HONDURAN NATIONAL RESISTANCE UPDATE 10/8
6:00PM
Three items: The whole “who-hit-johnny” of OAS meeting in Tegucigalpa (bottom line is talks essentially over, “no deal” concerning return of Zelaya), National Resistance demonstrated outside the Clarion Hotel where OAS meeting was held, and a UN representative arrived on the scene yesterday.
>UPDATED ARTICLE OAS diplomats and Honduras crisis
By BEN FOX (AP) – 55 minutes ago
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Diplomats pushed the two sides of the Honduran political conflict into direct talks for the first time in nearly three months, but left the country Thursday with no commitment from the coup-installed government to reinstate ousted President Manuel Zelaya.
Members of the delegation sponsored by the Organization of American States characterized the result of their one-day visit — the establishment of a “table of dialogue” and an agenda for the talks — as a positive step even though the rivals appeared as far apart as ever.
Costa Rican Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno said representatives of Zelaya and the government of interim President Roberto Micheletti agreed to discuss the main international proposal for resolving the crisis and will have “logistical” support from OAS staff left behind.
Any resolution, however, will be in their hands.
“This is going to be an exclusively Honduran dialogue,” Stagno told reporters as the delegation headed to the airport. “This is a divided family and they have to reconcile.”
The depth of that division was clear as Stagno spoke: About 200 pro-Zelaya supporters massed boisterously at the front door of the hotel where the direct talks are held, calling for the ousted leader’s return. Dozens of police, some in riot gear with tear gas at the ready, blocked them from entering the building and they left after about an hour.
“The truth is they don’t want a solution,” 50-year-old protester Maritza Burgos said of the interim government. “They want to be in power, stay in power and keep President Manuel Zelaya, the only Honduran president, from getting back in office.”
Canada’s minister of state for the Americas, Peter Kent, said Honduras cannot hold its scheduled Nov. 29 presidential election with international support if Zelaya isn’t returned to office soon, even with limited powers in a coalition government as outlined in a mediator’s settlement proposal. Still, he said the visit wasn’t a failure.
“We had both sides speak to each other in a positive way,” Kent said in an interview with The Associated Press. “This was really only the first step in a much longer process.”
The June 28 military-backed coup that toppled Zelaya has paralyzed this impoverished Central American nation with street protests, the suspension of foreign aid, diplomatic isolation and a standoff between the rival claimants to the presidency. The crisis deepened when Zelaya slipped back into the country in late September and took refuge with dozens of supporters in the Brazilian Embassy.
Governments throughout the world insist the ousted president serve out the final months of his term and be restored to his office in time to prepare for the November election.
The international community has also called for an amnesty that would prevent Zelaya from being prosecuted for what his opponents say was an illegal effort to change the Honduras’ constitution. Amnesty would also keep a reinstated Zelaya from going after those who overthrew him.
The OAS dispatched foreign ministers and other senior diplomats from about a dozen countries in North and South American and the Caribbean. They met on Wednesday with Zelaya in a cramped and stuffy room of the Brazilian Embassy for about 90 minutes and with Micheletti around a conference table in the stately presidential palace, where he subjected them to an angry defense of his government.
Kent said the diplomats were surprised by the outburst, which he said was in sharp contrast to the “fairly civil” meetings between the representatives of the two sides. Zelaya, he said, has already agreed to a downgraded role if he is returned to the presidency.
“He would not be returned to office with the powers he has when he was originally elected,” the minister said as he headed to the airport for his return to Ottawa. “He has agreed that he would come back under controlled circumstances.”
Among the requirements is that he would not be able to “tinker” with the constitution.
In a statement released at the official close of its mission, the OAS group urged the interim government to “resolve the problem of the Brazilian Embassy,” where Zelaya and dozens of supporters are virtual prisoners, sleeping on the floor and receiving shipments of food while soldiers have it cordoned off.
The delegation also called on Micheletti’s administration to allow the resumption of operations at two pro-Zelaya broadcasters, whose equipment was confiscated under an emergency decree limiting civil liberties.
Zelaya has made no public comments on the negotiations.
Victor Meza, who represents the ousted president in the talks, said results had been “satisfactory” so far. Pro-Zelaya protest leader Juan Barahona, also taking part in the negotiations, said the ousted president must be returned by Oct. 15 in time to prepare for the election.
“If there’s no resolution by then, I don’t know what is going to happen,” he told the AP.
Zelaya was forced from office for trying to hold a referendum on rewriting the constitution. His opponents charge he wanted to lift the charter’s provision limiting presidents to a single term in a bid to stay in office or to be re-elected later. Zelaya says that was not his intention.
>Honduras Resiste y Vence: National resistance is meeting outside the Clarion Hotel where the OAS is meeting with Micheletti and elaya representatives.
>UN – Daily Press Briefing (7 October 2009) – Madagascar, Cyprus, Honduras, Lebanon, Gaza, Sudan, CERF, Tonga and Samoa, UNDP, Tajikistan
** Honduras
Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Oscar Fernandez-Taranco, today arrived in the capital of Honduras as part of a high-level mission led by the Organization of American States (OAS). The aim of the mission is to promote dialogue and the restoration of democracy in Honduras. The UN’s participation in the mission is at the invitation of the OAS.
2:00PM
Three OAS-Golpista-Zelaya articles, link to blog concerning US delegation in Honduras to investigate civil rights violations, and video about golpista media repression.
>De facto Honduran government demands Zelaya disarm his guards
“MEXICO, October 8 (RIA Novosti) – The de facto Honduran government demanded on Thursday that ousted President Manuel Zelaya hand in firearms of his bodyguards.
Foreign ministers of South American states, representatives of international organizations, delegations representing Zelaya and the de facto government have gathered in the Honduran capital for talks on resolving the country’s political crisis.
“We know that armed foreign and Honduran nationals are on the territory of the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa. According to international laws, armed outsiders are not allowed on the territory of a foreign mission,” the foreign minister of the interim government said on Thursday during the talks.
“We demand that Zelaya disarm them and voluntarily hand in 17 guns,” Carlos Lopez Contreras said.
Brazil’s envoy to the Organization of American States, Ruy Casaes, confirmed that the ousted president was accompanied by a group of armed bodyguards when he returned to the country on September 21 and took refuge in the Brazilian Embassy. The bodyguards later handed in their firearms to embassy staff, who locked the guns up in a vault.
Casaes said about 60 Honduras nationals and two Brazilian diplomats are currently taking refuge on the premises on the embassy.
President Manuel Zelaya was bundled out of Honduras on June 28 by the military, acting on instructions from the Supreme Court and parliament, for his efforts to seek an unconstitutional second presidential term. He was flown to Costa Rica.”
>Honduran coup leader ‘will quit’ if Zelaya drops reinstatement bid
© REUTERS/ Edgard Garrido
14:4508/10/2009
MOSCOW, October 8 (RIA Novosti) – The de facto president of Honduras has said that he is ready to step down if ousted President Manuel Zelaya also gives up his claim to office, the EFE news agency reported on Thursday.
“If I am a hindrance [to the normalization of the situation in Honduras], I will quit,” Roberto Micheletti told representatives of the Organization of American States at talks.
However, Zelaya and the Organization of American States mission insist his return to power is a non-negotiable demand.
Zelaya was bundled out of Honduras on June 28 by the military, acting on instructions from the Supreme Court and parliament, over his efforts to seek an unconstitutional second presidential term. He was flown to Costa Rica.
Zelaya returned to the country on September 21 and took refuge in the Brazilian Embassy.
Presidential elections are due to take place in Honduras on November 29.
>HONDURAN TALKS STRUGGLE WITH ISSUE OF ZELAYA RETURN
“TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) – Envoys for Honduras’ de facto leaders and ousted President Manuel Zelaya resumed talks on Thursday to end a post-coup crisis, but were far from agreement on the key issue of returning the leftist to power.
The negotiations, in their second day, seek to end the conflict triggered by a June military coup that ousted Zelaya.
The standoff is Central America’s worst crisis in years and has become a test for U.S. President Barack Obama after he promised a new era of engagement with Latin America.
A high level mission including the head of the Organization of American States and the top U.S. diplomat for Latin America is overseeing the talks.
The OAS mission and Zelaya’s camp insist he must return to office in order to end sanctions against Honduras and legitimize presidential elections set for November 29.
De facto leader Roberto Micheletti says Zelaya should “stop insisting” he must retake the presidency and has criticized the diplomats who support his return.
“We are very pessimistic, we don’t see any positive feeling in the position of the coup leaders,” said Juan Barahona, one of three members of Zelaya’s delegation at the talks.
“They are not considering the restitution of Zelaya,” he told Reuters.
Republicans in the United States have criticized Obama for supporting Zelaya’s return. The ousted leader allied Honduras with leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and communist Cuba and angered business groups.
Zelaya slipped back into Honduras two weeks ago and has taken refuge inside the Brazilian embassy with his wife and scores of followers. Troops and police in riot gear have ringed the mission to limit pro-Zelaya demonstrations.
The president’s supporters have been holding small marches in Tegucigalpa every day despite emergency curbs on demonstrations imposed by Micheletti, who has also closed two media outlets that support Zelaya.
Foreign ministers and diplomats from Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico, Spain the United States and several Central American nations visited Zelaya on Wednesday in the embassy, where he sleeps on an inflatable mattress.
The envoys are due to leave Honduras later on Thursday, leaving lower level officials to observe the negotiations. (Editing by Alan Elsner)”
>Link to US Delegation to Investigate Civil Rights Violations in Honduras
>VIDEO: FRANCE 24 has the “411” on media suppression in Honduras
11:30AM
Adding two items: First, article posted to Honduran embassy website regarding Micheletti’s intransigence in OAS talks. Second, a letter in Spanish from Foreign Minister, Patricia Rodas, regarding the OAS delegation in Honduras.
11:30AM
>Honduran Embassy Website – “Honduras’ coup-installed leader resists diplomats’ pleas to reinstate Zelaya in heated talks”
Posted by hondurasemb in Coup d’etat, News Stories.
Honduras’ coup-installed leader resisted calls by diplomats from across the hemisphere to reinstate ousted President Manuel Zelaya, at one point angrily telling the visitors they “don’t know the truth or don’t want to know it.”
During sometimes confrontational talks with interim President Roberto Micheletti and his ministers, representatives from the United States, Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean took turns on Wednesday urging the Micheletti camp to reconsider its position, but no breakthroughs were announced.
“Today we saw Hondurans sitting together, working on a Honduran solution,” Ronald Robinson, a Jamaican representing the Caribbean Community, said during one session of talks with Honduran representatives. “For me, I thought it was a good step in the right direction.”
The June 28 military-backed coup that toppled Zelaya has paralyzed this impoverished Central American nation with street protests, foreign aid cuts, diplomatic isolation and a standoff between rival claimants to the presidency. The crisis deepened when Zelaya slipped back into the country in late September and took refuge with dozens of supporters in the Brazilian Embassy.
Wednesday’s negotiations began behind closed doors with representatives of Zelaya and the interim government in the Honduran capital, but exploded into the open later in the day with a televised confrontation between Micheletti and the foreign envoys in the presidential palace.
Micheletti, his voice bristling with rage, scolded the diplomats for refusing to recognize what he insisted was the lawful removal of Zelaya under the Honduran constitution and for isolating his country and suspending aid to one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere.
“You don’t know the truth or you don’t want to know it,” Micheletti said. “You don’t want to know what happened before June 28.”
He urged them to “reflect on the damage you are doing to a country that has done nothing to you.”
The diplomats sat stone-faced, a few rubbing their eyes in apparent fatigue during his outburst. Canada’s minister of state for the Americas, Peter Kent, told Micheletti that the international community respects the Honduran constitution, but it oppose the military’s ouster of Zelaya.
“However it happened, a mistake was made on June 28,” Kent said. “A democratically elected leader, whatever his behavior in recent years, was undemocratically removed.”
The delegates, brought to Honduras by the Organization of American States, were scheduled to leave Thursday.
After the talks with Micheletti, the delegation spoke with Zelaya in the Brazilian Embassy.
Tensions rose before Wednesday’s meeting, with riot police firing tear gas to disperse about 200 Zelaya supporters protesting near the U.S. and Brazilian embassies.
Micheletti and his supporters say Zelaya’s military-backed ouster was legal because it was sanctioned by Honduras’ Supreme Court after he defied of a court order that he drop a referendum on changing the constitution. Most of the international community maintains the coup was illegal and must be reversed.
“We are not here to create a debate. We are here to find concrete solutions to a situation that cannot be prolonged,” OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza said before the round of meetings started.
Insulza presented a proposal to restore Zelaya as head of a unity government until his term ends in January and offer amnesty to both the coup leaders and the deposed president, who faces abuse of power and other charges in Honduras.
The proposal, which also would require Zelaya to abandon any ambitions to change the constitution, is very similar to one proposed months ago by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, known as the San Jose Accord, and rejected by the interim government.
Zelaya gave negotiators an ultimatum, calling for the postponement of the upcoming presidential election if he is not restored to office before Oct. 15. The interim government wants to go ahead with the Nov. 29 ballot _ scheduled before Zelaya’s overthrow _ and move past the crisis.
The Canadian minister said it was imperative for an agreement to be reached before the election, which many countries in the Americas have warned will not be recognized if Zelaya remains out of the power.
“I sense that everybody involved understands that we are nearly out of time and this crisis needs to be resolved now,” Kent said.”
>HONDURAS : CARTA DE LA CANCILLER DE HONDURAS PATRICIA RODAS A SUS COMPATRIOTAS
Wed, 10/07/2009 – 20:30 — tortilla
CARTA DE LA CANCILLER DE HONDURAS PATRICIA RODAS
EN RELACION A LA LLEGADA DE LOS REPRESENTANTES DE PAISES MIEMBROS DE LA OEA A HONDURAS
QUERIDOS COMPATRIOTAS:
EN WASHINGTON, 7 DE OCT. DURANTE LAS REUNIONES PREVIAS QUE LA CANCILLER DEL GOBIERNO CONSTITUCIONAL Y PATRIÓTICO QUE PRESIDE MANUEL ZELAYA ROSALES, LOS REPRESENTANTES DE PAÍSES MIEMBROS DE LA O.E.A. QUE NOS ACOMPAÑAN EN LA LUCHA Y QUE SON PARTE DEL GRUPO EN “MISIÓN ESPECIAL A HONDURAS”, RATIFICARON EL COMPROMISO DE RESPETAR LOS PROPÓSITOS QUE HA VENIDO EXPRESANDO LA COMUNIDAD INTERNACIONAL, DE COADYUVAR A LOS LEGÍTIMOS ESFUERZOS DEL PUEBLO HONDUREÑO PARA RESTAURAR EL ORDEN CONSTITUCIONAL Y DEMOCRATICO QUE LE FUE ARREBATADO POR LA FUERZA DE LAS ARMAS, Y CUYO PUNTO DE PARTIDA ES LA RESTITUCION DEL PRESIDENTE ZELAYA.
ADEMAS, RATIFICARON EL COMPROMISO DE EXIGIR EL RESPETO IRRESTRICTO DE LOS DERECHOS Y GARANTÍAS CONSTITUCIONALES DE UN PUEBLO QUE SE MANIFIESTA PACÍFICAMENTE Y CONTRA EL QUE SE DESPLIEGA UN RÉGIMEN DE REPRESIÓN DESPROPORCIONADO, LA RESTAURACIÓN DE LOS MEDIOS DE COMUNICACIÓN QUE HAN SIDO VIOLENTAMENTE DESMANTELADOS PARA SILENCIAR LA VOZ DEL PUEBLO Y DEL PRESIDENTE, Y EL CESE DEL ASEDIO CONTRA LA MISIÓN DIPLOMÁTICA DE LA REPÚBLICA FEDERATIVA DEL BRASIL, QUE EXPONE LA CONCORDIA INTERNACIONAL Y LA SEGURIDAD DEL PRESIDENTE DE LA REPÚBLICA.
HOY, LOS CANCILLERES DE PUEBLOS HERMANOS DE NUESTRA AMÉRICA, EN MISIÓN ESPECIAL EN HONDURAS, PRESIONAN POR LA RESTITUCIÓN DEL PRESIDENTE ZELAYA Y EL RETORNO AL ORDEN CONSTITUCIONAL.
LOS CANCILLERES CONDICIONAN LA LEGITIMIDAD DE SU MISIÓN AL CESE DE LA REPRESIÓN MASIVA Y SELECTIVA EN CONTRA DE LA POBLACIÓN, QUE SE RESTABLEZCAN LOS MEDIOS DE COMUNICACIÓN QUE HAN SIDO SABOTEADOS POR LA DICTADURA, Y POR QUE SE LEVANTE EL CERCO MILITAR EN TORNO DE LA EMBAJADA DE LA REPÚBLICA FEDERATIVA DE BRASIL, IMPUESTO POR EL RÉGIMEN CON EL OBJETIVO DE AISLAR AL PRESIDENTE DE LA REPÚBLICA.
LOS REPRESENTANTES QUE ACUDEN EN SOLIDARIDAD CON EL PUEBLO DE HONDURAS, RECHAZAN CUALQUIER PRETENSIÓN DEL RÉGIMEN DE CONSTRUIR ESPECTÁCULOS MEDIATICOS O FALSOS ESCENARIOS, QUE CON LA INTENCIÓN DE CONFUNDIR A LA OPINIÓN PÚBLICA, DESPRESTIGIEN SUS ESFUERZOS Y LA BUENA VOLUNTAD DE COADYUVAR A QUE SE RESPETEN LA VOLUNTAD DEMOCRÁTICA DEL PUEBLO Y LAS RESOLUCIONES INTERNACIONALES CONTRA EL GOLPE DE ESTADO MILITAR.
EXIGEN QUE LA DICTADURA ACATE LAS RESOLUCIONES DE LOS ORGANISMOS INTERNACIONALES QUE EXIGEN LA RESTITUCIÓN INMEDIATA DEL PRESIDENTE DE LA REPÚBLICA Y EL RETORNO AL ORDEN CONSTITUCIONAL, Y QUE NO SE SIGA BURLANDO EL DOLOR DEL PUEBLO HONDUREÑO Y DE LA BUENA VOLUNTAD DE LA COMUNIDAD INTERNACIONAL, ESPECIALMENTE DE LOS PUEBLOS DE AMERICA LATINA Y DEL CARIBE.
MANIFIESTAN SU SOLIDARIDAD AL HERMANO PUEBLO HONDUREÑO, VÍCTIMA DE LA VIOLACIÓN DE SUS DERECHOS HUMANOS Y GARANTÍAS CONSTITUCIONALES, Y AL PRESIDENTE ZELAYA LE INSTAN A CONTINUAR LA LUCHA A FAVOR DE LA RESTAURACION DEL ORDEN CONSTITUCIONAL, DEL ESTADO DE DERECHO Y DE LA SOBERANÍA POPULAR, PARA QUE JAMÁS, NUNCA MÁS, UN GOLPE DE ESTADO MILITAR COMO EL QUE SUFRE HONDURAS, DISPARE AL CORAZÓN DE LA LIBERTAD Y LA DEMOCRACIA.
PARA QUE JAMÁS, NUNCA MÁS, UN GOLPE DE ESTADO MILITAR DISPARE AL CORAZÓN DE NUESTRA AMÉRICA.
AL FINAL DE LA JORNADA, LOS CANCILLERES NO SERÁN CÓMPLICES DE LA DICTADURA, LOS DICTADORES HABRÁN MOSTRADO SU ESENCIA APÁTRIDA Y SUFRIRAN EL DESPRECIO INTERNACIONAL, Y LO MAS IMPORTANTE, CON LA SOLIDARIDAD DE LOS PUEBLOS DEL MUNDO, JUNTO A NUESTRO PRESIDENTE Y CON NUESTRO PUEBLO SEGUIMOS Y SEGUIREMOS EN PIE DE LUCHA, CON NUESTRAS CONVICCIONES A CUESTAS Y LA SEGURIDAD ABSOLUTA EN LA VICTORIA.
PATRICIA ISABEL RODAS
Canciller Constitucional
tortilla con sal
10:00AM
How many times can you say, “run out the clock?” When Insulza and Micheletti held their “secret” meetings previous to the arrival of the OAS yesterday, they must have done extensive role-play to prepare for this latest round of golpista stalling. Micheletti stalls because he has carte blanche from the US to do so and Insulza runs back and forth between the US and Tegucigalpa keeping the stall machine in working order. What an injustice this is to the people of Honduras.
Below: two articles in English and one in Spanish. The one in Spanish is a lot more interesting.
Be back with more news later today.
>OAS Mission Holds Talks on Honduran Political Crisis
By VOA News
08 October 2009
Interim Honduran President Roberto Micheletti has told diplomats from across the hemisphere that he will not step aside so ousted President Manuel Zelaya can be reinstated.
Micheletti met Wednesday with a delegation of envoys from the Organization of American States hoping to resolve the country’s three-month old political crisis. He criticized the diplomats for failing to understand the reasons Mr. Zelaya was forcibly removed from office, and for suspending aid to his impoverished nation.
The OAS team also met jointly with representatives of the interim Honduran government and of Mr. Zelaya, who remains holed up in the Brazilian embassy in the capital of Tegucigalpa.
Mr. Zelaya’s group insists that presidential elections scheduled for November should be delayed if he is not reinstated by October 15.
Later Wednesday the OAS delegation is to meet with Mr. Zelaya at the Brazilian embassy.
Shortly before Wednesday’s talks, riot police fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of Mr. Zelaya’s supporters outside the embassy.
The OAS delegation is scheduled to leave the capital of Tegucigalpa Thursday.
Mr. Zelaya was forced from office June 28 and sent into exile for trying to hold a referendum on rewriting the constitution. His opponents say he was trying to illegally change the constitution to extend his term in office. The ousted president alienated business leaders after he allied himself with leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
>HONDURAS: Reinstate president, diplomats urge (Micheletti’s excellent imitation of Jack Nicholson)
Foreign diplomats on Wednesday told Honduras’ interim government to reinstate ousted President Manuel Zelaya. In a confrontation broadcast on local television, interim President Roberto Micheletti scolded the diplomats for refusing to recognize what he insisted was the lawful removal of Zelaya under the Honduran Constitution and for isolating his country. “You don’t know the truth or you don’t want to know it,” he said.
Canada’s minister of state for the Americas, Peter Kent, then told Micheletti that the international community respects the Honduran Constitution, but it opposes the military’s ouster of Zelaya.
El presidente golpista dice que sólo una invasión evitaría las elecciones en Honduras
PABLO ORDAZ (ENVIADO ESPECIAL) | Tegucigalpa 08/10/2009
Qué bronca. No habían pasado más que unas cuantas horas desde que la multitudinaria misión de la Organización de Estados Americanos (OEA) había aterrizado en Honduras para impulsar el diálogo. El tiempo justo para llegar al hotel Clarion de Tegucigalpa -tomado por dentro y por fuera por la policía antidisturbios y el Ejército?, saludar a los negociadores designados por el presidente depuesto, Manuel Zelaya, y por el que ocupó su lugar tras el golpe, Roberto Micheletti, y tomar un ligero tentempié. Los representantes de la OEA, que habían llegado al país centroamericano a bordo de cuatro aviones, tenían prisa. La agenda contemplaba visitar en la Casa Presidencial a Micheletti y luego seguir hacia la embajada de Brasil para entrevistarse con Manuel Zelaya. Pero en la primera parada se encontraron con algo que no esperaban. Una bronca. Menuda bronca.
Micheletti los recibió amablemente, con toda la pompa y el boato que le fue posible, flanqueado por sus ministros más cercanos y alrededor de una mesa de madera oscura y noble. El presidente surgido del golpe dejó hablar a sus invitados, liderados por el secretario general de la OEA, José Miguel Insulza, y entre los que se encontraban cinco ministros de exteriores de la región -Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, México y Guatemala-, además de altos funcionarios de Canadá, Jamaica, Brasil… También estaba presente el secretario español de Estado para Iberoamérica, Juan Pablo de Laiglesia.
Micheletti dejó hablar a Insulza, con quien se había reunido unos días antes de forma secreta en una base militar hondureña. El secretario general de la OEA usó un tono comedido para apuntar sólo dos preocupaciones. La situación personal de Zelaya tras 17 días confinado en una legación diplomática sin las condiciones mínimas de habitabilidad, y el recorte de garantías provocado por el estado de sitio decretado días atrás [y revocado después] por el gobierno de facto. Y fue entonces cuando tomó la palabra Micheletti.
Más que tomar la palabra, la agarró, la blandió delante de todos y la arrojó con saña. Lo primero que dijo fue: “Ni ustedes saben toda la verdad, ni quieren escuchar toda la verdad”. Así. Como para ir abriendo boca. Luego -subiendo el tono- dijo: “Ustedes tienen que investigar que pasó en este país antes del 28 de junio [el día que un comandó militar secuestró a Zelaya y lo sacó del país]. Porque ustedes nos condenaron sin escucharnos. Hemos hecho esfuerzos incontables por mantener la paz en Honduras.
Pero el regreso de Zelaya provocó la comisión de muchos delitos. Y a través de las emisoras que estaban a su favor [y que ahora están clausuradas por una orden de su gobierno] se llamó a la sedición, se señalaron objetivos para que la gente los atacara. Fíjense lo que les digo: en este país no tememos a Estados Unidos, ni a Brasil… A lo único que tememos aquí es a Mel Zelaya. Tenemos pánico de Mel Zelaya. Ese señor que pagaba a los cuidadores y de sus caballos, y hasta sus alimentos, con fondos públicos. Ese señor que retiró de una joyería privada una cantidad de joyas no sabemos para quién…, pero sí sabemos con qué dinero, con el dinero del Estado. Les digo una cosa: aquí se van a celebrar elecciones el próximo 29 de noviembre. Y sólo hay una posibilidad de que no se celebren elecciones ese día: que nos invadan, que nos manden soldados y nos invadan… Así que no sean malos y no nos dejen sin elecciones. Háganme un favor: reflexionen sobre el daño que ustedes le están haciendo a Honduras”.
Los periodistas nacionales y extranjeros presentes en la Casa Presidencial, y que sólo pudieron seguir el desarrollo de la reunión a través del canal nacional de televisión, se miraban sin dar crédito. Hasta ese momento, atardecer en Honduras, avanzada ya la madrugada en la península, todas las conversaciones habían girado sobre los puntos de un acuerdo que se consideraba por primera vez posible. Porque quien más y quien menos sospechaba que si Insulza había regresado a Honduras con tamaño séquito era porque todo estaba ya más o menos atado. Que la comunidad internacional, representada por la OEA, venía a apadrinar, a tutelar, a suscribir… un acuerdo, una salida. ¿Un acuerdo? ¿Una salida? La bronca de Micheletti parecía dejar a las claras que la solución al conflicto de Honduras sigue estando más verde y más lejano de lo que se suponía.
Micheletti dejó de hablar. Los delegados de la OEA pusieron cara de póquer. Le tocaba el turno al embajador de Brasil, que hizo un discurso muy claro, diciendo que lo que hiciera Zelaya mientras fue presidente no es competencia de la comunidad internacional: “No nos toca juzgar sus actos. No tenemos jurisdicción sobre eso. Para eso ya están los tribunales hondureños. Pero sí es competencia nuestra denunciar la violación de la Carta Democrática Iberoamericana”.
La OEA considera que la Carta fue violada de forma flagrante cuando Zelaya fue sacado del país a punta de pistola y en pijama para ser abandonado en Costa Rica, y por eso el primer punto del Acuerdo de San José -auspiciado por el presidente Óscar Arias con la bendición de la comunidad internacional- pretende la restitución de Zelaya en el poder. Pero Micheletti no quiere ni oír hablar de esa posibilidad. Tan es así que, mirando fijamente a Insulza, terminó su bronca acusándolo: “Nosotros creíamos que ustedes venían de buena fe, y que iban a escuchar lo que decidieran los hondureños. Pero no. Los discursos que han hecho son totalmente diferentes. Porque ustedes quieren volver a poner a Zelaya, sin escuchar siquiera lo que digan los negociadores”.
Al terminar de embestir, Micheletti pidió a los delegados de la OEA: “No se me molesten. Es mi forma de hablar”.
HONDURAS OYE! 
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