Honduras’s Micheletti, Military Support Zelaya Talks (Update1)

July 27 (Bloomberg) -- Honduras’s military said it supports negotiations to solve a political crisis as ousted President Manuel Zelaya vowed to camp out on the border after briefly crossing into the Central American nation on July 24.

Roberto Micheletti, the legislator now serving as president, separately also said he supports negotiations led by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias. Writing in a commentary in the Wall Street Journal, Micheletti said negotiations are “the way forward.” He reiterated that if Zelaya returns to Honduras, he’ll be tried for defying the country’s constitution.

The military, which arrested and flew Zelaya to Costa Rica on July 25, said it backs “negotiations within the framework” of the San Jose accord that includes returning Zelaya to power in a unity government and bringing elections forward. Arias, who mediated the agreement, said bloodshed is possible without negotiations.

“The way forward is to work with” Arias, Micheletti wrote in the newspaper.

Talks Collapse

The talks in the Costa Rica fell apart on July 19, when Zelaya rejected Arias’s 11-point proposal, citing intransigence by Micheletti’s team in San Jose. Zelaya briefly crossed the border with Nicaragua on July 24, as Honduran police stood by.

“It is still possible for them to resume negotiations, though there is no way Micheletti will allow Zelaya’s return to power,” said Kevin Casas Zamora, a fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. “The U.S. must be exerting a lot of pressure on both sides now to begin talks again.”

Soldiers sent Zelaya to Costa Rica on June 28 after he ignored court orders to reinstate the head of the military. The army chief had refused to help organize a poll sought by Zelaya, aimed at gauging support for changing the constitution, which the country’s Supreme Court had ruled was illegal.

Micheletti says Zelaya’s goal is to seek another term in office, which is barred by the constitution.

“We are ready to continue discussions once the Supreme Court, the attorney general and Congress analyze President Arias’s proposal,” Micheletti wrote. “Once we know their legal positions, we will proceed accordingly.”

Court Order

In today’s article, Micheletti said Zelaya was removed by order of the country’s civilian leadership after violating the constitution and effectively ending his own presidency. He said Zelaya had to be taken out of the country because of “genuine fear of Mr. Zelaya’s proven willingness to violate the law and to engage in mob-led violence.”

“The armed forces are saying one thing and the civilian authorities another,” Zelaya said late yesterday about the military’s statement on the San Jose accord. “They are acting incongruently.”

Since being ousted, Zelaya has visited Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador and the U.S. to build support for his return. The United Nations, European Union and the Organization of America States have backed his bid to return to power.

‘Peaceful Solution’

“The goal is a peaceful solution that is consistent with Honduran law, in a civil society where even the president is not above the law,” Micheletti wrote.

Zelaya promised to camp out on the Nicaraguan side of the border before planning another attempt to cross, backed by several hundred Hondurans who have trickled across the border since he called for their aid.

Zelaya visited a restaurant outside Ocotal yesterday, one of the locations where he is housing supporters who hiked through the mountains to Nicaragua to avoid military checkpoints set up to enforce an around-the-clock curfew in southern Honduras.

“We are going to liberate that part of the country,” Zelaya told supporters yesterday, as he talked about the curfew on border towns in Honduras.

At a school at the border, people dried out their shoes and muddy pants in the sun while Nicaraguan officials provided them with medical checkups and volunteers served meals.

“We’re going to cross back to Honduras with the president, be it today or tomorrow or whenever,” said Oscar Cruz, 28, who made his way to Nicaragua with a group of 200 people.

“We are waiting for an order to rise up, be it in a peaceful or bellicose way,” Cruz said. “We will die for our president.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Andres Martinez in Tegucigalpa at amartinez28@bloomberg.net; Blake Schmidt in Nicaragua at bschmidt16@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andrew J. Barden at barden@bloomberg.net