TEGUCIGALPA, July 24 (Xinhua) --
Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya on Friday returned to Nicaragua after
making brief entry into Honduras at the border town of Las Manos.
Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya
(C) holds up the chain which mark the border between Honduras and
Nicaragua with his supporters at the border point of Las Manos in
Honduras, on July 24, 2009. (Xinhua/David De La Paz) Photo Gallery>>>
ZELAYA'S
RETURN
Zelaya stayed on Friday in a neutral area between
Honduras and Nicaragua for about one and half hour in what he called a "symbolic
entry".
The deposed president said his short stay inside
Honduras was an act of bravery with "prudence".
Zelaya, who was forced out of
the country in a military coup on June 28, waited to talk with armed forces to
find a peaceful solution to the crisis. However, he withdrew back across the border when
there was no response from the other side.
Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya
holds up the chain which marcks the border between Honduras and Nicaragua
in Las Manos. Zelaya briefly stepped across the border from Nicaragua to
Honduras on Friday, in a symbolic move almost a month after soldiers sent
him into exile.(Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery>>>
He told reporters from Venezuela's Telesur, who
followed him in a caravan, that the risk of bloodshed was too high as Honduran
troops had been mobilized at border spots with neighboring countries to block
his return.
While Zelaya approached Honduras, his supporters
gathered in El Paraiso, some 10 km away from the frontier, to welcome him back.
At least two civilians were reported injured in a
clash between Zelaya's supporters and anti-riot police, who used tear gas to
disperse the crowd.
On Friday, at least three
clashes broke out between Zelaya's supporters and security forces in border
areas, despite a curfew imposed from 6 p.m. local time (2400 GMT) to 6 a.m. (1200 GMT), and
12 p.m. (0600 GMT) to 4:30 a.m. (1030 GMT) in the rest
of the country.
Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya
answers his mobile phone during a press conference after returning to the
Nicaragua side at border point of Las Manos, July 24, 2009. (Xinhua
Photo) Photo
Gallery>>>
INTERIM GOVERNMENT'S REFUSAL
Marta Lorena Alvarado, the interim government's vice
foreign minister, said in a comminuque that Zelaya's return promoted "subversion
and violence" even "a bloodbath" in Honduras, saying the arrest order against
him was still valid.
Alvarado told TV Channel CNN in a telephone interview
that Zelaya would be detained and taken to court, saying the interim government
had asked the International Committee of the Red Cross to witness the whole
process in a bid to show her governments respect for Zelayas human rights.
Honduran interim Foreign Minister Carlos Lopez, said
earlier that as a Honduran citizen, Zelaya would be allowed to return home where
he would face 18 criminal charges.
"Zelaya has two options, to be outside (the country)
or to enter and be judged," Lopez told a press conference at the Foreign
Ministry building in Tegucigalpa.
Lopez on Friday criticized Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega for interfering in Honduras'
internal affairs by supporting Zelaya.
He also called on the international community to join
the talks as observers to solve the crisis in Honduras.
INTERNATIONAL
DISAGREEMENT
The South American Common Market (Mercosur), a
regional trading bloc, strongly condemned the coup in Honduras during its summit
meeting on Friday and refused to recognize the legitimacy of the country's
interim government.
The Mercosur expressed support and solidarity with
the Honduran people, saying that the organization would not accept any
unilateral act by the country's interim authorities.
In a joint statement issued on Friday, Mercosur
members demanded the immediate restoration of public order and democracy in
Honduras.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on
Friday that Zelaya's effort to reach the border was "reckless" and would not
help restore the democratic order in the country.
Media said the U.S. Department of State expects to
meet Zelaya probably next Tuesday to discuss the situation in the Central
American country.
Jose Miguel Insulza, General Secretary of the
Organization of American States Jose Miguel Insulza, expressed his disagreement
with Zelaya's return, saying that the only way to end the crisis should be a
"negotiated solution".
The mediator, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, also
said Zelaya's return, was "not the way to resolve the conflict in Honduras."
Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya
(R) points at a board reading "Welcome to Honduras!" at the border between
Honduras and Nicaragua of Las Manos in Honduras, on July 24, 2009. Zelaya
returned Friday to Nicaragua after staying two hours in Honduras at the
border point of Las Manos. (Xinhua/David De La Paz) Photo
Gallery>>>
MANAGUA, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Ousted Honduran
President Manuel Zelaya returned on Friday to Nicaragua after staying two hours
in Honduras at the border point of Las Manos.
Zelaya, in exile since June 28, returned to Nicaragua
to wait for the answer from the Honduran Staff of the Army, to whom Zelaya
proposed to talk to find a solution to the political crisis in country. Full story
TEGUCIGALPA, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Honduras' post-coup
interim government on Friday imposed an emergency curfew on the country's
southern border with Nicaragua and western border with EL Salvador, apparently
aimed at blocking any possible attempt to return by ousted President Manuel
Zelaya.
The curfew at the bordering areas will be from 12:00 a.m.
on Friday (1800 GMT) to 06:00 a.m. local time of Saturday (1200 GMT).For the
rest of the country the coup will be from 00:00 a.m. (0600GMT) to 06:00 a.m.
local time (1200 GMT). Full story
MANAGUA, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Ousted Honduran President
Manuel Zelaya urged on Friday the Honduran soldiers to defend the democracy in
the country by rejecting the coup made against him onJune 28.
"I want to tell the soldiers from Honduras that the future
of our country is on risk. Soldiers from my homeland: defend your democracy,
reject this coup," Zelaya said on Friday in Nicaragua before starting his return
back home. Full story
TEGUCIGALPA, July 24 (Xinhua) -- The Honduran soldiers and policemen guarding
the country's border with Nicaragua on Friday used tear gas against the
supporters of ousted President Manuel Zelaya, to stop them from crossing the
border in Las Manos sector.
"The repression from these policemen began, the people
begin to run from one side to another, the violence has been untied, we try to
protect ourselves," said Gustavo Ramos, a reporter for the local "Radio Globo",
while reporting on the scene from La Manos, some 125 km east of the Honduran
capital Tegucigalpa. Full story
