MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Micheletti admits it was “a mistake” the way Zelaya was ousted

De facto president Micheletti said he’s stepping down next January

Honduran de facto president Roberto Micheletti admitted that the way elected President Manuel Zelaya was ousted by the military last June 28th and flown out of the country, “was a mistake”.

“Yes, it was a mistake. The military should have taken him to court, but they decided to fly his out of the country to avoid a blood shed. That is why he was taken to Costa Rica. In (Honduras) there was no safe prison for him”, Micheletti argues in an interview with the Brazilian magazine Veja released Sunday.

He added he had no responsibility in that decision and reiterated he is occupying the presidential post “following the Constitution” and anticipated he would be stepping down next January 27th when the newly elected president takes office.

Micheletti said Zelaya was “a puppet” of Venezuela’s president Hugo Chavez who “insufflated him with ideas of grandeur and also with plenty of money”.

He further described Chavez as a “egomaniac and megalomaniac” who has illusions of building an empire on his ego for which he “has spent the money of the Venezuelan people all over the place to buy support and consciences”.

Micheletti also criticized Brazilian president Lula da Silva for allowing “Zelaya to call for subversion and violence from the balconies of the Brazilian embassy” in Tegucigalpa.

He denied the Honduran Army had tried to gas out the occupants of the Brazilian embassy, particularly Zelaya.

“This is a pathetic claim, another theatrical display from Zelaya. We sent experts and doctors in and there was nothing of the sort”, he underlined.

Ousted president Zelaya is holed in at the Brazilian embassy since last September 21st after having a clandestine entry to Honduras. It is believed President Chavez was behind the logistics to have Zelaya returned undercover to Tegucigalpa.

A delegation from the Organization of American States is scheduled to arrive this week in Tegucigalpa to help mediate with a political solution to the crisis.

According to OAS both sides seem to have toned down their demands and are willing to hold indirect talks.

The objective is for the November presidential elections to take place with all guarantees thus bringing institutional normality to the country.