TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — The coup- installed president of Honduras backed down Monday from an escalating standoff with protesters and suggested he would restore civil liberties and reopen dissident television and radio stations by the end of the week.
Riot police ringed supporters of ousted President Manuel Zelaya who gathered for a large-scale protest march, setting off a day-long standoff. The government of interim President Roberto Micheletti declared the march illegal, sent soldiers to silence dissident broadcasters and suspended civil liberties for 45 days.
But Micheletti said Monday afternoon that he wanted to “ask the Honduran people for forgiveness” for the measures and said he would lift them in accordance with demands from the Congress that installed him after a June 28 coup. He said he would discuss lifting the measures with court officials “as soon as possible,” adding: “By the end of this week, we’ll have this resolved.”
He repeated his pledge not to attack the Brazilian Embassy, where Zelaya has been holed up with 60 supporters since sneaking back into the country on Sept. 21. He even sent “a big hug” to Brazil’s president, a day after giving him a 10-day ultimatum to expel Zelaya or move him to Brazil.
The increasingly authoritarian measures by the government had prompted international condemnation, though the U.S. representative to the Organization of American States also had harsh words for Zelaya, calling his return to Honduras “irresponsible and foolish.”
The Micheletti government says Zelaya supporters are planning a violent insurrection. So far, protests have seen little bloodshed — the government says three people have been killed since the coup, while protesters put the number at 10.
