablo Monsanto, a former guerilla leader in
Guatemala, warned that more coups could occur in Latin America if the Honduras
coup survived.
"There is a risk that other coups will occur in Latin
America," he told local media in Guatemala City.
Armed rebel movements were not appropriate for the
new democratic trend in the region, but were now a real fact that would have to
be faced in the wake of a post-coup government that repressed its population by
force, said Monsanto, a signatory to Guatemala's 1996 Peace
Accords.
