Honduras reconciliation rejected

AFP:

A three-week crisis in Honduras looked poised to worsen Sunday as mediated talks in Costa Rica's capital hit a wall over ousted President Manuel Zelaya's demand to return to power.

The de facto government of Roberto Micheletti issued a statement here saying Zelaya would be allowed to return -- but only to face court over treason charges, not to resume the presidency.

The text, distributed to reporters, was a counter-proposal to a plan floated by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias that called for Zelaya to return to Honduras within a week as president, leading a "reconciliation" government into early elections.

Micheletti's representatives said they accepted most of that plan, but not the key provision for Zelaya to retake power.

Zelaya, who was thrown out of the country by the army on June 28, can return "with the necessary guarantees so that he can exercise his rights before the competent jurisdictions of the judicial power," their text read.

In the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa, the deputy foreign minister of the new regime, Martha Lorena Alvarado, said Sunday: "Mister Zelaya can return, but only to be brought before the courts."

Honduras's new regime has leveled 18 charges against Zelaya, including "high treason." It has previously threatened to arrest him if he returns.

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Since the basis for the return was a mutual amnesty, this is obviously a deal killer. It came on the same day reports surfaced, as seen in the post below, that the former President's computer already had "certified" results of the proposed referendum election. It appears he was going to have an Iran style election if allowed to go forward.

It is easy to understand why those who deposed him through judicial and legislative procedures would have little faith in his rule if he returned.