Honduran rivals don’t budge in standoff

updated 5:26 p.m. ET July 10, 2009

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica - Hopes for a quick resolution to the post-coup leadership crisis in Honduras have dimmed, with the two rivals fighting over the presidency refusing to meet. They emerged from talks in Costa Rica showing no signs of budging from hard-line positions.

Negotiating teams from both sides huddled behind closed doors again in the Costa Rican capital Friday, but Organization of American States' head Jose Miguel Insulza said Friday "there is lack of willingness to discuss things."

The chief mediator, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, was equally glum earlier, saying, "We have no illusions. This may take longer than we imagined."

Even so, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Arias Friday and "offered all her help so that this mediation would be successful," Arias' foreign minister Bruno Stagno said.

Arias hosted separate meetings on Thursday with ousted Honduran leader Manuel Zelaya and the man who replaced him after the June 28 coup, Roberto Micheletti.

Refusing to meet face-to-face
Arias, who won the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize for helping Central Americans resolve their civil wars, had hoped to bring the rivals together for their first direct meeting since the coup, but that was not to be.

"Each one put as a condition that the other not be there, that it wasn't the moment to meet," Costa Rican Information Minister Mayi Antillon said.

Both Zelaya and Micheletti left Costa Rica after their meetings with Arias.

Zelaya traveled to the Dominican Republic, where President Leonel Fernandez received him with full military honors. Zelaya told reporters that he asked Fernandez to speak for him at the upcoming summit of the Nonaligned Movement in Egypt, the newspaper Clave Digital reported.

The coup crisis has become one of the biggest tests so far for the Obama administration in Latin America and OAS Secretary-General Insulza expressed concern that if the Honduran crisis is not resolved, it could leave the door open for other coups in Latin America.

"I'm not going to mention countries," Insulza told reporters in Washington on Thursday.

Micheletti ready for Zelaya's return
Zelaya was the first to arrive for the talks at Arias' home. Afterward, the leftist rancher who has allied himself with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez called for "the reestablishment of the state of law, democracy and the return of the president elected by the Honduran people."

Micheletti then met with Arias for almost three hours. On emerging, he only said that he was "satisfied."

Back in Honduras, he said he was ready to see Zelaya come back — "but to be sent directly to the courts," referring to the 18 charges against Zelaya in Honduras, including treason and usurping public functions.

Micheletti and other members of the interim government say the coup was legal because the Supreme Court ruled Zelaya was violating the constitution by pushing for a referendum on retooling the charter.

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