TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras–United Nations General Assembly President Miguel D’Escoto will accompany ousted President Manuel Zelaya to Honduras, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said Sunday.
“There is a great mobilization of people in Tegucigalpa and we don’t know if the interim government or the top brass of the military will dare repress those people. So we decided that the most prudent thing to do was that the president of the U.N. General Assembly Miguel D’Escoto accompany President Zelaya back to Tegucigalpa,” Correa said at a news conference in Washington.
Thousands of protesters were gathering Sunday in the capital of Honduras in anticipation of Zelaya’s showdown with the interim government in power since the army ousted him at week ago.
The interim government said it ordered the military to prevent the landing of a plane carrying Zelaya or any unidentified plane.
“The government of President (Roberto) Micheletti has order the armed forces and the police not to allow the entrance of any plane bringing the former leader,” the foreign minister of the interim government, Enrique Ortez, told Associated Press on Sunday.
At the main Tegucigalpa airport, soldiers outnumbered travellers and most commercial flights were cancelled. Access roads were cut off by police checkpoints, with soldiers standing guard alongside.
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Updates:
4:03 pm EDT, July 5th, 2009 — U.S. Misread Scale of Honduran Rift
5:14 pm EDT, July 5th, 2009 — Beware of the Not-So-Hidden Agendas In Honduras
5:17 pm EDT, July 5th, 2009 — Honduras says Nicaragua has troops moving on border
8:01 pm EDT, July 5th, 2009 — Zelaya’s Plane Redirected to El Salvador
5:23 am EDT, July 6th, 2009 — Ousted Honduran president lands in Nicaragua
Obama will have his hands full dealing with this one.
It’s really hard to pick a good guy in this conflict. Obama should just stay out of it – any attempt to back a government either military in nature or right of left (including center) will be denounced as more CIA-driven colonialism.
Agreed. It’s unfortunate Obama spoke quickly on this one. Chavez is riding this situation like a pony and I have a feeling Obama will get stuck with “scooper” duty.
No doubt. Chavez is going to be the bane of Obama’s term and a regional agitator to boot. Maybe he’ll run afoul of Brazil and catch one – we can only hope.
If he doesn’t, it won’t be for lack of trying. I think he has empirical designs for his part of the world. No-one was more shocked than I when Chavez “accepted” the vote turning down his proposed removal of term limits for presidency.
Accepted but will he actually relinquish power when his last term is up or find some sort of
” emergency ” as an excuse to hang on !?