Zelaya Surfaces At The Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa

Zelaya Surfaces At The Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa



By the A.M. Costa Rica wire services


Deposed Honduran president José Manuel Zelaya Rosales has returned to his country's capital, Tegucigalpa, and taken refuge in the Brazilian embassy to avoid arrest.

In a television interview Monday, Zelaya said he had returned to Honduras to reclaim his presidency in accordance with the will of the people. He called for for a national dialogue.

Initial reports that Zelaya had returned were unclear about his exact location. Crowds of supporters rallied outside the United Nations building in Tegucigalpa amid reports that he was inside.

A spokesman for the U.S. State Department, Ian Kelly, said the U.S. reiterates its almost daily call for supporters of both Zelaya and interim President Roberto Micheletti to exercise restraint and refrain from actions that could provoke violence.

Kelly added the U.S. still considers Zelaya Honduras's democratically elected and constitutional leader.

Zelaya was forced out of the country at gunpoint on June 28. Leaders of the interim government that ousted him in the military coup have said he would be arrested if he returns.
The United States has refused to recognize President Micheletti's interim government despite that government's assertion Zelaya was legally removed.

The interim leaders say Zelaya violated a Supreme Court order to drop efforts to change the constitution.

In New York, President Óscar Arias Sánchez of Costa Rica held a joint press conference with Hillary Clinton, the U.S. secretary of State. Mrs. Clinton reiterated that the United states supports the San José Accords that Arias drafted in an effort to return Zelaya to power.

"Once again, the Costa Ricans will be using their good offices to try to encourage that to occur, because now that President Zelaya is back, it would be opportune to restore him to his position under appropriate circumstances, get on with the election that is currently scheduled for November, have a peaceful transition of presidential authority, and get Honduras back to constitutional and democratic order in a very – on a very clear path toward that goal," said Mrs. Clinton.

Arias said he would be willing to go to Tegucigalpa if both sides to the dispute invite him. "I think this is the best opportunity, the best time, now that Zelaya is back in his country to sign the San José Accord. It’s all we have on the table. There is no B plan. And when we wrote this San José Accords, it was after listening to everybody."