Honduras’ interim leader offered to resign and back exiled president Manuel Zelaya’s return home, provided the ousted leader gives up his claim to the presidency, a plan made public on Thursday showed.
The offer appears to contain little new, other than an implicit offer by interim President Roberto Micheletti to back a limited amnesty for Zelaya, who was charged with several counts after he was ousted and flown into exile by soldiers in a June 28 coup.
Arturo Corrales, a negotiator for Micheletti, said Congress would still have to approve the amnesty, but he stressed that allowing Zelaya to return — point number four in the five-point offer — was new.
“There is a point which is new, that is point number four, which had not been mentioned before,” Corrales said.
Zelaya — as well as the international community — has insisted his ouster was illegal and that he must be restored to office to fill out the remainder of his term, which ends in January.
Micheletti has offered to resign before, passing the presidency to a third party to be determined by the Constitution. That would apparently be Supreme Court President Jorge Rivera, whose court issued an arrest warrant for Zelaya at the time of the coup.
Corrales said Micheletti presented the plan to foreign ministers from the Organization of American States (OAS), who were visiting Tegucigalpa on Tuesday.
“They didn’t say anything at that time,” Corrales said of the ministers, who were accompanied by OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza. “I have information ... that Mr. Insulza sees little possibility it [the offer] will be accepted.”
Congress would still have to approve the amnesty, but a copy of the proposal sent to reporters said Micheletti “will support the Congress’ decision to enact a law granting political amnesty not involving common crimes.”
Zelaya has been charged with falsification of public records, fraud and abuse of authority related to the alleged misappropriation of US$2 million in government funds to pay for ads by Zelaya’s administration in January.
Such charges would apparently not be covered in the amnesty, unlike charges of treason, usurping the powers of other branches of government, abuse of authority and trying to undermine Honduras’ system of government, which Zelaya also faces.
The plan also offer to invite “international observers, such as OAS, the Carter Center, and the European Union to monitor the [Nov. 29] presidential elections to ensure full transparency and participation.” The election to select Zelaya’s successor was scheduled before the coup.
The offer comes as the US, Honduras’ largest investor and trading partner, weighs possible tougher measures. US State Department staff have recommended that Zelaya’s ouster be declared a “military coup,” a US official said on Thursday, a step that could cut off tens of millions of dollars in US funding to the country nation.
The official, who spoke on condition he not be named, said State Department staff had made such a recommendation to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was expected to make a decision on the matter soon.
Washington already suspended about US$18 million in aid to Honduras after the June 28 coup and that would be formally cut if the determination is made because of a US law barring aid “to the government of any country whose duly elected head of government is deposed by military coup or decree.”
Meanwhile, Central American foreign ministers meeting in Costa Rica on Thursday agreed not to recognize the result of the November election unless Zelaya is first restored to power.
Zelaya’s foreign minister, Patricia Rodas, said after the talks that the push in Washington to employ the term “military coup” meant the coup leaders “have lost their patrons.”
Diplomats said the US had held off making the formal determination to give diplomacy a chance to yield a negotiated compromise that might allow for Zelaya’s return.
Such efforts appear, however, to have failed for now.
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