Update: Micheletti Willing to Speak with Zelaya

For the first time, Honduras’ interim president, Roberto Micheletti, has offered to hold direct talks with ousted President Manuel Zelaya to resolve  a political stand-off even as soldiers surrounded the embassy where he took refuge.

However, Micheletti has made it clear that conversation with Zelaya will only take place if he first accepts that elections must take place to choose a new president on November 29th. “I am ready to talk with Mr Zelaya, as long as he explicitly recognizes the presidential elections,” Micheletti said in a statement read late Tuesday at a news conference by the interim government’s foreign minister Carlos Lopez.

The statement said Micheletti was not proposing Zelaya’s return to office. The development came at the end of a day of rising tensions in which soldiers fired tear gas to disperse some 4,000 Zelaya supporters who gathered at the Brazilian embassy in support of the ousted president and in defiance of a curfew.

As of Tuesday evening:
Globovision is reporting that the Honduran government has cut power to the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa in an operation ordered by Honduran interim President Roberto Micheletti and Gen. Romeo Velasquez. Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya reportedly was in the Brazilian Embassy when the power was cut.

A Brazilian government spokesperson confirmed that utilities to the Brazilian Embassy in Honduras have been cut, Globovision reported. A generator is being used for electricity and the Brazilian Embassy has allegedly asked the U.S. Embassy for generator fuel and security aid. Some 70 people, including supporters, are accompanying ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya in the Embassy. La Prensa reported that the Honduran government has promised not to enter the Embassy.
In addition, CNN is reporting that the U.S. Embassy has been closed due to the “fluid” situation in the country.

All of this comes after deposed president Manuel Zelaya took rescue yesterday at the Brazilian Embassy.

Honduran soldiers surrounded Tuesday the Brazilian embassy where deposed president Manuel Zelaya is holed up to avoid arrest, after using tear gas to drive away thousands of his supporters.

Soldiers in face-masks wielded truncheons as they broke up a demonstration by around 4,000 Zelaya supporters who had camped out overnight to protect the man they see as the rightful leader of their country.

Zelaya made a surprise return to Honduras Monday, three months after being ousted, prompting a tense stand-off in Tegucigalpa that coincided with world leaders gathering for the UN General Assembly.

For additional news on Zelaya click here.

The Americano/Agencies

Related posts:

1. Urgent Update on Honduras: Zelaya Announces Intention to Recognize Legitimacy of November Elections In a Sept .25 interview with Bloomberg, ousted Honduran...
2. Most Latin American Leaders Are Wrong on Honduras Latin American leaders pressed for the return to office...
3. The Political Saga Involving Honduras Continues August 23, 2009 Honduran Supreme Court warned in Tegucigalpa...
4. President Obama’s foreign policy on Honduras: Waging War on Democracy Ousted President Manuel Zelaya sneaked back into Honduras on...
5. Negotiations on Honduras Continue Negotiators for rival camps in Honduras’ standoff are reporting...