Reply #34: Path cleared for deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to return to power

[Judi Lynn]

Path cleared for deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to return to power
Under the agreement, Zelaya would serve out the final few months of his term and both sides would recognize the results of a November election. The U.S. helped broker the deal.

By Tracy Wilkinson
October 30, 2009 | 9:29 a.m.

Reporting from Mexico City - After months of resistance, the de facto government of Honduras relented today and agreed to a deal to restore deposed President Manuel Zelaya to power.

"This is a triumph for Honduran democracy," Zelaya, ousted in a military-backed coup on June 28, said from the Brazilian Embassy in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa. Zelaya was deported in the coup but sneaked back into the country on Sept. 21 and took refuge in the diplomatic mission.

The breakthrough came when the coup-installed government succumbed to U.S. pressure. Thomas Shannon, the Obama administration's senior diplomat for Latin America, arrived in Honduras earlier this week and met repeatedly with both sides of the crisis, which has isolated and divided the impoverished Central American nation.

"This is a major concession by our government," de facto President Roberto Micheletti, who replaced Zelaya, said in a middle-of-the-night speech to his country. "We had been firm in our position . . . but we understand that the people of Honduras desire to turn the page."

More:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-honduras31-2009oct31,0,5615575.story