MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

The only “problem” for a solution in Honduras is Micheletti, says Lula da Silva

The Brazilian president is optimistic about a quick solution to the Honduran crisis

Brazilian President Lula da Silva said Honduras's interim government is illegitimate, and called for de facto president Roberto Micheletti and his administration to step down.

Speaking to reporters in Stockholm, Sweden, Tuesday, the Brazilian president said the crisis in Honduras would be solved if the leaders of the June 28 coup simply left office and returned democratically-elected president Manuel Zelaya to office.

“For us the solution in Honduras is quite simple: those who participated in the coup should leave office and allow the return of President Zelaya” so that “elections can take place next November, as scheduled and the problem would then have been solved”.

”The only difficulty is that there’s a president that shouldn’t be there” he added standing next to Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, and currently rotating president of EU, and the head of the European Commission, Jose Manuel Barroso.

The Brazilian president visited Stockholm for a summit with EU leaders in anticipation of the Copenhagen climate change conference.

Mr. Zelaya has been holed up in the Brazilian embassy since his surprise return to Honduras last month. President Lula da Silva said that Zelaya is a “guest” of the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa.

On Monday, interim Honduran President Roberto Micheletti lifted a week-old emergency decree that had restricted civil liberties. The revocation order was expected to take effect when published in the government's official gazette.

Mr. Micheletti has been under intense international pressure to negotiate an end to the political crisis stemming from Mr. Zelaya's ouster in the June coup. A mission from the Organization of American States arrives in Honduras Wednesday for meetings on the political crisis.

The United States and other nations have condemned Mr. Zelaya's overthrow. Washington also has revoked the visas of Honduran officials and cut aid to the Central American country.

The de facto government says Mr. Zelaya was ousted because he was trying to illegally change the constitution to extend his term in office.