MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mrs. Clinton bridges dialogue between Honduras “ousted and interim” leaders

Zelaya meets Tuesday with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton

Ousted Honduran leader Manuel Zelaya was scheduled to meet with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Tuesday, as the country's political crisis talks moved to Washington.

The Clinton meeting would be the highest-level contact between Mr Zelaya and US President Barack Obama's administration since the June 28 coup, when the military flew out the leader in his pajamas to neighboring Costa Rica.

The interim leaders who deposed Mr Zelaya meanwhile sent a commission to Washington to try to convince politicians that there had been a “constitutional succession,” not a “coup,” in Honduras, they said in a statement.

In increasingly polarized Honduras, several thousand protesters took to the streets Monday, a day after two Zelaya supporters were killed during a mass demonstration at the airport, when the army prevented a plane carrying the deposed leader from landing.

The US and the United Nations overnight led condemnation of the first deaths since protests began a week ago in Honduras.

“We deplore the use of force against demonstrators in Tegucigalpa in recent days,” said US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon said the Organization of American States should work to restore constitutional order, after the 34-member pan-American body suspended Honduras in a rare move at an emergency session over the weekend.

Roberto Micheletti's interim government says that Mr Zelaya's return is not negotiable and insists that his ouster was legal. Micheletti said in Honduras late Monday that he hoped Clinton would help “advance” dialogue to resolve the crisis.

“We support the attempt by Secretary Clinton to advance dialogue in this situation,” Mr Micheletti said.