Stakes rose in Honduras yesterday after ousted president Manuel Zelaya, holed up at Brazil’s embassy in Tegucigalpa, called on his supporters for a final offensive — and coup leaders responded by giving Brazil a harsh warning.
Zelaya, who has been in the embassy since he made a surprise return almost one week ago, called on his supporters to converge on the capital today, exactly three months after the coup.
“We’re making a patriotic ... call to resistance across all national territory,” Zelaya said in a statement on Saturday.
He called on his supporters to peacefully march to the capital for a “final offensive against the de facto government.”
Shortly after, the regime gave Brazil up to 10 days to define Zelaya’s status in a statement read on national TV.
It urged “that Mr Zelaya immediately stop using the protection that Brazil’s diplomatic mission gives him to instigate violence in Honduras.”
The statement warned that “if that’s not done, we’ll be forced to take supplementary measures under international law,” without elaborating.
The interim government promised not to attack the “integrity” of the embassy.
The UN Security Council on Friday warned the interim Honduran regime headed by Roberto Micheletti not to harass the embassy, as Brazilian officials complained it was “under siege.”
Several thousand Zelaya supporters took to the streets again on Saturday, in a march on foot and in scores of cars, waving red flags, honking horns and calling for him to return to office.
Zelaya said on Saturday that the regime had not responded to a call for dialogue, which he made after returning to the country, but had replied “with more repression against the people.”
“It’s the only place in the world where there’s an embassy under siege,” Brazilian charge d’affaires Francisco Catunda said.
Most people inside the embassy were in good health, Catunda said, adding that one Brazilian diplomat told him he had smelled gas the previous day, after Zelaya accused the army of trying to poison him and some 60 people still inside the compound by pumping noxious gases into the building — a charge roundly denied by Honduran officials.
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