U.S. undersecretary of State Craig Kelly shakes hands with
Honduras’ current president Roberto Micheletti.
(Photo courtesy of La Prensa)
The president of the Honduran National Congress, José Alfredo Saavedra, announced today that the legislative body will meet on December 2nd to determine whether to reinstate Manuel Zelaya to the country’s presidency.
Under the terms of the agreement signed by the representatives of the deposed president and those of current president Roberto Micheletti, the matter of Zelaya’s reinstatement was left to the discretion of the National Congress. However, a few days after signing on to the pact, Mr. Zelaya demanded his immediate restoration and has now repudiated the agreement.
The Congress is not currently in session and most members are busy in connection with the presidential elections scheduled for November 29th, in which the membership of the National Congress is also chosen by the voters. Once the agreement was signed, the congressional leadership requested opinions on the matter of Zelaya’s reinstatement from the Supreme Court, the Attorney General, the National Prosecutor’s office and the National Commissioner of Human Rights. The Prosecutor’s office filed its opinion today and the Supreme Court is expected to provide its opinion next week.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Undersecretary of State for Latin American Affairs, Craig Kelly, traveled to Honduras again today to try to persuade Zelaya to get back on board with the U.S.-brokered agreement. However, the deposed president isn’t showing any intention of abiding by the agreement. According to the local newspaper La Prensa, his reaction to the date set by the National Congress was to refer to it as an outrage.
“We were right to back out of Micheletti’s dirty game,” he is quoted as saying.
In view of Mr. Zelaya’s attitude, it appears that Mr. Kelly has a very hard sale awaiting.
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