MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Zelaya “must be reinstated” before November 29th elections

Honduran president Manuel Zelaya

Brazil is demanding that ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya be reinstated before the scheduled presidential election of November 29th, according to government sources quoted in the Sao Paulo and Brasilia press.

“We’ve always stated that we will not recognize the vote (November 29th) without the return to office of President Zelaya”, said a “high source from Brazilian diplomacy” according to the newspaper Estado de Sao Paulo.

Brazil cut diplomatic relations with Honduras following the June 28th coup when the de facto government nominated Roberto Micheletti at the Executive.

The Army following instructions from Honduras Congress and Supreme Court arrested Zelaya early morning at gun point and flew him out to neighbouring Costa Rica.

Mr. Zelaya was toying with the idea of a constitutional review to open the way for presidential re-election which is specifically forbidden in Honduras. The issue is also highly controversial in Latinamerican politics since the rash of “re-elections” sweeping across the continent.

Last September 21st the Brazilian government authorized ousted president Zelaya who had sneaked back into Tegucigalpa to move into the Brazilian embassy where he remains and from where he has been negotiating his return to office with international support.

Finally last week, under much arm twisting from the US government and OAS, Organization of American States, representatives from Micheletti and Zelaya sealed a deal by which Honduras 128 member single-house Congress would vote on the return of the ousted president and a national unity and reconciliation government would be agreed thus opening the way to legitimize elections results.

Another Brazilian diplomatic source quoted by the media recalled that “reinstatement of Zelaya is a pre-condition to lift Honduras suspension from OAS”.

Brazilian ambassador before OAS, Ruy Casares said that he fears “the government of Micheletti is not acting on good faith”, which hampers the whole process.

Honduras, Latinamerica’s second poorest country after Haiti much depends for its subsistence on international aid and special trade agreements, which have been suspended since the coup.

A third of the national budget is estimated to be financed by foreign donations and a strong textile industry booms with special access to the US market.