Coup Leaders Sign Accord under Pressure

HAVANA TIMES, Oct. 31 (Rel-UITA) – Pressure over the last few days by the international community seems to have forced the de facto government in Honduras to sign the final point of the agreement to request that country’s congress to reinstate ousted president Manual Zelaya.

Contributing to this development was the presence in Honduras of the US undersecretary of State for the Western Hemisphere, Thomas Shannon, as well as a new delegation from the Organization of American States (OAS).

De facto president Roberto Micheletti agreed to sign point number six of the San Jose Agreement, which foresees requesting the national congress to restore the situation to its state before June 28, the day of the coup.

The news -which came exactly four months and one day since the ousting of President Zelaya, and one month prior to previously scheduled national elections- unleashed euphoria among hundreds of thousands of Hondurans.  In cities and towns across the country, citizens took to the streets forming long caravans of vehicles and waving flags and banners of the resistance.

In the late evening in Tegucigalpa, people headed along central Morazán Boulevard toward the previously banned Radio Globo, blocking traffic and chanting victory slogans.

Despite his evident satisfaction, President Zelaya called for calm among the Honduran people, explaining that a first important step had been achieved toward the restitution of democratic order in the country.

“I call upon the Honduran people to maintain their calm, without speaking glib of anyone,” he urged.  “The negotiation commissions today signed the most difficult point, and tomorrow -October 30- we will sign the whole document, which consists of eight points. What now must be done is to make a working plan for the execution of all of the points, including the restoration of the democratic system.

“I feel a sense of satisfaction and I am optimistic,” Zelaya continued, “I thank the entire international community for having supported this resolution.  To restore a government after all that has occurred is a historical act for our society and for all of the Latin American community. We are serving as a school, setting an example of peace and democracy for the world.

“However, it is a process, a plan that must be executed.  First we will form an agenda.  Later it will be necessary to take it to the national congress, and the representatives will make their determinations concerning the character of the independence of powers.  And finally we will participate in the full process of the reconstruction of democracy through the imminent reinstatement the president elected by the people to serve up to January 27, 2010,” explained Zelaya.

Only minutes before midnight of October 29, the negotiating commission of President Manuel Zelaya Rosales held a press conference to announce the content of the agreement signed with the commission of de facto president Roberto Micheletti.

Victor Meza, a member of the President Zelaya’s negotiating commission, read the text of the agreement which states: “To achieve reconciliation and to strengthen democracy, the two negotiating commissions have respectfully decided to request the national congress, as an institutional expression of popular sovereignty, in use of its powers in consultation with the authorities it deems pertinent, such as the Supreme Court, and according to the law, to justly resolve to restore the presidency to its state before June 28, 2009, until the conclusion of the current governance period on January 27, 2010.

“The decision adopted by the national congress will lay the foundation for reaching social peace, political tranquility and democratic governance that the society demands and the country needs.”

Meza also explained that individually, none of the eight points making up the agreement have value, but that they are related to each other and are part of an integral whole referred to as the San Jose Agreement, which has the sole objective of restoring constitutional order in the country.