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Honduras authorities to consider Zelaya return
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-07-23 11:40

TEGUCIGALPA: The Honduran de facto government on Wednesday showed the first signs it might bend to international pressure to allow toppled President Manuel Zelaya's return to power.

Honduras authorities to consider Zelaya return

Costa Rica's President Oscar Arias (C) speech to the media about the proposal to resolve the crisis into Honduras, in San Jose July 22, 2009. Honduras' rival leaders agreed on Wednesday to new talks to end the country's political crisis, but they were still bitterly divided over the reinstatement of ousted President Manuel Zelaya. [Agencies] Honduras authorities to consider Zelaya return

The interim government set up after Zelaya was toppled in a coup on June 28 said at talks in Costa Rica it would send a mediator's proposal calling for Zelaya's return to Congress and the judiciary.

"We will transmit this draft agreement to our authorities so that dialogue can continue," said Mauricio Villeda, the interim government's delegate at the negotiations.

The pro-coup administration in Honduras had previously insisted that Zelaya, an ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, could not return as president and would be arrested if he set foot on Honduran soil.

The Supreme Court and Congress originally ordered Zelaya's ouster and have so far resisted all pressure to reverse the coup.

Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, mediating the talks between the rival Honduran factions, has proposed sending Zelaya back as president as part of a deal that would also bring presidential elections forward a month to October.

Zelaya was seized by the military and whisked out of Honduras after he was accused of violating the constitution by trying to extend presidential term limits. He had angered the country's business elite by moving the country closer to Venezuela's firebrand Chavez.

The United States and Latin America have backed Zelaya's return. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made clear to the interim government there would be consequences if it failed to reach a deal.

"The secretary made very clear ... that it's important for the de facto regime to take a serious look at the mediation effort by President Arias," department deputy spokesman Robert Wood said in Washington.

Arias, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for mediating Central American conflicts in the 1980s, said both sides in Honduras had to give something in the latest round of talks.

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"Neither side in this conflict will prevail. The victory will be halfway for both sides, or it will be for neither," Arias said in the Costa Rican capital.

Zelaya has pledged to go back to Honduras whether or not a deal is reached in Costa Rica, raising fears of violence.

"We are calling on the people who are with us to head to the border to accompany us as we enter the country, where the armed forces have said they will shoot and kill us on entry," Zelaya told a Spanish radio station on Wednesday.

RIVAL PROTESTS

Several thousand supporters of the interim government marched peacefully in the capital Tegucigalpa and filled the national soccer stadium.

Dressed in white, they waved blue and white Honduran flags and banners that read "Zelaya is a traitor" and "Peace".

"If you like Mel (Zelaya) that much, then you keep him, he's all yours!" read one placard.

"We don't just reject Zelaya, we also reject the abuse of power he planned," said history teacher Dumia Tome, 39. "We are not going to allow him back."

Around 500 Zelaya supporters staged their own march on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa to demand his return.

The crisis is a diplomatic test for U.S. President Barack Obama as he seeks to improve relations with Latin America, where a growing bloc of leftist leaders that includes Zelaya has challenged Washington's influence in recent years.

Obama's administration has condemned the coup, cut $16.5 million in military aid and threatened to slash economic aid.

In Washington, a congressional aide who has been in contact with negotiators for the de facto government headed by Roberto Micheletti, said he thought the pro-coup leaders were becoming more pragmatic.

"I think they are not shutting the door on a whole set of issues that they didn't (entertain) before," including the possibility of a coalition government, he said.

One idea is to create a coalition government that would include Zelaya, Micheletti and the head of the Supreme Court, the aide said. Other ideas include inviting US lawmakers to come to Honduras on a fact-finding trip.

Zelaya has called on Obama to impose tough new sanctions against those that toppled him.

Honduras, one of the poorest countries in Latin America could be hard hit by sanctions.

The economy relies heavily on coffee and textile exports as well as family remittances from abroad and is projected to contract by about 2 percent this year.