TEGUCIGALPA, (PL) Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is in the Brazilian embassy in this capital, according to media accounts that report seeing him greet a large crowd that had gathered there.
Zelaya also called on the members of his Cabinet to gather in Honduras for their first meeting and to move forward on a process of dialogue to restore constitutional order in the country, Gloria Valladares, his private secretary, told the Globo radio station.
The radio station’s director confirmed having seen Zelaya on a Brazilian embassy balcony gesturing to the people as if asking for calm.
The president’s official spokesman, Omar Palacios, also told that source that Zelaya was in Tegucigalpa and that the resistance movement had set up its ring of defense to protect him.
According to Palacios, the leadership of the National Front against the Coup was alerted this morning regarding the president’s plans to return. It had been stated earlier that Zelaya was in the UN offices in the capital.
Radio Globo reported that Zelaya is under the protection of international agencies, and that at about 14:00 hours local time, the president will make a public pronouncement and that he has called a press conference.
Zelaya’s presence in Honduras was denied at noon by Roberto Micheletti, president of the de facto government, in a statement to the press broadcast on the official television station, Channel 8.
USA confirms Zelaya’s return to Honduras
Washington, Sept. 21 (PL) The United States today confirmed the return of President Manuel Zelaya to Honduras to assume his post after the military coup that ousted him in June.
“We know that Zelaya is in his country, where exactly we do not know. We are trying to obtain more details,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said. He added that that the U.S. embassy is “verifying reports” on the situation.
Zelaya said today, Monday, that in the next few hours, he is to begin a dialogue process in Tegucigalpa to restore the constitutional order disrupted by the coup d’état.
In a telephone statement to the Telesur broadcasting network, the president confirmed that he is in the Honduran capital to fulfill the wishes of the people.
