Honduras’s Micheletti Says Zelaya Exile Was ‘Error’

From: andres thomas conteris

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=azjI4deGp_Co

By Andres R. Martinez and Blake Schmidt

Aug. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Acting Honduran President Roberto Micheletti said forcing deposed President Manuel Zelaya to leave the country, instead of arresting him, was a mistake.

“There was an error by a certain sector,” Micheletti said today in an interview in Tegucigalpa. “It wasn’t correct. We have to punish whoever allowed that to happen. The rest was framed within what the constitution requires.”

Micheletti repeated that the military was following the law when soldiers seized Zelaya at his house early June 28 because he had ignored court rulings and was illegally seeking to change the constitution in order to run for office again. A mistake was made when Zelaya, still wearing pajamas, was put on a plane to Costa Rica instead of being held for trial, Micheletti said.

Now, Honduras finds itself vulnerable to a military attack from its neighbors because the U.S. has cut off military support, Micheletti said. The U.S., Brazil and other countries in the region condemned Zelaya’s ouster and have urged Micheletti to negotiate a solution with the deposed government.

Micheletti said the country has six months of food reserves it can draw on in the case the world toughens sanctions. The $14.1 billion economy’s main exports are coffee and textiles.

“We have to be more creative to survive on this island that they’ve put us on,” Micheletti said, seated in his home near a green bust of himself and surrounded by a collection of Chinese, Japanese and Middle Eastern swords. “Little by little, we’ll recapture the trust of other countries.”

Zelaya, Chavez

Micheletti, 66, says he has been watching mostly action movies to relax in the evenings since he became president, a hobby he picked up from his Italian father who owned a movie theater in his hometown of Progreso in northern Honduras. Micheletti was president of Congress before Zelaya’s ouster.

Zelaya, a former cattle rancher, cannot return as president and would only be allowed in the country to face the Honduran courts that have charged him with abuse of power, treason and fraud, said Micheletti, who was named as president by Congress after lawmakers ratified Zelaya’s removal.

Supporters of the interim government say that Zelaya became too closely aligned with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his plan for “21st-century socialism” after being elected in 2005. Zelaya signed the nation up for aid programs including Petrocaribe, which offered oil at discounted prices.

Approval of his government fell to a record 30 percent in February from a high of 57 percent in January 2007, according to a nationwide poll by CID-Gallup.

Honduran Business Leaders

Honduras’s business leaders are “paranoid about Chavez, and that’s probably unwarranted,” said Kevin Casas Zamora, a former vice president of Costa Rica and fellow at the Brookings Institution. “The real and perceived closeness between Zelaya and Hugo Chavez is the absolute essence of this crisis as seen from the lens of the Honduran elite.”

Since being ousted, Zelaya has visited Mexico, Chile, Brazil, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador and the U.S. to build support for his return. On July 5, the military and police blocked the runway at the airport in Tegucigalpa to prevent Zelaya’s plane from landing. The ousted president spent less than 30 minutes in Honduras without being arrested when he crossed by foot on July 24.

Micheletti said he supports talks mediated by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, which after several days of meetings and at least two proposals from Arias have yet to result in an agreement. Arias’s latest plan called for reinstating Zelaya as president, moving up elections and forming a unity cabinet.

Regional Support

Argentina, Ecuador, Bolivia, the United Nations and the Organization of American States have all condemned Zelaya’s removal and asked for him to be reinstated. Some nations, including the U.S., have cut off some financial aid.

Zelaya has denied that he intended to change the constitution to end term limits. He has called Micheletti’s government “dictatorial” and said supporters are holding “permanent” demonstrations for his return.

Micheletti said that by removing Zelaya from power, Honduras has stopped Chavez’s influence from spreading in the region. Chavez’s brand of socialism will never gain a foothold in Honduras, Micheletti said.

“All we had done over 20 years in our fight for democracy was going to end up in the hands of one man, a new dictator, and a small group of leftists bent on staying in power,” Micheletti said. “I don’t think Chavez has any more chances here.”

Honduras’s Finance Ministry has estimated that seven weeks of protests since Zelaya’s ouster and lost economic aid has cost the economy $40 million a week.

The deputy director of the Latin American Business Council of Honduras, Jesus Canahuati, said business leaders would accept Zelaya’s return as president to end the political stalemate.

“If the Costa Rica mediation calls for Zelaya’s return, businesses will accept it,” Canahuati said in an interview Aug. 13. “If Micheletti agrees to it, we won’t oppose the San Jose accord.”

Micheletti, who served in Congress for 29 years, said most businesses still oppose Zelaya’s return to power.

To contact the reporter on this story: Andres R. Martinez in Tegucigalpa at amartinez28@bloomberg.net; Blake Schmidt in Tegucigalpa at bschmidt16@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 17, 2009 18:02 EDT