Representatives of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and post-coup leader Roberto Micheletti on Friday ended their talks here on Honduras’ political crisis without reaching an agreement, but promised more meetings.
The meeting between the two rivals was scheduled for two days beginning on Thursday, with the mediation of Costa Rican President Oscar Arias.
However, Zelaya and Micheletti failed to meet face-to-face, but instead left four commissioners on each side to continue the talks after they met separately on Thursday with Arias.
Although the meeting did not yield expected results, Arias said it was a great advance as both sides had a “frank and direct dialogue” and promised more talks to resolve the current political crisis in Honduras.
“Both sides have agreed to continue talks as soon as possible … to resolve the crisis,” Arias said. He expects a date for more talks to be set within days.
Micheletti’s representative, former Honduran foreign minister Carlos Lopez. thanked Arias for his mediation, and said the interim government is ready to attend further meetings.
He said the delegates expect to find a solution to the conflict under the framework of the Honduran constitution.
Meanwhile, Zelaya’s representative, Milton Jimenez, also a former foreign minister, reaffirmed Zelaya’s position of not accepting other options but his reinstatement.
On June 28, Zelaya was seized by armed troops and was forced to leave the country. Micheletti took over the presidency and formed a new cabinet hours later.
Jimenez said Zelaya’s delegates will attend the coming meetings mediated by Arias, with the participation of a delegation formed by teachers, peasants and union workers.
Zelaya’s supporters rallied in Honduras on Friday, calling for the return of the ousted president.
Thousands of protestors blocked the road linking Tegucigalpa and the country’s economic capital San Pedro Sula for about two hours. Demonstrations also reportedly took place in some other parts of the country.
Jose Miguel Insulza, secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS), on Friday criticized the “inflexibility” of the negotiators.
Insulza told Radio Cooperativa de Chile the negotiation teams “lacked the will to discuss the issue.”
Insulza said he had expected a better defined framework before the delegations left Costa Rica.
He said the first thing to do is to restore Zelaya to power and then the parties should negotiate.
Insulza also said it would be difficult for Honduras to stay isolated from the international community since it is a country with one of the lowest incomes per capita in the continent.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Friday criticized the U.S.-backed mediation talks. He said it was “a trap that sets a very grave precedent.”
At a news conference at Miraflores Palace, Chavez said the meeting was a big mistake because it would impede the return of Zelaya to Honduras.
Micheletti should have been arrested in Costa Rica, and the United States should be exerting more pressure on Honduras to return Zelaya to power, Chavez said.
He also called on the international community to support Zelaya. He said Venezuela will not recognize the future government of Honduras because it would be the product of a coup.
“Only with Zelaya in charge, will the new government of Honduras be valid,” Chavez said.
The president also urged his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama to take more severe measures against the “coup plotters in Honduras.”
The remarks of Chavez were described by U.S. officials as “premature.”
Also on Friday, the Honduran interim government removed its Foreign Minister Enrique Ortez Colindres from office after his remarks about Obama, and reappointed him as Interior Minister.
But Micheletti said the removal of Colindres, who had referred to Obama as a “black man who does not know where Tegucigalpa is,” was not related to his racist comments about Obama.
Obama told the media in Moscow on Wednesday that “America supports the restoration of the democratically elected president of Honduras, even though he has strongly opposed American policies.”
The United States has cut off 16.5 million dollars in military aid to the nation but continues to fund social programs. It has also kept its ambassador in the nation, while most others have reduced their official representation to the lowest levels.