Honduras president offers deal to end constitutional crisis

The OAS has given the interim Honduran government three days to restore ousted President Zelaya to power.

Honduras President Manuel Zelaya offered a deal Tuesday to the military leaders who ousted him - he’ll quit in January if allowed to return and serve out his term in office.

"If offered the possibility to remain in power (for a second term), I would not do it," Zelaya said in New York, where he received full support from the UN General Assembly.

"I am going to fulfil my term up until January 27," if allowed to return, Zelaya said.

Zelaya said he might go back as early as Thursday and several Latinamerican leaders, including Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and Ecuador’s Rafael Correa have offered to go with him to guarantee his safety.

"I think that the Armed Forces in Honduras will back down and say 'At your command, Mr. Constitutional President,'" Zelaya said. "I'm going to return as president."

But Honduras' interim Foreign Minister Enrique Ortez warned Zelaya would be arrested if he returns.

Zelaya is scheduled to address the Organization of American States on Wednesday in Washington where he will receive full support as the constitutional president of Honduras, as happened during his address to the United Nations General Assembly, which voted by acclamation to demand Zelaya's immediate restoration.

However US President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will not follow the example of several Central and South American leaders and meet with Zelaya to pledge their personal support. Instead, Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon will confer with Zelaya at the OAS session.

State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Washington sees no acceptable solution other than Zelaya’s return to power. He added that a cut-off of 68 million US dollars in promised aid to Honduras was being considered. Another 215 million in US aid was contingent on Honduras remaining a democracy.

Zelaya, who was limited to a single four-year term when elected in 2005, triggered the crisis by trying to hold a national referendum on getting rid of term limits. The Army rousted him from bed early Sunday in what is being called the "pyjama coup" and put him on a plane to Costa Rica.

Meantime in Tegucigalpa and with no international support but a significant following at home, the new Honduran leadership called thousands of flag-waving people into a downtown plaza. Soldiers fenced off the area around the presidential palace, where security forces used tear gas and water cannons Monday against Zelaya supporters, injuring and arresting dozens.

Merco Press