Ex-Leader of Honduras
Says Successor Must Hasten Purge
By ELISABETH MALKIN
At the end of his first week in exile,
former President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras
said Wednesday that his newly inaugurated
successor had done nothing to remove those
who carried out the coup that overthrew him
in June.
Speaking by phone from Santo Domingo, the
capital of the Dominican Republic, Mr.
Zelaya said that the new president, Porfirio
Lobo, had shown only gestures of good will
so far. “Legitimacy is a path, it is a
process,” he said. “It is not a whim.”
Mr. Lobo took office on Jan. 27, facing the
immediate challenge of convincing much of
the world that his election, which took
place under the de facto government that had
ousted Mr. Zelaya, was legitimate.
In one of his first acts as president, he
escorted Mr. Zelaya out of the Brazilian
Embassy in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran
capital, where Mr. Zelaya had lived as a
virtual prisoner for four months under
threat of arrest.
But Mr. Zelaya said that Mr. Lobo needed to
go much further, noting that many of the
members of the military, judicial and
political establishment who backed his
ouster were still in place.
He cannot return to Honduras because he
faces corruption charges there, accusations
that he argues were manipulated by judges.
But Mr. Lobo is likely to be less concerned
with Mr. Zelaya’s opinions than with earning
recognition from other nations, many of
which condemned the coup and cut off aid.
Only the United States, Taiwan and a handful
of Latin American countries have formally
recognized the new government. Other
countries have indicated that they may but
have yet to act.
In October, in a deal brokered by the United
States, Mr. Zelaya and the de facto
government agreed to the formation of a
unity government and a truth commission to
study the events leading to the coup and its
aftermath.
Mr. Lobo quickly formed a cabinet with
members from several parties, including two
supporters of Mr. Zelaya.
And on Wednesday, representatives from the
Organization of American States arrived in
Honduras to help set up a truth commission.
“We made it clear that we saw this as an
entire package,” said Craig A. Kelly, the
principal deputy assistant secretary of
state for the Western Hemisphere. “The
country has taken steps to move ahead, and
that is gratifying.”
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