Assailants kidnapped the father of Honduras’ acting defense minister on Tuesday in a case that took on political overtones amid a bitter, unresolved political crisis.
The kidnapping of Alfredo Jalil, a wealthy businessman and father of acting deputy defense minister Gabo Jalil, followed by just days the murder of a nephew of the country’s de facto leader, Roberto Micheletti.
No evidence has been presented linking either case to the rising political tensions over deadlocked diplomatic efforts to end the crisis set off by the June 28 ouster of President Manuel Zelaya.
But Jalil’s wife, who witnessed her husband’s kidnapping on Tuesday morning, publicly blamed Zelaya, calling on him to “stop generating chaos” and to “order” her husband’s release.
Security Ministry spokesman Orlin Cerrato said Jalil was intercepted Tuesday morning as he left his home with his wife, Gloria Mejia de Jalil.
“Two subjects on motorcycle accosted [Alfredo Jalil] and his wife, but they let her go and they took him,” said Cerrato, adding that there was no known motive for the abduction.
In related news, with three US diplomats expected to arrive in Honduras, Micheletti said on Tuesday that negotiations on ending a four-month political crisis must wait until after Nov. 29 elections.
Dialogue between his faction and supporters of Zelaya is “not going to fix anything,” Micheletti said, with just 33 days before voters go to the polls.
His statement came just one night before three high level US envoys, including Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Tom Shannon, were expected to arrive in Honduras seeking to help negotiate a compromise.
Many governments are urging that the democratically elected Zelaya be restored to the presidency to serve out his term, which ends in January.
Zelaya was ousted by the army on June 28 after he defied Supreme Court orders to cancel a referendum on rewriting the Constitution.
He is at the Brazilian embassy, where he took refuge after sneaking back into Honduras on Sept. 21.
A poll released on Tuesday said most Hondurans are also looking to the upcoming presidential election for a solution.
Seventy-three percent of those surveyed said they believe the Nov. 29 election, which was scheduled before Zelaya was ousted, will open the way to calming the nation’s divide over the rightful government, said a CID-Gallup Poll released on Tuesday.
Gallup said 42 percent of the 1,420 people polled felt Zelaya is the legitimate president, while 36 percent cited Micheletti, who was chosen by Congress to be interim president after the June 28 coup.
Eighteen percent of the respondents said neither man is the real president, and 3 percent had no opinion.
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