Honduran Congress to Have Final Say on Zelaya Return (Update3)
By Blake Schmidt
Oct. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Acting Honduran President Roberto Micheletti said he will allow Congress to decide on whether ousted leader Manuel Zelaya can return to power, in a move that may end the country’s four-month political crisis.
“My government has decided to support a proposal that allows a vote in Congress,” Micheletti said in a statement late yesterday, adding it was a “significant concession” on his part.
Zelaya, who was ousted at gunpoint by soldiers in late June, supports the agreement, Juan Barahona, a protest leader and former negotiator for the ousted leader, said in a telephone interview.
Talks to end the country’s crisis had stalled on which state power has the final say on whether Zelaya should be restored to serve the remainder of his term, which ends in January. Zelaya had earlier rejected a proposal by the acting government that would give the Supreme Court ultimate jurisdiction over his return and wanted legislators to resolve the matter.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton welcomed the “historic” agreement and praised both sides for seeking to resolve the political crisis peacefully.
“I cannot think of another example of a country in Latin America that having suffered a rupture of its democratic and constitutional order overcame such a crisis through negotiation and dialogue,” Clinton, who is on a three-day visit to Pakistan, told reporters.
U.S. officials headed by the State Department’s top Latin America diplomat,Thomas Shannon, visited Honduras this week to jump-start the deadlocked talks.
Supreme Court
Under the new accord, Congress would have the final say on Zelaya’s restitution, though not before considering the opinion of the Supreme Court, Micheletti said in the statement.
“This is the beginning of the process of reinstating democracy,” Zelaya told reporters early today, according to an interview broadcast on CNN En Espanol.
Barahona said the question remains whether Zelaya could be restored before Nov. 29 elections, as the U.S., European Union and Latin American countries have demanded.
“On which day will the president be back in the presidential palace?” he asked. “The chronology must still be defined.”
‘Recognition’
Marcia Facusse de Villeda, the vice president of Congress and advisor to Micheletti, said Congress may still vote against restoring Zelaya to power.
“Zelaya won’t be restored -- I don’t think so,” Facusse de Villeda said in a phone interview from Tegucigalpa today. “But just by signing this agreement, we already have the recognition of the international community for the elections.”
The military took Zelaya out of the country on June 28 after he ignored court orders to stop pursuing a referendum that would ask Hondurans if they wanted an assembly to rewrite the constitution. Opponents said Zelaya sought to change rules to allow himself to run for another term as president.
Leaders across the Western Hemisphere, including President Barack Obamaand Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, support Zelaya’s return to power. The ousted leader returned from exile more than a month ago and took refuge in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa.
Constitutional Change
Zelaya has better chances of returning to office by seeking Congressional approval rather than that of the Supreme Court, Barahona said. The court earlier this year ruled Zelaya’s push for constitutional change was illegal and ordered his arrest.
Congress has passed resolutions pledging to support an agreement that comes from talks. Still, opposition lawmakers could filibuster Zelaya’s return until after the elections, Antonio Rivera, the second highest ranking lawmaker for the National Party, said in an interview.
Congress opened an investigation into whether Zelaya was mentally fit to govern before his ouster, voted to disapprove the leader’s violations of the constitution and replaced him with Micheletti after he was ousted.
“I really don’t understand why Zelaya wants to take this to Congress,” Rivera said.
Last Updated: October 30, 2009 11:35 EDT
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