The OAS will meet on Monday to assess the situation in Honduras
21/11/2009 - 00:11 (GMT)St
A senior U.S. official who preferred anonymity, said the meeting will be "informal" and other sources consulted by Efe explained that they will meet representatives of the 34 active member countries of the Organization of American States (OAS) in private behind closed doors, but not a permanent council convened for that purpose.
At this meeting, the 34 States will address precisely the Honduran elections, and most likely try to adopt a common stand against them and their response to the outcome and conduct of elections, diplomatic sources said.
Within the Inter-American Organization countries are divided over the legitimacy of the elections on 29 November, given that countries like Brazil, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Argentina, Bolivia and Venezuela, among others, have already said they will not recognize the result without prior restitution Zelaya, and others like the U.S. and Panama, who said that they will accept.
The problem is that the OAS is generally governed by consensus, so that a decision on this is difficult to move ahead.
The position taken by the organization led by Jose Miguel Insulza in the coming days and after the elections, with the result and the Congressional vote on the future of Zelaya, also affect the decision to lift or not the suspension imposed by the OAS to Honduras on July 4 following the coup.
U.S., which has mediated negotiations on the Agreement Tegucigalpa-San Jose and got signed by the parties on 30 October, has been widely criticized for having said that supporting the Honduran elections.
The senior official stressed that the U.S. believes that elections are an important part of a broader effort to resolve the crisis in Honduras and in any case, Washington will rule on the elections once they are concluded.
"What other countries do is their business," he said.
The unrest has been expressed by both Zelaya as by other states in Latin America, but U.S. considers that despite the criticism of Washington, "there are many countries which realize that elections have to be part" of the solution, he said.
"It's easy to stay with his arms crossed and criticize. It is much more difficult to propose ideas that could help Honduras succeed," he said.
U.S. wants to defend the principles of democracy and constitutional order and make clear that the coups have to be part of the past, yet also help Honduras to end the crisis, partly through the election, he said.
The OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza, said it will send an election observation mission to Honduras, but the senior official said the election day will be "many international observers."
The OAS meeting on Monday will also be held after the de facto president, Roberto Micheletti, announced he intends to leave power temporarily, probably between November 25 and December 2, the day when Congress votes on the return Zelaya, something that has been received by the U.S. as a "positive step" because it opens more space for a possible solution.
The deposed president, meanwhile, has called for elections to be postponed in order to "legitimize" solution "legal" to allow the country to return to the rule of law.
The U.S. official said it is a matter of Honduras, but described as "complicated" to delay the elections because of Honduran law and the desire of citizens to vote.
"In Honduras it is perceived that people want to vote and put this behind us," he said, adding that the agreement is "very popular" in Honduras and "worth fighting for him" and its implementation.
"This is a process that is developed step by step. After the elections Honduras will be a different country and will be different after 2 December," he said. EFE falls / acb
Terra / EFE
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