By Alejandra del Palacio
MEXICO CITY, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- The de facto
Honduran government denied on Tuesday that police would raid the Brazilian
embassy in Tegucigalpa to arrest ousted President Manuel Zelaya.
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A policeman fires a canister of tear gas
at supporters of ousted Honduras President Manuel Zelaya, near the
Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa Sept. 22,
2009. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)
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"I publicly tell Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula
da Silva: We are going to respect your embassy, because that is Brazil's land,
and we are going to respect it, as long as they answer our petitions,"
Micheletti said during a meeting with different sectors of the government.
On
Tuesday, 143 people were detained and 18 others injured when police and soldiers
cleared away Zelaya's supporters from the front of the Brazilian embassy in
Tegucigalpa, where was Zelaya staying.
"There are more than 140 detainees, including three
minors. The police's actions were legal and did not violate human rights,"
police spokesman Daniel Molina said.
Police and soldiers set up a ring of security around
the Brazilian embassy after clearing away the protesters, leaving Zelaya trapped
inside.
Brazilian President Lula said the integrity of the
Brazilian embassy in Honduras must be respected.
He also warned the Honduran government against taking
any actions against the embassy, which is considered to be on Brazilian soil.
However, he also asked Zelaya not to provoke the current administration into
taking action.
Brazil granted refuge to Zelaya as any other
government would have done, Lula said.
Staying inside the embassy, Zelaya managed to avoid
an arrest warrant issued against him by the interim government, which ousted him
from the presidency in a June 28 political-military coup.
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Honduras' de facto leader Roberto
Micheletti talks during a meeting with businessman inside the presidential
residence in Tegucigalpa Sept. 22, 2009.(Xinhua/Reuters
Photo)
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Micheletti urged Brazil to turn Zelaya over to
Honduran authorities for trial or grant him asylum.
He also announced Tuesday that he was ready to
assemble a work team to start a dialogue aimed at ending the crisis." I make a
call to the entire world: We are ready for dialogue," Micheletti told reporters
after a meeting with businessmen.
The work team would include sectors of the Honduran
civil society and impartial foreign diplomats, Micheletti announced.
"We will set up the commission without the people who
formed them before," he added, noting that on Tuesday noon he would announce the
names of the people to be part of the new commission.
He expected the participation of "serious and
responsible organizations with which he had not had ties before" and "someone
impartial from the United Nations to come to listen to the position of the
Honduran people."
Staying in the embassy, Zelaya said he was not afraid
of the Honduran police to arrest him.
"I do not have any fear; we are not afraid," Zelaya told local media.
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Honduras' ousted President Manuel Zelaya talks to his supporters at the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, capital of Honduras, Sept. 21, 2009. (Xinhua/delmer membreo)
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INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
VOICES AGAINST VIOLENCE IN HONDURAS
The European Union on Tuesday asked Micheletti and
Zelaya to abstain from "any action which could increase the tension and violence
in the country." Also, it stressed "the importance to reach a negotiated
solution" to the political conflict.
European Commissioner of Foreign Affairs Benita
Ferrero-Waldner said, "now more than ever, it is imperative that Zelaya and
Micheletti, the legislative and executive powers, as well as the presidential
candidates of the country, unite their efforts in favor of an agreed solution."
Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero
urged the de facto government to respect Zelaya's physical integrity and the
Brazilian embassy.
France also asked Micheletti to "guarantee the
security" of Zelaya and urged him to sign the San Jose Agreement, proposed by
Costa Rican President Oscar Arias. The agreement stipulates that Zelaya be
allowed back into the country to form a government of national unity, to end the
political crisis and to restore the democratic order in Honduras.
President of the Organization of American States
(OAS) Permanent Council Pedro Oyarce condemned the violent events on Tuesday
morning at the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa.
He asked the de facto authorities "to respect human
rights of all the Honduran citizens, full guaranties for Zelaya and the
Brazilian diplomatic representation."
Paraguay's President Fernando Lugo demanded "respect
to the physical integrity of the constitutional President Zelaya" and guarantees
"for the freedom of speech of the citizens and the right to mobilize."
Chile's Foreign Ministry also urged the de facto
authorities to protect Zelaya's life and physical integrity, and called on the
involved parties to be calm and appease violence in the country.
"We ask, in the same way, the restitution of
President Zelaya," the Chilean Foreign Ministry added.
Non-governmental organizations from Guatemala
requested Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom to ask the UN Security Council to
stop "the grave situation" in Honduras.
