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Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya - Source: Reuters -
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Signalling more forceful US support, President Barack Obama
called for the reinstatement of ousted Honduran President Manuel
Zelaya even while noting he has been no friend of American
policies.
Zelaya, who was toppled in a June 28 coup triggered by his efforts
to change presidential term limits, met US Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton in Washington, another tangible sign of US
backing.
"America supports now the restoration of the democratically elected
president of Honduras, even though he has strongly opposed American
policies," Obama said.
"We do so not because we agree with him. We do so because we
respect the universal principle that people should choose their own
leaders, whether they are leaders we agree with or not," he said in
a speech in Russia.
One point of disagreement with Zelaya, who took office in 2006 and
has taken a leftward shift since, has been the Honduran leader's
push for communist-run Cuba to rejoin a regional group over US
objections.
Zelaya grew close to Venezuela's socialist President Hugo Chavez
and a string of allies seeking to counter US influence in the
region.
That group has been vocal in calling for his
reinstatement.
His ouster has been a test for Obama's commitment to improve ties
in a region where his predecessor, George Bush, was widely
unpopular.
The United States has repeatedly condemned the coup in the coffee
and textile exporting country, the third poorest in the Americas
after Haiti and Nicaragua.
Defying the international pressure, Roberto Micheletti, appointed
president by Honduran lawmakers after the coup, has insisted the
ousted leader was legally removed.
But in a sign he was ready to pursue diplomatic solutions,
Micheletti said his interim government had accepted Costa Rican
President Oscar Arias as a mediator.
Arias won a Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to end political
violence in Central America in the 1980s.
"We've accepted him as the mediator, given the high profile that
the president of Costa Rica has," Micheletti told local radio in
Tegucigalpa.
But he added: "We maintain our position that President Zelaya
should not return. He committed crimes and he must pay for
them".
Pro-Zelaya protest in Tegucigalpa
Wary of being accused of meddling, the United States has sought to
play a behind the scenes role on reinstating Zelaya, with the
Organization of American States (OAS) leading the effort.
The OAS took the rare step of suspending Honduras on Saturday in
an effort to isolate the country's interim government.
Critics have long accused the United States of interfering in its
backyard.
During the Cold War Washington backed right-wing dictatorships
to stop the spread of communism, and more recently the Bush
administration caused a stir in 2002 when it initially appeared to
welcome a short-lived coup against Chavez.
Micheletti's interim government, which thwarted Zelaya's attempt to
force the issue by returning home on Sunday, says the ouster was a
constitutional transition carried out by the army and supported by
the Supreme Court because Zelaya had illegally tried to organize a
vote on changing presidential term limits.
Zelaya, who had been due to leave office in 2010, had riled the
country's traditional ruling elite with his growing alliance with
Chavez.
Despite the latest US display of support for Zelaya, one analyst
noted Washington's delicate position.
"The US is deeply concerned about the coup but at the same time has
become increasingly aware that engineering Zelaya's return to
Honduras is a potentially explosive proposition," said Dan Erikson
of the Inter-American Dialogue think tank in Washington.
"The meeting with Hillary Clinton is intended to demonstrate the
Obama administration's support for democracy in Honduras, but it
also provides the opportunity for a frank discussion with Zelaya
about his dwindling options to regain the presidency," Erikson
added.
In the Honduran capital several thousand supporters of Zelaya led
by his wife, Xiomara, staged a rally on Tuesday.
"They say there is peace in the country, but how can there be peace
if people cannot leave their neighbourhoods ... if there is a
curfew, if they are suspending people's rights and the army is out
repressing the people," Xiomara Zelaya said.
Several OAS member states had advised Zelaya against trying to fly
home on Sunday, but he went anyway.
The interim government stopped his plane from landing, and at
least one person was killed when troops clashed with pro-Zelaya
protesters at the airport in Tegucigalpa.
A commission of Honduran private sector representatives flew to
Washington on Monday to seek trade guarantees and make the case for
the interim government.
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