Constitutional Government of Honduras Declares That the Tegucigalpa Agreement Has Failed

The constitutional president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, said the Tegucigalpa/San José agreement failed, along with what was thought to be the attempt to end the political crisis in this Central American country.  His declaration came after the unilateral formation of an alleged Government of Unity and Reconciliation by the de facto Honduran regime.

Speaking to a local radio station from the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, Zelaya rejected the idea that Micheletti could preside over an attempt to form a coalition government since, being the leader of the coup, he is not recognized as president of Honduras and his de facto regime is subject to economic sanctions by the international community.

“A de facto president recognized by no one in the world cannot head a Government of Unity and Reconciliation,” Zelaya said to Globo Radio.

The legitimate head of state of Honduras issued these statements after the representative of his government, Jorge Arturo Reina, announced the failure of the agreement.

Reina announced to the press early morning this Friday, after the deadline for the creation of a governing coalition of reconciliation passed, that the constitutional government gave up on the agreement as failure.

Reina made clear that the constitutional government of Honduras rejected the announcement made a few minutes before by Micheletti, who decreed the formation of the Government of Unity and Reconciliation, even as the legitimate president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, had not been reinstated.  His reinstatement is one of the points specifically included in that agreement.

The unilateral formation of the coalition of reconciliation was held up by Reina as evidence of the lack of will on the part of the de facto regime to comply with the Tegucigalpa/San José agreement, signed by the two parties (the constitutional government and the coup regime) last week.

“This makes obvious the lack of will to fulfill the letter and spirit of the agreement, disregarding the Arias plan and the resolutions of the Organization of American States (OAS) and the United Nations (UN),” Reina said.

“We declare the agreement as failure due to the de facto regime’s refusal to fulfill its commitment: a Government of Unity and Reconciliation should have been formed and established by now, which by law must be headed by the president elected by the people of Honduras, José Manuel Zelaya Rosales,” added the representative of Zelaya.

He went on to read a seven-point document, which among other things sought to block the coup regime’s attempt to defraud the people of Honduras by holding fraudulent elections, referring to the electoral process that the coup regime is planning to hold on the 29th of November.

Points of the Document:

1. We are not willing to lose the rights of the people by legitimating this coup d’état.

2. We do not accept the militarization of society, or the appointment of the president of Honduras, under the leadership of the Armed Forces.

3. Democracy is a supreme good of society and the only way to tackle the problems of the third poorest economy in Latin America, so we are not willing to let them rob us of democracy with this kind of trap.

4.  The ongoing violation of human rights, cancellation of public freedoms, and the confiscation of communication media, as well as political persecution and the situation of the president elected by the people being in the Brazilian embassy, surrounded by his soldiers, is the clearest evidence of the preparation for a grand politico-electoral fraud on the 29th of November.

5. We announce our total rejection of this electoral process and the results of the aforementioned evils.  Elections under dictatorship are a fraud committed against the people.

6.  We invite, without delay, the foreign ministers of the OAS to speak out on what is happening to the government legitimately elected by the people of Honduras and to continue to condemn and refuse to recognize the de facto regime.

7. We thank the people, the support provided by the international community, the OAS, its secretary Insulza, former Chilean president Ricardo Lagos Escobar, Secretary of Labor of the United States government, Mrs. Hilda Solís.

Constitutional Government Will Not Cover Up Fraud

In addition, Reina assured that “the government elected by the people will not lend itself to covering up, by keeping up appearances, the profound illegality of the coup d’état and the criminal conduct perpetrated against the people of Honduras and the preparations for a big electoral fraud.”

He stressed that the Government of Unity and Reconciliation was to be headed by Zelaya, who is the president elected by the Hondurans, and who was removed from office through a coup on the 28th of June.

In this regard, he said that this process of reconciliation proved to be just a ploy of the de facto regime, though the constitutional government of Zelaya entered into it in good faith.

“The whole process of reconciliation, which the government of the constitutional president, Manuel Zelaya, entered in complete good faith, was a pantomime of the putschists,” said Reina.

He also said that “now there will be a comprehensive review of the situation to determine what action can prevent the defrauding of the people of Honduras with fraudulent elections, the elections which we thought we could agree to make clean.”


The original article “Gobierno constitucional declara fracaso en acuerdo de Tegucigalpa” was published by TeleSur on 6 November 2009.  Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com).




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