Honduras' de facto government extended a curfew and closed the country's airports yesterday after deposed president Manuel Zelaya made a surprise return and took refuge in the Brazilian embassy.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appealed for calm as the Honduras crisis was raised on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
Setting the stage for a confrontation, Zelaya called on supporters to converge on the capital as the government extended what had been a nighttime curfew until 6pm yesterday to head off protests.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Zelaya, who was ousted on June 28 and flown into exile in his pajamas, secretly made his way back into the country, taking the nation's de facto leaders by surprise.
Appearing on the Brazilian embassy balcony in his trademark cowboy hat, Zelaya told supporters: “Nobody is going to grab me sleeping again, and my position is fatherland, restoration or death.”
“They thought they were going to stop me at the border, but here I am alive and kicking,” he said.
Zelaya told a Honduran TV station early yesterday that he had begun reaching out to the de facto government through intermediaries. At the same time, he called on his followers to come to Tegucigalpa.
“Come to the capital, because here is where a peaceful dialogue must be established, but one which reestablishes constitutional order,” he said.
However, interim Honduran leader Roberto Micheletti showed no signs of yielding, lashing out in a TV interview against pressure from the US and other governments for a resolution to the crisis. He demanded that Brazil hand over Zelaya.
In New York, Clinton called for calm and welcomed Zelaya's return as an opportunity to end the political stalemate.
“Now that President Zelaya is back it would be opportune to restore him to his position under appropriate circumstances, get on with the election that is currently scheduled for November, have a peaceful transition of presidential authority and get Honduras back to constitutional and democratic order,” Clinton told reporters.
She met ahead of the UN General Assembly in New York with Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, a Nobel peace laureate who brokered failed peace talks between the Zelaya camp and the interim government.
Arias urged both sides to sign July's San Jose accord, which called for Zelaya's return to the presidency. But Micheletti told local TV on Monday that Arias' role as a mediator was over.
“I think Mr Arias has absolutely nothing to do with this conflict any longer,” Micheletti said.
“His role is finished, from the moment Mr Zelaya arrived in the country without any mediation or agreement in common with anyone to do it,” he said.
He also lashed out at Clinton.
“Let's hope for Dona Hillary's and Mr Arias' sake, after the pleasure they took in president Zelaya's arrival here, that there will not be consequences to regret,” he said.
“I am not going to defraud the Honduran people who want nothing to do with Zelaya and the intervention and imposition of other countries,” he said.
Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said his country had played no role in Zelaya's return, but that it had simply accepted his demand for asylum in its embassy.
“We hope this will open a new stage in the discussions and a rapid solution,” Amorim told a news conference in New York.
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