Honduras - Zelaya returns again

Zelaya takes refuge in Brazilian embassy

Article published on the 2009-09-22 Latest update 2009-09-22 13:17 TU

Zelaya supporters outside the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa on 21 September
(Photo: Reuters)

Manuel Zelaya, the deposed President of Honduras, returned to the country on Monday and took refuge in the Brazilian embassy. Thousands of people had gathered in the capital, Tegucigalpa, to welcome back their deposed President.

Meanwhile the interim government extended the nightly curfew to try and prevent protests in support of Zelaya.

"Zelaya, very much with the practical backing of Hugo Chavez, has seized the initiative and tried to put it back on the international agenda," Colin Harding, a Latin American analyst, told RFI.

He left the country in his pyjamas on 28 June, secretly entered Honduras again, before addressing supporters on the balcony of the embassy.

“Nobody is going to grab me sleeping again, and my position is fatherland, restoration or death,” he announced. “They thought they were going to stop me at the border, but here I am alive and kicking,” he added.

However, in a television interview, interim leader Roberto Micheletti demanded that Brazil hand over the legally elected president.

US and EU officials continue to push for a solution.

“The European Union urges all concerned to refrain from any action that might increase tension and violence,” a statement from the Swedish EU Presidency said.

“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,” said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

"The entire region, including the US, backs the return of Zelaya to office, the view taken by all the countries of the Americas is that he was deposed illegally," said Harding. "He was the elected President and he should be returned to office," he added.

But Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, who had been involved in mediation was told by Micheletti that he has “absolutely nothing to do with this conflict any longer."

Arias had tried to get both sides to sign the San Jose accord in July, which called for Zelaya’s return to the Presidency.

Brazilian officials denied that they had anything to do with Zelaya’s return, but admitted that they accepted his demand for asylum in their embassy.

“We hope this will open a new stage in the discussions and a rapid solution,” Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim told a press conference in New York.

"The Brazilians are playing rather strange role in this. They claim they didn’t know anything about his return, the first thing they knew, they got a phone call from somebody at the embassy saying Zelaya was outside, can he come in," said Harding.

"Allowing Zelaya in, claiming diplomatic immunity for him, and then allowing him to go out on the balcony and harangue his followers is all very undiplomatic behaviour," Harding added.

Most embassies are afforded immunity from local laws via the provision of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

The Organisation of American States, which suspended the membership of Honduras in July, called for the interim government to ensure the safety of the deposed leader.

Jose Miguel Insulza, Secretary General of the OAS, said he would travel to Honduras as soon as possible.

Micheletti had said he would stand aside once Presidential elections were held on 29 November, while Zelaya cannot constitutionally stand again.