11 August 2009 | News | Free Honduras | Human rights
Yes or No?
Honduran de facto government allows visit of OAS mission after initial refusal.
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The coup government of Roberto Micheletti sent contradictory signs when the Organization of American States (OAS) announced last weekend it would send a mission of chancellors to Honduras to talk with the de facto government about the agreement proposed by the Costa Rican President and mediator, Oscar Arias.
Although at the beginning Micheletti said that he would accept the mission – made up by the chancellors of Argentina, Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic and Jamaica- he then said he would reject it because the OAS Secretary General, Miguel Insulza, would also be part of the mission.
In a press release, the foreign ministry of the de facto regime attributed the decision to the purported “lack of objectivity and professionalism” of Insulza’s performance. They regretted that his inclusion in the mission led to the exclusion of OAS states which voted for suspending Honduras from the agency on July 4th, but had an “open attitude to reconsider the case”.
Insulza has been critical of the coup regime and has demanded the reinstatement of the constitutional President Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted on June 28th.
But finally, after communicating this decision, the de facto government announced yesterday it had reconsidered and that it would allow the mission to visit Honduras if the Secretary General only participated as an observer.
But he said the mission would not be allowed in the country by next Tuesday, and that a new date would be set “in the coming days”.
Thousands of people will gather in the main Honduran cities of Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, after marching around the country to demonstrate against the coup and to demand the reestablishment of democracy, since August 5th.
The fact that the OAS mission will not be allowed to enter the country that day is directly linked with the fact that peasant leader who organized the protests, Rafael Alegria, said Micheletti was trying “to prevent the OAS commission from observing the popular mobilization”.
On Tuesday, the 45th day since the coup was staged, not only Honduras will demonstrate against the coup and for democracy. Social organizations all over the world have declared a global day of action in solidarity with Honduras today, so there will be mobilizations and events in rejection to the coup in their home countries.
