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CENTRAL AMERICA |
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Obama Cabinet Secretary Arrives in Honduras
to Oversee Political Pact
TEGUCIGALPA – U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda
Solis and former Chilean President Ricardo
Lagos arrived in Tegucigalpa on Tuesday to
join a commission set to verify compliance
with the accord reached last week by deposed
Honduran President Mel Zelaya and the de
facto regime installed by the June 28 coup.
Accompanying Lagos and Solis was the
Organization of American States secretary
for Political Affairs, Victor Rico, and the
U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for
Western Hemisphere Affairs, Craig Kelly.
“I hope we can put all our efforts into
moving forward the accord that was signed by
the Hondurans,” Lagos said in brief remarks
to reporters.
“You have designed a clear road and we’re
very honored to be able to play the role of
verifiers,” he added.
Meanwhile, Solis said that she felt “very
proud” to be in Honduras representing
President Barack Obama, who “is very focused
on this matter.”
“I want to work with you and see where and
how we can find a solution,” she emphasized.
After their arrival in Tegucigalpa, the
members of the delegation went to a hotel
accompanied by the U.S. envoy to Honduras,
Hugo Llorens.
Within hours, the Verification Commission
was formally installed, with Lagos and Solis
representing the OAS and Jorge Reina,
Zelaya’s chief negotiator, and Arturo
Corrales, appointed by the de facto
government of Roberto Micheletti.
Negotiators for Zelaya and Micheletti last
Friday signed the Tegucigalpa-San Jose
Accord, which set forth that Congress will
decide on whether or not to reinstate the
deposed president and established the
creation this week of the Verification
Commission and a national-unity government
that is supposed to be in place by Thursday.
Zelaya believes that Congress will have to
decide by then regarding his reinstatement
in power, but the congressional leadership
decided Tuesday to put off a debate of the
full legislature pending advisory opinions
from the Supreme Court and the Attorney
General’s Office.
Supporters of the ousted president denounced
that decision as a “delaying tactic” by the
de facto regime.
Zelaya’s position is that if Congress votes
against his reinstatement or if he has not
been reinstated by Thursday, when the unity
government must be formed, he will consider
the pact to have broken down.
For its part, the de facto government’s
stance is that Zelaya, who was expelled by
the military and deposed by lawmakers on
June 28, is obligated to accept the decision
of Congress, even if that is that he may not
return to the presidency.
Micheletti has contended all along that
Zelaya’s ouster was not a coup, insisting
that the soldiers who dragged him from the
presidential palace and put him on a plane
to Costa Rica were simply enforcing a
Supreme Court ban on the president’s planned
non-binding plebiscite on the idea of
revising the constitution.
Though the coup leaders accuse Zelaya of
seeking to extend his stay in office, any
potential constitutional change to allow
presidential re-election would not have
taken place until well after the incumbent
stepped down. EFE
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