STATEMENT OF THE OAS DELEGATION IN HONDURAS

October 8, 2009

A Delegation of Foreign Ministers and high-level officials of Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Dominican Republic and United States of America, and the Secretary General of the Organization of American States, visited Tegucigalpa for the purpose of facilitating a solution to the political and institutional crisis in Honduras. The Spanish Secretary of State for Ibero-America and the Under-Secretary of Political Affairs of the United Nations also participated in the visit.

A Table of Dialogue was established on the morning of October 7, integrated by representatives of President Zelaya and of the de facto government, and featured the words of Mr. José Miguel Insulza, Mr. Peter Kent, Mr. Carlos López Contreras and Mr. Víctor Meza.

Later, the Table of Dialogue held a private meeting exclusive to members of the two negotiating commissions.At the end of the said meeting, the members of the Table informed the Delegation of Foreign Ministers of the results of their deliberations. They said representatives on both sides would coordinate their conversations in equal measure. Also, they asked the OAS to provide logistical and secretarial support.
Finally, they said the agenda they had agreed on included the following points:

a) The signing of the San José Accord;
b) The establishment of commissions for the purpose of conducting a detailed discussion and of proposing changes and updates to points in the San José Accord on which there is agreement, and to establish a timeline for their implementation.
c) The proposal and design of a methodological approximation of a new Political and Social Pact for Honduras.Subsequently, the OAS Delegation met with Mr. Roberto Micheletti and with President Manuel Zelaya, and had dinner with Honduran presidential candidates Porfirio Lobo, Elvin Santos, Felícito Ávila y César Ham. At these meetings the current Honduran political crisis and the positions of the parties were reviewed.

The OAS Delegation proposed to all involved that in order for dialogue to take place under appropriate conditions the following is necessary:
1) The reestablishment and permanency of all constitutional guarantees;
2) The restitution of all press media whose functions were interrupted; and
3) That normal access and consultation of President Zelaya and his representatives be allowed in the Table of Dialogue.

The Delegation also requested that the problem of the embassy of Brazil be resolved and that President Zelaya be guaranteed the conditions of life and work that befit his high dignity.The Delegation charged the Secretary General to inform the member countries of the Organization of American States of the fulfillment of these requests and of the evolution and progress made in the Table of Dialogue.

The OAS Delegation is convinced that the dialogue begun with the direct participation of the parties may be conducive to the resolution of the political crisis in which the country has been seeped since the events of last June 28. It holds the hope that the members of the Table of Dialogue will fully assume the responsibilities that have been entrusted to them, and that their labor will give way to a new road that could lead Honduras to the restitution of democratic order and to its reintegration in the international community, which is a wish shared by all.

Finally, the Delegation urged all political and social actors of Honduras to remain faithful to the respect of Human Rights and to contribute towards establishing an environment of national peace and reconciliation facilitated by the dialogue that has begun.