"I don't seek asylum in any country" Zelaya

Thursday, 10 December, 2009 10:34 AM

Arturo Cano, Envoy La Jornada, 10 December 2009, p. 25

I am president of Honduras until 27 January 2010, Manuel Zelaya said after hours of rumors about his imminent exit from the Embassy of Brazil to Mexico.

Zelaya wanted to leave the embassy, where he  remains since Sept. 21 as president of the Honduran people, not for political asylum, as reported by  thede facto foreign ministry.

Manuel Zelaya, constitutional president of Honduras. The image, taken at the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa last week AP Photo

About eleven at night, a source at the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa said that he had not received any pass for Zelaya and his  family, although the Honduran Foreign Ministry later reported to have given consideration at the document.

The same source reported that Zelaya had spoken with officials from Mexico and the Dominican Republic for eventual shipment to one of those two countries.

Throughout the evening, politicians close to Zelaya, including Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, confirmed the departure of the constitutional president bound for Mexico, Honduras and the media gave it as fact.

However, by refusing to leave as an asylee Zelaya, the de facto government denied the Mexican request, made through the foreign ministry.

The response to the Mexican request was the strengthening of the military cordon around the embassy of Brazil, which in recent weeks had relaxed.

Late at night, the government's Interior Minister Roberto Micheletti, Oscar Raul Matute said he rejected the request of Mexico for having no quality of asylum.

Mexico must make the request in due form accordingly to coup leaders.

Matute told CNN that the de facto government is willing to reconsider the matter if the Mexican government presented the petition in due form.

What the Mexican government had to use is a  qualification according to the Caracas Convention (for political asylum), if it does so in due form, with pleasure the  Government of Honduras will  consider and proceed in accordance with the normal habits of respect to conventions.

The de facto government insists that Zelaya has outstanding accounts with the Honduran justice,  yet it is willing to let it go, provided through asylum, a condition that would deprive President Zelaya  and place  many restrictions in his  performance in forums outside Honduras.

"We are fully prepared to respond to the request of the Mexican government ... but Mr Zelaya has stated publicly that he wishes the asylum,  Zelaya petitioned them to obtain a pass ... , "continued Matute.

Beforehand, Zelaya had denied that he was seeking political asylum in any country, as later confirmed by  the Mexican Foreign Ministry, who only talk about the president's request being received in Mexico.

Earlier, Enrique Flores Lanza, minister of the presidency with Zelaya, had confirmed the departure of the constitutional ruler. The president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, went further: He (Zelaya) last night spoke to President (Felipe) Calderon and Mexico is willing to receive him as a guest, with honors from the president.

Ortega added that Zelaya would remain in Mexico City until next weekend when they travel to Havana, Cuba, to attend a meeting of the Bolivarian Alliance of the Americas (ALBA).

The agreement for his departure, said on the night facto Foreign Minister Carlos Lopez Contreras, a local television station, was aborted in the current circumstances, but the government does not have a negative in the sense of considering a properly formulated request.

Earlier, Zelaya had insisted: "I don't seek asylum in any country in the world. The de facto regime have no documents, no evidence that I  have agreed to seek a way out and give up as the president chosen by the people, which is entitled to  the freedom of  moving from here to the airport to visit several countries "

During the afternoon, various de facto government sources told local media and international agencies that the output of Zelaya was possible and confirmed the exchange on the issue with the Mexican Foreign Ministry.

However, as usual, the government did it again Roberto Micheletti ridicules others, in this case the government of Mexico: it accepts the request, the spread, a Mexican airplane takes off due to Tegucigalpa and then with a sentence, breaks down the whole shebang.

How, if not, that afternoon de facto government officials give out as a fact of Zelaya and then turn back?

The pass was signed and delivered as soon to Zelaya in the Brazilian embassy,said Foreign Ministry spokesman.

Even the spokesman said Zelaya would travel in the Mexican aircraft  , accompanied by  Xiomara Castro, his wife and two children, Daisy and Jose Manuel.

Rafael Leiva Vivas, Foreign Ministry official also told the local station HRN radiothis afternoon Mexican embassy officials gave us a call for safe conduct of Zelaya ... and is further processed.

To complete the day of Zelaya, the Secretary of State of the United States, Hillary Clinton, congratulated Porfirio Pepe Lobo, who won the contest on November 29. We salute the people of Honduras for this achievement and the president-elect on his victory Lobo said Clinton after receiving the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Petro Poroshenko.

The elections represent an important milestone in the process, but are not the end, Clinton said, following the script of the U.S. double game that began with statements by Thomas Shannon, after the signing of Tegucigalpa-San Jose.

The end, what we have witnessed is that the de facto regime can play whatever he wants with the governments of member countries like the ones of the Organization of American States (OAS). The State Department will raise the eyebrow and  will say: It's a step but not enough.

http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2009/12/10/index.php?section=mundo&article=025n1mun

Roadblock

The chaos of information surrounding the trip Manuel Zelaya planned to take to Mexico has settled, and the story is now fairly clear. It is true that Mexico offered, and both Manuel Zelaya and the de facto government of Honduras initially accepted, that Zelaya would leave the Brazilian embassy with a safe conduct (solicited by Mexico, not Zelaya) and then reside in Mexico as an honored guest for some period of time.

Why it fell apart is instructive. It fell apart because Zelaya would not sign a declaration authored by the de facto government. Carlos Lopez Contreras, the de facto Foreign Minister, said 

"There was an understanding that Zelaya would subscribe to a declaration...that he respected the Guaymuras pact, and respected in a like manner, the decision of the National Congress in the sense that it confirmed the end of his mandate."

They want Manuel Zelaya to recognize their authority and give up his claims to authority, to give them legitimacy. He shouldn't, and he won't. As he said last night,

"I could be here 10 years, I have my guitar."

Indeed, he played his guitar for those listening to Radio Globo last evening.

Why is this a roadblock? Porfirio Lobo was given homework by Oscar Arias and Ricardo Martinelli on Tuesday, which included getting Roberto Micheletti to step aside, since it will be fatal to Lobo's case for international recognition for Micheletti to be the one handing over power. Micheletti has more than once said he won't resign until and unless Zelaya also renounces as president. Stalemate.

http://hondurascoup2009.blogspot.com/2009/12/roadblock.html