Chavez Refuses To Recognize
Elected Honduran President
PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico - Venezuelan
President Hugo Chavez insisted Sunday that
the presidency of new Honduran President
Porfirio Lobo was illegitimate.
"The only legitimate president of Honduras
is called Manuel Zelaya," Chavez told
reporters upon arrival at the Cancun
international airport for a Group of Rio
Summit.
Venezuela has refused to recognize Lobo as
Honduras' new president. "The electoral
process was illegal. Honduras needs to
return to democracy," Chavez said.
Lobo took office in January after winning
the presidential elections held by the
post-coup government.
Chavez has been a steadfast supporter of the
deposed Zelaya, who is in exile.
Talking about the Group of Rio Summit
scheduled to open on Monday in Playa del
Carmen, Chavez said he supports plans to
expand the 24-nation Group of Rio to include
the 15 members of the Caribbean Community (Caricom).
Twenty-six heads of state have confirmed
their attendance from a total guest list of
32, with Peru's Alan Garcia set to skip the
summit.
Six of the 15 Caricom members are also
members of the Group of Rio, and Montserrat
remains part of the United Kingdom. The
summit is expected to produce a new
32-member organization whose name has not
yet been decided.
The whole event is made up of a day for Rio
foreign ministers, a day for Caricom heads
of state and two days of meetings for the
Rio heads of state, which include those from
Latin American heavyweights like Brazil,
Argentina, Venezuela and Colombia.
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