SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Costa Rican President Oscar Arias said both sides in the talks to resolve the coup in Honduras have agreed to resume talks today, but they remain far apart.
“We have to make an effort to bring the positions closer,” Arias said.
Ousted President Manuel Zelaya had threatened to declare negotiations a failure if no deal was reached by midnight and return to Honduras on his own. But his representative said they will give the talks at least one more day.
Zelaya negotiator Rixi Moncada said her side will extend the talks after the government of interim president Roberto Micheletti asked for more time to study Arias’ proposal, which Micheletti had previously rejected.
Asked about the idea of having Zelaya return to Honduras as president with a reconciliation government made up of representatives from all political parties, Assistant Foreign Minister Martha Lorena Alvarado gave a one-word response: “Impossible.”
She spoke from Tegucigalpa, Honduras, about the U.S.-backed talks mediated by Arias.
A Zelaya representative, Enrique Flores, earlier said his side had accepted Arias’ plan “in principle” but added that the government led by Micheletti was balking at the key point: allowing Zelaya’s return to power. He said that would kill the negotiations.
As talks began Saturday, Arias issued a statement proposing a plan that would let Zelaya serve out the final months of his term, move up elections by one month to late October, grant amnesty for all political crimes committed before and after the June 28 coup, and include representatives of the main political parties in a reconciliation government.
He said Zelaya would have to cede control of the military to an electoral court a month before the elections and also renounce his plan to hold a referendum on retooling the constitution, which was the spark that launched the coup.
