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Zelaya to Set Up Bases in Nicaragua as Honduras Talks Progress

Deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said he will set up bases in Nicaragua to press for his return to office as Latin American leaders urge him to continue negotiations with the interim government.

Supporters who cross over from neighboring Honduras will receive food, water and shelter, Zelaya told reporters while hiking up a hill along the border. About 3,000 people have made their way into Nicaragua so far, he said.

“There are more than 300 hidden routes through the mountains,” Zelaya said in an interview late yesterday, taking a pause under a tree. “There will be more ways to resist.”

Nicaragua’s largest opposition party denounced Zelaya’s encampments, saying in an e-mailed statement yesterday they may cause a military conflict with Honduras. Costa Rican President Oscar Arias meets with regional leaders today to push for acceptance of his 11-point proposal to end the stalemate.

“There is no possibility that this agreement will pass without the reinstatement of Zelaya,” Arias said in a news conference late yesterday near the town of Tamarindo on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast.

Zelaya, who was ousted by the military on June 28, wants to keep up pressure on the interim government, which continues to resist calls from the Organization of American States, the European Union, the United Nations and the U.S. for his reinstatement. Acting President Roberto Micheletti says the ousted president will be arrested if he returns.

U.S. Visas

The U.S. yesterday revoked the diplomatic visas of four Hondurans who now serve under Micheletti’s government. The move shows that the U.S. is willing to exert “strong pressure” to reach a settlement, Arias said.

The Honduran armed forces issued a statement agreeing to support a settlement in line with Arias’s suggestions and Congress has said it will study the terms.

“We are ready to continue discussions once the Supreme Court, the attorney general and Congress analyze President Arias’s proposal,” Micheletti wrote in an editorial published in the Wall Street Journal July 27. “Once we know their legal positions, we will proceed accordingly.”

Zelaya has camped out on the Nicaraguan side of the border with Honduras since July 24, stepping into Honduras for a few hours. He abandoned an attempt to land in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, aboard a Venezuelan jet on July 5 after the military positioned vehicles on the runway to prevent his return.

Arias invited Zelaya, who he called the president of Honduras, to today’s meeting in Costa Rica, which will be attended by heads of state from Mexico, Colombia and most Central American nations. It wasn’t known if Zelaya would join, Arias said late yesterday.