OAS head to visit Honduras for talks on coup

The coup leaders seem to be quite brazen in their rejection of OAS attempts to re-instate Zelaya. The OAS and the US, as well as Venezuela may be forced into a situation where either they invade or lose face completely. There is nothing like the press attention that Iran protesters received in the case of Honduran anti-government protesters. The only protest I saw on CBC was of a pro-government protest. Only Spanish language TV provides any decent coverage. Here are a couple of links with photos and video of anti-government protests:

http://www.radiomundial.com.ve/yvke/noticia.php?27479

http://www.aporrea.org/tiburon/n137574.html


This is from Reuters.

OAS chief to visit Honduras for talks on coup
Thu Jul 2, 2009 3:23pm EDT
By Mica Rosenberg
TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - The Organization of American States planned a mission to Honduras to seek the restoration of ousted President Manuel Zelaya as interim leaders tried to shore up support for the coup against him.
OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza said in Guyana on Thursday he will travel to Honduras on Friday with staff members to talk with the caretaker government there.
The OAS, which groups most of the countries in the Western Hemisphere including the United States, has given Honduras' caretaker government until Saturday to restore Zelaya or be suspended from the body.
The Honduran administration has so far rebuffed any attempts to bring back Zelaya, who was ousted in a military coup last Sunday in a dispute over presidential term limits. But the OAS visit could represent the first chance of a negotiated settlement to the biggest political crisis in Central America in 20 years.
The coup in Honduras has become a test of regional diplomacy and of U.S. commitment to shoring up democracy in Latin America.
Honduran coup backers, headed by interim leader Roberto Micheletti, argue that Zelaya's ouster was legal as it was ordered by the Supreme Court after the president had tried to extend his four-year term in office illegally.
State TV showed images of a march by several thousand anti-Zelaya protesters, many wearing the national colors of blue and white, who took to the streets in the main industrial city of San Pedro Sula.
The broadcaster ignored a pro-Zelaya protest of roughly the same size in the capital, Tegucigalpa.
-------------Since his ouster Zelaya has said he plans to return home as president, but only to serve out the rest of his term, which ends in 2010. The interim government has said he will be arrested if he tries to come home.
The European Union has condemned the coup and EU president Sweden said all the ambassadors from the 27-nation bloc had left Honduras.
The interim government told Reuters on Wednesday that there was "no chance at all" of Zelaya returning to office.
The Honduran Congress approved a decree on Wednesday to crack down on opposition during a nightly curfew imposed after the coup. The decree allows security forces to hold suspects for more than 24 hours without charge and formalizes the prohibition of the right to free association at night.
(Additional reporting by Patrick Markey, and Anahi Rama, Written by Alistair Bell, Editing by Frances Kerry)
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