Signs of progress have emerged from two days of talks and Honduras’ rival factions plan to resume after a weekend break trying to resolve the bitter divide over the ouster of former Honduran president Manuel Zelaya.
The factions did not claim to have resolved the crisis sparked by the June 28 coup, although representatives of both negotiating teams said on Friday that the first face-to-face talks in months had achieved results.
Both Mayra Mejia, part of the three-member team that represents Zelaya, and Vilma Morales, who represents the government of interim Honduran President Roberto Micheletti, said talks yielded agreement on 60 percent of the issues under an international plan to resolve the crisis.
PHOTO: REUTERS
“I feel full of optimism,” Morales, a former head of the Supreme Court, told reporters crowded into the lobby of the hotel hosting the private talks. “We’ve made progress on many points and on many very important points.”
Mejia concurred, saying that “we’ve made substantial progress” in meetings that she described as “very cordial.”
Both reiterated earlier statements that the negotiators had agreed not to discuss specific details until the talks are completed. They planned to discuss the issues within their own factions over a three-day recess and resume negotiations on Tuesday.
Zelaya negotiator Juan Barahona, however, challenged the upbeat assessment. He said no agreement had been reached on the fundamental issue: whether the ousted leader could return to serve out the remaining months of his term.
“Yes, there are advances ... but they aren’t on the important issues,” said Barahona, an organizer of the protests that have roiled Honduras since the coup. “I’m still pessimistic, very pessimistic.”
Mejia, the labor minister under Zelaya, declined to comment on Barahona’s appraisal.
“All subjects are on the table and that’s all we want to say right now,” she said. “But we have made important advances.”
Negotiations revolve around the San Jose Accord, which would restore Zelaya as head of a unity government until his term ends in January and offer amnesty to both coup leaders and the deposed president, who faces abuse of power and other charges in Honduras.
Micheletti’s government previously rejected the plan.
The international community has been pressuring the interim government to allow Zelaya’s return before the Nov. 29 presidential election that was scheduled before the coup.
Before negotiations broke for the day, police fired tear gas and a water cannon at about 200 pro-Zelaya protesters who demonstrated outside the hotel. There were no arrests and apparently no major injuries, though many people rubbed their eyes or had tears streaming from their eyes because of the acrid smoke.
Zelaya remained holed up with dozens of supporters in the Brazilian embassy, which has been his refuge since sneaking back into Honduras late last month.
Honduras has experienced near daily protests since the military-backed coup, which came after Zelaya pressed ahead with plans for a referendum on changing the constitution despite a Supreme Court order ruling the vote illegal.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number