Honduras crisis talks start, shadowed by ultimatum

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Crucial talks to resolve the leadership crisis in Honduras began Saturday following an ultimatum from ousted President Manuel Zelaya that appeared to leave little room for compromise.

Delegates of both sides arrived at the home of Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, who is mediating the U.S.-backed negotiations.

“The international community has given their unanimous support to this mediation hoping that the Honduran conflict can be solved through diplomatic means and the paths of peace,” Arias said.

But Zelaya, who was forced into exile in a June 28 military coup, gave negotiators just until midnight to restore him to office, threatening to return to Honduras and attempt to retake power on his own if no agreement is reached. He indicated he would reject any power-sharing agreement, a proposal to be discussed at the talks.

“If at that time, there is no resolution to that end, I will consider the negotiations in Costa Rica a failure,” Zelaya said at a news conference Friday night at the Honduran embassy in Nicaragua. “I am going back to Honduras, but I am not going to give you the date, hour or place, or say if I’m going to enter through land, air or sea.”

Zelaya’s wife, Xiomara Castro, implied the return was imminent, telling demonstrators in the Honduran capital on Saturday that “President Zelaya will be here in a few hours despite the bayonets.”

Zelaya did not say what steps he would take once on Honduran soil. But earlier this week, he said Hondurans have a constitutional right to rebel against an illegitimate government.

The interim government has vowed to arrest Zelaya if he returns. The military thwarted his attempt to fly home July 5 by using vehicles to block the runway, preventing his plane from landing in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa.

Zelaya’s supporters have staged near daily protests demanding his return, and about 3,000 blocked traffic on one of the main boulevards in Tegucigalpa Saturday chanting slogans in favor of the ousted leader.

“Nothing will come out of the negotiations and people know that,” said Cesar Silva, who helped organize the protest, adding that he expected Zelaya to return to Honduras after midnight Saturday.

Arias had appeared optimistic about a resolution on Friday, saying both camps had “softened, and I think we are going to find more flexibility.” In the first round of talks the two sides agreed only to meet again.

About 300 Zelaya supporters chanted slogans outside Arias’ house as the meeting started.

“These negotiations have been put together to legitimize the coup government and all they are looking for is an exit that doesn’t include their punishment or rinstating Zelaya,” said John Vega, a Costa Rican student.

Arias, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for helping to end Central America’s wars, has presented possible compromises to both camps, including a power-sharing deal in which Zelaya could return to serve out the remaining months of his term as president, but with limited power.

Zelaya suggested he would reject such a plan. “I cannot accept a reward for the coup leaders because that would be an aberration,” he said.

Arias also said an amnesty deal for Zelaya was possible.

Honduras’ Supreme Court issued an arrest warrant for Zelaya before the coup, ruling his effort to hold a referendum on whether to form a constitutional assembly was illegal. The military decided to send Zelaya into exile instead — a move that military lawyers themselves have called illegal but necessary.

Many Hondurans viewed the proposed referendum as an attempt by Zelaya to push for a socialist-leaning government similar to the one his ally Hugo Chavez has established in Venezuela.

In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley called Friday for all nations to support the talks and he urged them to avoid “any action that would potentially increase the risk of violence either in Honduras or in surrounding countries.”

That appeared to be an allusion to remarks by Chavez, who has warned of possible civil war in Honduras.

Interim President Roberto Micheletti has said Zelaya might try to sneak in by crossing Nicaragua’s jungle-cloaked border with Honduras.

Micheletti told Colombia’s RCN Radio that his government was open to dialogue but argued that Zelaya committed crimes against “the economy, the citizenry and against the constitution” and could not be allowed to return to power.

Micheletti, the congressional president who was sworn in to replace Zelaya after the coup, has suggested moving up the presidential election scheduled for November as a way out of the crisis.

Supreme Court President Jorge Rivera, who under the constitution would be next in line for the presidency if Micheletti resigned, said an amnesty for Zelaya could be considered as part of the negotiations. But if Zelaya enters the country without amnesty, he should be immediately arrested, Rivera said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Zelaya’s deadline for the coup leaders to back down falls at the start of the 30th anniversary of Nicaragua’s July 19, 1979, Sandinista revolution that toppled dictator Anastasio Somoza.

Associated Press writers Diego Mendez in San Jose, Costa Rica, and Mark Stevenson in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, contributed to this story.