Zelaya begins return to Honduras

Friday, 24 July 2009 13:52 Alejandra del Palacio / Xinhua
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Zelaya, who was deposed in a military coup on June 28, announced his plan to return to Honduras hours after the talks between his delegation and the post-coup government, mediated by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, failed Wednesday.
Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya on Thursday began his trip home amid fears his return could start a wave of violence in the already impoverished Central American country.
He departed from Managua, capital of Nicaragua, at about 4:15 p.m. local time (2215 GMT) to Nicaraguan municipalities bordering Honduras. The ousted president is expected to enter Honduras at a time between Friday and Sunday.
A caravan formed by local and international press accompanied Zelaya, whose supporters will meet him at the border.
Despite the alleged detention order against him and the threat of being shot once he enters Honduran territory, Zelaya said he was not afraid.
"I know that there are threats of shooting me. I have been told not to enter Honduras, because they (coup-leaders) are ready to do it," he told an Argentine TV channel.
Zelaya said he has "all the right to retake the charge that the Honduran people gave him in the elections."

Tensions in Honduras

In Honduras, Zelaya's followers began a nationwide strike that was joined by workers from the Education Ministry, the National Company of Energy, the National Agrarian Institute and the Institute of Social Security.
His supporters also blocked the northeast, north, west, Atlantic and east entrance to the country.
Meanwhile, Honduran entrepreneurs offered financial aid to the country's de facto government, led by Roberto Micheletti, to equip the police and buy weapons due to the possibility of Zelaya's supporters taking up weapons.
According to reports from Nicaraguan media, the Honduran de facto government has reinforced security at its borders with Nicaragua by deploying police agents and soldiers in the area.
Nicaraguan media also reported that Honduran migration offices in the area have stopped providing service to the public Thursday.
The government also announced that from Thursday on, the curfew will be extended in Honduras' border areas, in response to claims by Zelaya to return home.
The curfew lasts from 6:00 p.m. (0000 GMT) to 6:00 a.m. (1200 GMT) in border areas, and 12:00 p.m. (0600 GMT) to 4:30 a.m. (1030 GMT) in the rest of the country, it said.
Nicaraguan Interior Minister Ana Isabel Morales said there were reported movements of Honduran soldiers and policemen at the border.
"We are observing the situation to take the necessary measures to guarantee the security of our citizens," Morales said.

Appeals from International Community

Earlier in the day, the UN Security Council said it would intervene in Honduras' political crisis to seek a solution only when Arias did not have more proposals.
Regional blocs like the Organization of American States (OAS) should intervene first, the Council said, adding that if they failed, it would consider taking measures to mediate the crisis.
In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said Zelaya's return to Honduras was "not prudent."
"Any step that can add a risk of violence in Honduras or the area is not prudent," he told reporters.
Crowley said the U.S. government hoped that both sides would "take the opportunity of solving the crisis in a pacific way."
Also on Thursday, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet urged the OAS to take measures to avoid a bloodbath in Honduras.
"If Arias mediation failed, we think that now the OAS has to take all the extra measures needed to achieve the fulfillment of the resolutions approved by the Extraordinary General Assembly … for the Honduran people to restore democracy," Bachelet said.

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