Word: micheletti
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...coup has been condemned by every country in the world? I had to come back to show support for the people who elected me." Even those who support restoring him to office wonder if his theatrical return actually hurts his chances of getting de facto Honduran President Roberto Micheletti to agree to a settlement. But Zelaya insists it has turned momentum his way: "The coup leaders are like anyone who committed a crime and wants to hide it. You have to keep the spotlight...
After Zelaya told the Miami Herald earlier this week that the Micheletti government was "threatening me with death" and that "Israeli mercenaries" were trying to zap him with high-frequency radiation, Brazil admonished him to soften his rhetoric. But after army and police riot squads were criticized at home and abroad this week for their heavy-handed use of clubs, tear gas and mass arrests, Zelaya still argues, "We came here for dialogue and they answer us with war. Since the coup this has become a violently repressive regime." Micheletti supporters, however, suggest that's part of Zelaya's strategy...
Zelaya also hints that he came to Tegucigalpa in part because he and his leftist allies in the region, including Chavez, felt the U.S. has been too tepid in trying to leverage Micheletti. (The Obama Administration has cut off some $30 million in aid to Honduras as well as visas, and has threatened not to recognize the presidential election results if Zelaya is not returned to office by then.) "President Obama and Secretary of State [Hillary] Clinton have made a great effort, and I realize they live in a democracy with limits on their actions," he says...
...Micheletti camp, which denies Zelaya's ouster was a coup, says Zelaya was booted out because he defied a Supreme Court order not to hold a non-binding referendum on whether to convene a special assembly to reform Honduras' Constitution. The move, say Zelaya foes, was a veiled attempt to eliminate presidential term limits and usher in Chavez-style socialism. But Zelaya, while arguing the Constitution needs to be modernized to better help the 70% of the population who live in poverty, says the referendum "was an opinion poll, and it never once mentioned extending presidential term limits...
Conditions had improved in the embassy for Zelaya and his entourage since the de facto government restored the building's electricity and water (which Micheletti was widely criticized for having turned off after Zelaya arrived.) Zelaya ended the interview, however, when he claimed the air inside the embassy had gotten too thick with tear gas and possibly other irritatnts. It was a reminder of how murky, and painful, the weeks ahead in Honduras promise...