SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez denounced a U.S.-backed effort to ease Honduras’ coup crisis Friday as a second day of negotiations ended without a deal between rival contenders for the presidency.
The mediator of the talks, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, said the sides representing ousted Honduran President Manuela Zelaya and de facto leader Roberto Micheletti have agreed to continue talks at an undetermined future date.
Although the talks have the support of most of the world community, some leftist leaders object to giving Micheletti the same treatment as Zelaya.
The talks “became a trap that set a very grave precedent,” Chavez said at a news conference in Caracas.
“How horrible to see a legitimate president receiving a usurper and giving him the same treatment,” Chavez said, referring to Arias’ meeting Thursday night with Micheletti, the congressional leader who was sworn in as president when the military threw Zelaya out of the country June 28.
Chavez said Micheletti should have been arrested in Costa Rica and that the United States should be putting more pressure on Honduras to return Zelaya to power.
In Honduras, Micheletti brushed off Chavez’s harsh criticism and calls for action against his government.
“(Chavez) said he was going to invade, and he didn’t invade us,” Micheletti said. “He said he was going to hold back fuel to Honduras, and he didn’t. He said he was going to bring Manuel Zelaya back one day, and he didn’t. Hugo Chavez is losing credibility in the world.”
Arias, who won the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize for his role in ending Central America’s civil wars, asked that outside critics of the talks “let Central Americans solve the problems of Central America like we did 20 years ago.”
