Zelaya: Honduran businessmen’s plan a ‘good sign’

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Ousted President Manuel Zelaya said Tuesday he was analyzing a proposal from Honduran business leaders for bringing him back to power and ending the country’s crisis, saying he found the plan encouraging.

The leader of the influential National Industry Chamber has proposed that 3,000 U.N. peacekeepers or troops from conservative-governed countries be sent to Honduras to ensure that if Zelaya is restored to the presidency, he respects an international mediator’s proposal that his powers be strictly limited.

The floating of the plan over the weekend was the strongest sign yet that business leaders who have staunchly backed the June 28 coup could be open to reinstating Zelaya. The idea surfaced days after Zelaya sneaked back into Honduras from exile and took refuge in the Brazilian Embassy, a move that has increasingly put the interim government on the defensive.

Zelaya said it was “good sign” that “conservative sectors of the country are analyzing a proposal” that includes his resumption of the presidency.

“We will make the respective analysis,” Zelaya said in an interview with Channel 11. “We hope to enter into talks with those who are making this proposal in the next hours.”

Adolfo Facusse, the president of the business chamber, told The Associated Press on Saturday that he had discussed parts of the plan with interim President Roberto Micheletti, including a proposal to make Micheletti a congressman for life. He said the peacekeepers could come from conservative-led nations like Colombia, Panama or Canada. He said Tuesday the plan could include U.N. peacekeepers.

Micheletti has remained firmly opposed to putting Zelaya back in office. But his government has seen deepening cracks among its supporters, including congressional leaders who criticized an emergency decree issued Sunday suspending civil liberties.

Micheletti gave ground Monday, saying said he would accept congressional calls for him to reverse the decree.

But the emergency order appeared to remain in place Tuesday. Two broadcasters critical of the coup remained shuttered, although one began transmitting over the Internet, and police faced off with about 500 demonstrators who sat in the middle of a street after officers blocked them from marching for a second straight day.

Lawmakers have made clear Congress will revoke the decree if the government does not, Rigoberto Chang, a congressman with the conservative National Party, said Tuesday. Congress has the power to lift or modify the decree.

Conservatives expressed fear the decree would endanger the Nov. 29 presidential election, which they consider Honduras’ best hope for regaining international recognition.

Micheletti also said he would allow an Organization of American States team whose arrival was blocked over the weekend. The OAS hopes to persuade the coup leaders to bow to international demands they reinstate Zelaya.

Meanwhile, Gen. Romeo Vasquez, the military chief who oversaw Zelaya’s ouster, implored all Hondurans to join in resolving the country’s deepening crisis, a message that seemed aimed at calming an uproar over a government order suspending civil liberties.

The decree suspended freedoms of speech and assembly and allowed warrant-less arrests. Officials also closed dissident television and radio stations and expelled OAS employees.

“I am sure that Hondurans will find a peaceful solution soon to the crisis we are facing,” Vasquez said, adding: “All sectors of society should put aside their differences to unite the homeland.”

The interim government said the measures were needed to counter calls for an uprising by Zelaya’s supporters ahead of Monday’s three-month anniversary of the coup.

Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, who mediated U.S.-backed talks between the two sides, commended Micheletti for saying he would reverse the decree, but he criticized him for refusing to budge on reinstating Zelaya.

Speaking at a business forum in Miami, Arias said Micheletti “has not moved an inch” in negotiations to return Zelaya to power with limited authority — a plan brokered by Arias. He warned that the results of the November presidential election in Honduras will not be recognized unless the terms of his San Jose Accord are met.

The decree was declared as Zelaya called for a “final offensive” against the government, and Micheletti said pro-Zelaya media outlets were calling for violence. One of the closed broadcasters, Radio Globo, was transmitting on the Internet Tuesday, a day after police raided its offices and confiscated equipment.

____

Associated Press writer Mark Stevenson in Tegucigalpa contributed to this report.