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HONDURAS PRESIDENT STILL IN EXILE AS INTERNATIONAL MISSION FAILS.

Article Excerpt
Honduras' de facto government headed by former legislature president Roberto Micheletti has passed the two-month mark in power, on track to keep its small world turning until the term of elected President Manuel Zelaya runs out in January. The Micheletti forces are paying dearly for their insistence that theirs is a constitutionally and legally constituted government, as no state has recognized it, and the clamor for increased sanctions grows.

Although observers bet against any chance of its success, the Organization of American States (OAS) did finally send its repeatedly delayed delegation of foreign ministers to Honduras, only to prove those observers right.

OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza headed the group, but only in the capacity of observer because the regime declined to deal with him as a negotiator because of his bias in favor of returning Zelaya to office. Insulza was not one of those observers who bet against the mission.

The delegation made a show of it, meeting with representatives of practically every sector of society, including the military at whose hands Zelaya was spirited away to Costa Rica (see NotiCen, 2009-07-02). The ministers made their way from sector to sector, finally meeting with Micheletti at the end. These ministers were chosen after the regime vetoed anyone from a known pro-Zelaya country. Those picked were from Costa Rica, Canada, Jamaica, Mexico, Argentina, the Dominican Republic, and Panama. But when all was said and nothing done, it was left to Costa Rica's Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno to read a statement regretting "that it was not possible on this occasion to obtain the backing for the San Jose accord." This was an agreement hammered out by Costa Rica's President Oscar Arias in his prior role as mediator between Micheletti and Zelaya representatives calling for Zelaya's return under conditions limiting his presidential powers.

The mission states its case

The statement went on to explain that the mission stressed in...

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