Honduras lifts curfew but embassy siege continues
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday September 26, 2009
TEGUCIGALPA: The de facto government in Honduras has reopened the country for business, as fears rose inside the Brazilian embassy, where the deposed president Manuel Zelaya remains holed up.Candidates for proposed presidential elections met Mr Zelaya in an attempt to help start talks with the acting government to end the stalemate.The interim president, Roberto Micheletti, has offered to hold direct talks with Mr Zelaya only if he recognises a planned November 29 presidential election, but the ousted leader said that was "manipulation". The United Nations this week suspended technical support for the election.Honduras bustled back to life as a nighttime curfew was lifted and airports reopened, three days after Mr Zelaya sneaked back into the country, about three months after he had been ousted in a military-backed coup.But fear and hunger intensified inside the embassy, a temporary home to the ousted leader, dozens of his supporters and several Brazilian embassy staff."They're rationing our food; they don't let our families in. They're sending degrading messages to our cell phones," Mr Zelaya said. "We only sleep for short moments. They attack us with noises, threats."A Honduran priest inside the embassy said many had received mobile phone threats of an imminent invasion of the embassy on Wednesday night.On Thursday security forces extended a cordon around the embassy. The de facto leaders have insisted it will not be taken by force and denied they were responsible for power and water cuts.Limited supplies €“ with a diet of small portions of rice and beans €“ added to the pressure.Suffering also increased on the outside. This week's shutdown cost millions in losses to businesses and drew loud criticism, even from those sympathetic to the regime, which overthrew Mr Zelaya on June 28.Mr Zelaya veered to the left after his election to a single term in 2005, influenced by the Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez.The army sent Mr Zelaya into exile at gunpoint, backed by the country's courts and Congress, amid a dispute over his plans to change the constitution.
© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald
