The latest news is that Honduras has lifted the military curfew two weeks after dismissing Zelaya, the country has named a foreign affairs minister, and talks are scheduled to resume on Saturday.
According to the NYTimes, Micheletti had some help last week,
The ousted president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, and the man who leads the de facto government that replaced him, Roberto Micheletti, were each to show up at his house with just four of their closest Honduran advisers.
On Thursday morning, Mr. Micheletti showed up with six, adding an American public relations specialist who has done work for former President Bill Clinton and the American’s interpreter, and an official close to the talks said the team rarely made a move without consulting him.
Then on Friday, with the negotiations seemingly going nowhere, Mr. Arias reached out for American support of his own, telling Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton that pressure from the United States was crucial to ending the stalemate.
Voice of America reports that Micheletti is open to negotiating amnesty to Zelaya:
Interim Honduran leader Roberto Micheletti says the country’s ousted President Manuel Zelaya may get an amnesty if he agrees to face justice at home.
Mr. Micheletti told the Reuters news agency in an interview Sunday Mr. Zelaya would have to appear before Honduran authorities “peacefully” to receive an amnesty. But the interim president again ruled out the possibility of Mr. Zelaya regaining his post as he demands.
Venezuelan reporters detained overnight
Six journalists from Telesur and Venezolana de Televisión were stopped in the parking lot of their hotel Saturday night and taken to a police station in downtown Tegucigalpa, said Telesur reporter Madelein García, who had been with the group.
All were released at about 2 a.m. but warned not to leave the hotel, she said. Their Honduran driver remains detained on charges of auto theft.
Sunday night the police said the group had been stopped in the parking lot for breaking curfew and that the car had been reported stolen by the rental agency.
Upon their release, the reporters left the country and drove to Nicaragua.
Speaking of curfew, Hunter Smith has an excellent post on the subject.
Miami Herald: Obama administration took lead in Honduras crisis only after OAS failed
Jackson Diehl at the WaPo:Double Standards on Latin America
Mary O’Grady at the WSJ: Why Honduras Sent Zelaya Away
The former president threatened to use force against the Congress and other institutions.
NYT: Honduran Rivals See U.S. Intervention as Crucial in Resolving Political Crisis
Via The Right Scoop,
At the blogs
Joaquín Villalobos and the Legacy of the Honduran Crisis
Because, when you think about it, Zelaya’s entire post-coup strategy has depended on Venezuelan resources: Venezuelan airplanes, Venezuelan TV stations, Venezuelan diplomacy and Venezuelan money. This fact – which has been lost on absolutely no one who follows hemispheric affairs – has managed to transform the Honduran soap opera into a kind of proxy coup: a conflict that is about, first and foremost, Chávez’s idiosyncratic understanding of democratic legitimacy.
Honduras is facing something that has happened before, in many times and many places. But to recognize what’s been occurring there and what it signifies, one must know something about history, most particularly about how such power grabs occur. Then the patterns become clear.
I’ve written about those patterns before, here and here. If you go back and read both of those pieces—the first is about Chavez and Venezuela, the second is more general—you’ll see how very relevant they are to what Zeleya has been trying to do in Honduras (and see this for the very best summary I’ve seen so far of that situation).
The way is clear: tyrants very often use “democracy” as an excuse to get the people to override a constitution and grant them what turns out to be dictatorial, or near-dictatorial, powers, as well as the ability to extend or abolish term limits and stay in power longer than the constitution says (and in many cases indefinitely). Once the rules are changed about term limits, and power is consolidated and the voting apparatus compromised, staying in power is a relatively easy matter, really a trifle.
Most dictators of recent history have gone this route; the path is well worn and the methods tried and true. Zeleya was attempting to follow in the footsteps of compadre Chavez, and the government and people of Honduras knew it.
Obama knows it too, or should know it. So we come down once again to the choice of whether Obama is a fool or a knave. I vote the latter, but the former doesn’t comfort me either.
It wasn’t a ‘Coup’ in Honduras
The US Does NOT Recognize the Legitimacy of Honduras’ Constitution
One more
Evidence Mel Zelaya Wanted to Overthrow Honduras Democratic Republic
Prior posts on Honduras here.
Great links, as usual, Fausta! Oscar Haza from a A Mano Limpia just interviewed Pres Micheletti for 30 mins directly from Tegucigalpa.
Some rumblings about the Nov 29 elections being moved up to Sept 4 but nothing confirmed and the usual false, fantasy land bravado from Mel “SolaVaya” Zelaya (h/t Armando Perez Roura)about crossing the Nicaraguan border!!!!