Only 5 countries have said they will recognise elections

The Russian news agency RIA Novosti cites Honduran TV reports that Israel has said it will join the US, Panama, Peru and Costa Rica in recognising of the elections. 

Amnesty International denounces intimidation in Honduran elections

   Tegucigalpa - Amnesty International (AI) denounced Friday an atmosphere of intimidation in the run-up to controversial general election in Honduras.

In a statement, AI charged that the de facto government in Honduras has stockpiled anti-riot material such as tear-gas ahead of Sunday's elections.

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya has rejected the election results and called upon Hondurans to boycott it.

AI delegate in Tegucigalpa Javier Zuniga told the German Press Agency dpa that basic voting guarantees were not being respected, due to the limitations on personal freedoms that were imposed in the Central American country since democratically-elected Zelaya was ousted by a military coup on June 28.

   Zuniga noted that freedom of opinion, expression and association, among others, were being violated in Honduras.

'Rights like the right to communicate and receive information, which are fundamental for an electoral process so that people have a perspective on what is happening, are constantly suffering limitations,' Zuniga told dpa.

He said that intimidation is particularly significant in the provinces, while conditions are better in the capital, Tegucigalpa.

AI denounced in a statement that the de facto authorities in Honduras 'have stock piled 10,000 tear gas cans and other crowd control equipment, triggering fears of an increased risk of excessive and disproportionate use of force by security forces around the presidential elections.'

'The past misuse of tear gas and other crowd control equipment, together with the lack of guarantees that the purchased equipment will not be used to attack demonstrators and the absence of investigations on past abuses paints an extremely worrying picture of what might happen over the next few days,' Zuniga said in the statement.

The AI delegation was to remain in Honduras until December 4. They were planning to meet with victims of human rights violations, representatives of human rights organizations, journalists, teachers and doctors, as well as soldiers and police officers.

Honduras Coup Regime Declares New State of Emergency Prior to Sunday “Election”

Al Giordano has posted on the Emergency Decrees the coup governemnt has launched this week ahead of today's elections.

The Gaceta Oficial, (“Official Gazette”) of the Honduras coup regime is now freshly printed and has three new decrees and two orders restricting freedom of the press, the right to bear arms and officially strips Catholic Father Andres Tamayo of his Honduran citizenship, ordering him expelled from the country (the good Padre left for El Salvador last week).

Here are a few of the regime’s greatest hits from this week’s barrage of repressive decrees which are expressly part of what the coup leaders call an "election" coming up on Sunday:

Decree PCM-M-029-2009

“Due to growing internal threats,” the Armed Forces will be deployed, in support of the National Police, to guard polling places, the custody and transport of ballots (before and after they are utilized by voters), and 5,000 members of the military reserve were deputized beginning on November 13.

Decree PCM-M-030-2009

This decree declares a “State of Emergency” nationwide, and places the regime’s “Secretary of State” inside the military command to oversee all activities related to the November 29 “elections.” This decree pretty much erases the previous order that the quasi-independent Supreme Electoral Tribunal would exclusively be in command of the Armed Forces in the month prior to the “election.” In other words, not even the window dressing added to give the vote a gloss of pseudo-independence could be tolerated by regime leader Roberto Micheletti, who has now placed a member of his Simian Council at that helm.

Decree PCM-M-031-2009

The November 29 “elections are under threat by groups that try to block their development with threats of all kinds, creating fear and disorder in the general population.” Therefore, says the decree, a nationwide ban on bearing all types of firearms went into effect on Monday, November 23, “until ordered otherwise.” (Memo to self: Make sure to write the National Rifle Association about Senator Jim DeMint's efforts in Honduras.)

Order number 2169-2009 of the Secretary of Government and Justice

“The conduct of Mr. José Andrés Tamayo Cortez is incongruent with constituional precepts and secondary laws of the Honduran State… that justify his characterization as UNWORTHY to have Honduran nationality and is ordered to be expelled to his country of origin.”

Executive Order 124-2009 authorizes the coup regime's media regulating organization CONATEL to close any media at will.

Military to oversee elections

The Guardian today reports:

“Thousands of soldiers have been deployed across Honduras to oversee a controversial election which will cement the overthrow of President Manuel Zelaya. The de facto government has militarised the capital, Tegucigalpa, and other cities to deter pro-Zelaya protests and ensure that Central America's first coup since the end of the cold war prevails. The authorities blanketed media with patriotic footage of army manoeuvres and football matches – Honduras recently qualified for the World Cup – to try to stir passion for what it termed an "electoral fiesta"…. Security forces have suppressed dissent by beating and arresting hundreds of Zelaya supporters in recent weeks, leaving an edgy calm. A state of emergency has been declared for the vote and 5,000 army reservists mobilised.”

Leading voices in Britain call for non-recognition of Honduras coup elections.

The letter below was published in The Guardian  on Friday 27 November

Latin America faces the greatest threat to its democracy in decades. The military coup that overthrew elected president Manual Zelaya and seized power in Honduras in June is now seeking to legitimise its illegal government through the international recognition of elections on 29 November. Such recognition would give a green light to opponents of democracy throughout the continent that military coups will be tolerated. Free and fair elections on November 29 are impossible. Human rights, freedom of assembly and of the press have all been under attack in Honduras. Repression under the coup regime has seen at least 20 people killed, more than 600 people injured and 3,500 people detained.

The legitimate Honduran president, Manual Zelaya, has called for supporters of democracy not to recognise the elections under the military coup regime. Nearly all of Latin America's governments have declared that they will not do so. Worryingly the US has indicated it will recognise these illegitimate elections. We call on all governments, including the Obama administration, to not recognise the elections on 29 November under the military coup regime.

• Colin Burgon MP Chair, All-party Parliamentary Group on Venezuela
  
• Jon Cruddas MP, 
• Ken Livingstone, 
• Baroness Gibson Chair APPG on Latin America, 
• Brendan Barber General secretary, TUC, 
• Jamie Hepburn MSP (SNP), 
• Adam Price MP (Plaid Cymru), 
• Caroline Lucas MEP Leader, Green party, 
• Bruce Kent, 
• David Hare, 
• John Pilger, 
• Lowkey (Musician), 
• Brian Eno, 
• Dr J Buxton Centre for International Co-operation and Security, University of Bradford
• Tony Lloyd MP Chair, Parliamentary Labour Party
• Doreen Massey, Professor of Geography at the Open University
• Johan Harri, commentator
  
• Ann Cryer MP
• Brian Simpson MEP 
• Colin Challen MP
• Clare Short MP
• Dave Anderson MP
• David Chaytor MP
• David Drew MP
• David Martin MEP
• David Taylor MP
• Diane Abbott MP
• Gordon Prentice MP
• George Galloway MP
• Harry Cohen MP
• Hywel Williams MP
• Ian Davidson MP
• Jeremy Corbyn MP
  
• Jean Lambert MEP
• John Battle MP
• John Battle MP 
• John Hemming MP
• John McDonnell MP
• Lord Nic Rea
• Mark Fisher MP
• Martin Caton MP
• Michael Cashman  MEP
• Neil Gerrard MP
• Nigel Griffiths MP
• Paul Flynn MP
• Paul Holmes MP
• Rob Marris MP
• Steve Pound MP 
• Tony Woodley and Derek Simpson Joint general secretaries, Unite the Union
• Sally Hunt General secretary, UCU
• GMB union
• Alan Ritchie General secretary, Ucatt
• Luke Crawley Assistant general secretary, Bectu
• Mick Shaw President, FBU
• Matt Wrack General secretary, FBU
• Gerry Doherty General secretary, TSSA
• Bob Crow General secretary, RMT
• Steve Hart - Unite London & Eastern Regional Secretary
• Chris McLaughlin Editor, Tribune
• Sam Tarry National chair of Young Labour
• Chris Weldon Labour party NEC
• Kaveh Moussavi University of Oxford's Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Head of the Public Interest Law Programme
• Professor  Keith Ewing
• Professor Mary Davis
• Dr Steve Ludlam Department of politics, University of Sheffield
• Diana Raby Senior fellow, Latin American studies, University of Liverpool
• Barry Cannon Postdoctoral fellow, school of law and government, Dublin City University
• Hazel Marsh School of politics, social & international studies, University of East Anglia
• Dr Michael Derham School of arts and social sciences, Northumbria University
• Rod Stoneman Director of the Huston school of film & digital media
• Dr Stephen Wilkinson Director, Centre for Caribbean and Latin American research and consultancy, London Metropolitan University
• Professor Ernesto Laclau University of Essex
• Cuba Solidarity Campaign
• Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign 
  
• Venezuela Solidarity Campaign 
  

Ousted Honduran president won't recognize 29 November elections

Ousted Honduran president won't recognize vote

By FREDDY CUEVAS (AP)

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya insisted late Saturday that he will not accept any deal to restore him to office if it means he must recognize elections later this month.

In a letter addressed to President Barack Obama, Zelaya also repeated his accusation that Washington reversed its stance on whether the Nov. 29 vote should be considered legitimate if he was not in office.

"As the elected president of the Honduran people, I reaffirm my position that starting today, no matter what, I will not accept any agreement on returning to the presidency of the republic to cover up this coup d'etat," Zelaya said, reading from the letter on Globo radio.

Zelaya spoke from the Brazilian Embassy, where he has taken refuge since slipping back into the capital, Tegucigalpa, on Sept. 21. He was hustled out of the country at gunpoint by soldiers June 28, touching off a political crisis that has seen the U.S. and other nations cut off much of their aid to the poor Central American nation.

This past week, the United States sent Craig Kelly, deputy assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere, to Honduras to try to move along a U.S.-brokered pact signed by both sides that calls for a unity government and for Congress to vote on whether to restore Zelaya to the presidency to serve out his term, which ends in January.

Zelaya declared the agreement a failure last week when Micheletti announced the creation of a national unity government even though Zelaya had not proposed any candidates.

Washington has said it supports Zelaya's reinstatement, but the pact set no deadline for his return to office. And after brokering the deal, U.S. diplomats indicated Washington would support the elections, which had been scheduled before the coup, as long the deal was implemented.

"The future that you show us today by changing your position in the case of Honduras, and thus favoring the abusive intervention of the military castes ... is nothing more than the downfall of freedom and contempt for human dignity," Zelaya said in the letter to Obama. "It is a new war against the processes of social and democratic reforms so necessary in Honduras."

Legislative leaders say they are waiting for an opinion from prosecutors and Honduras' Supreme Court, which ordered Zelaya's arrest for refusing to drop plans for a referendum on constitutional change that the court ruled illegal.

Key lawmakers have indicated there might not be a vote until after the Nov. 29 election.

Zelaya has urged the international community not to recognize the outcome of the election if he is not restored to power first.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Britain 'must get behind Zelaya'

Morning Star Wednesday 11 November 2009

A top adviser to Honduran President Manuel Zelaya has urged British MPs to step up the campaign for democracy in the coup-stricken country.

Minister counsellor Allan Fajardo visited Westminster to appeal directly for more awareness of the threat posed by the plotters who seized power from President Zelaya.

Mr Fajardo said that the situation in Honduras was not a simple difference of opinion between ideologies, but a fundamental struggle for democracy.

He urged Britain and other European governments to state clearly that they would not recognise the elections being staged on November 29 by the present unconstitutional regime.

Labour MP Colin Burgon condemned the "talking game" which had been conducted by the repressive regime in order to delay events until the elections.

He added: "They cannot be classed as legitimate elections, carried out as they are under a coup regime."

Mr Burgon is among 52 MPs who have signed a Commons early day motion calling for the restoration of full democracy in Honduras and demanding that the US government must suspend all financial support to the coup regime.

National Front of Resistance Against the Coup: The elections will not be recognized, the struggle continues

The National Front of Resistance Against the Coup declares to the Honduran people and the International Community

1. Since the midnight deadline of Thursday November 5^th passed without the restitution of legitimate president Manual Zelaya, we declare we will actively not recognize the electoral process of 29 November of this year.

Elections which are imposed by a de facto regime that represses and violates the human and political rights of the citizenry would only validate nationally and internationally the oligarchical dictatorship and secure the continuation of a system which marginalizes and exploits popular sectors in order to guarantee the privileges of a few.

Participation in such a process would give legitimacy to the coup regime and to its successor which would be fraudulently installed on January 27, 2010.

2. The refusal to acknowledge the electoral farce will remain firm between now and the elections even if President Manuel Zelaya is re-instated. A period of 20 days is too little time to dismantle an electoral fraud conceived to ensure that one of the representatives of the coup-making oligarchy will be put in place and therefore give continuity to its repressive and anti-democratic project.

The prior statement does not mean that we have renounced our fundamental demand that constitutional order be returned to Honduras, including the return of President Zelaya to the position he was elected to fill for four years by the Honduran people.

3. Now more than ever it is clear that the exercise of participatory democracy through the installation of a Constituent Assembly is not just a non-negotiable right but also the only way to provide the Honduran people with a democratic and inclusive political system.

4. We denounce the complicit attitude of the US government, maneuvering to stall the crisis and now showing its true intention to give validity to the coup regime, thereby ensuring that the successor government will be docile in the face of the interests of transnational companies and their goal of regional control. Therefore, we consider correct the decision made by President Zelaya to declare the failure of the Tegucigalpa Agreement, an agreement which is part of the US strategy to stall Zelaya's restitution in order to validate the electoral process.

5. We call on all organizations and candidates in the November 29^th elections to act in accordance with previously-stated commitments and publicly pull out of the electoral farce.

6. We call together the mobilized and as yet unorganized sectors of the population to join actions which reject the electoral farce and promote acts of civil disobedience, as supported by Article 3 of the Constitution of the Republic, which gives us the right to disobedience and popular insurrection.

7. To the friendly nations and peoples of the world, we call on you to maintain political pressure to overthrow the military dictatorship imposed by oligarchy and imperialism, as well as commit to recognize neither the illegitimate elections of November 29 nor the spurious authorities who seek to pass as representatives elected by the people.

"We resist and we will win."
Tegucigalpa November 9th, 2009

Letter to the President: Honduras Human Rights Violations and Elections

An open letter to the US President, by 240 US academics and Latin America experts states:

Honduras now stands at the edge of a dangerous precipice. The coup regime remains determined – in the absence of significant pressure from the U.S. government – to move forward with the elections, in the hopes that the international community will eventually recognize the results. In so doing, they hope to legitimize their illegal and unconstitutional government.

Free and fair elections on November 29 are already impossible, as more than two-thirds of the campaign period allowed under Honduran law has already passed, under conditions in which freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press have all been under attack throughout the country. This repression has been widely documented and denounced by Honduran and international human rights organizations, including the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Human Rights Watch, and Amnesty International.

The Rio Group of 23 nations, which includes nearly all of Latin America and much of the Caribbean, had forcefully declared that it will not recognize the November 29th elections if President Zelaya is not first re-instated. Thus the United States is at odds with the rest of the Hemisphere in its stated willingness to recognize these illegitimate elections.

Ousted president says U.S. lacks commitment to reinstatement

Mary Beth Sheridan. Washington Post. November 12, 2009.

Less than two weeks after U.S. diplomats announced a historic agreement to reverse a coup in Honduras, the accord is in danger of collapse and both Honduran officials and U.S. lawmakers are blaming American missteps for some of the failure.

Ousted president Manuel Zelaya, who was expelled by the military in June, said in a telephone interview that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had assured him as recently as last week that the U.S. government was seeking his return to the presidency. But he said that U.S. pressure had eased in recent days and that he no longer had faith in the agreement.

Brazil: Honduras is a "badly written soap opera, with sinister characters played by the de facto regime, which history will judge."

GINGER THOMPSON. New York Times. November 10, 2009.

WASHINGTON - Under fire from allies in Latin America and on Capitol Hill, the Obama administration moved Tuesday to try to salvage the American-brokered agreement that had been billed as paving the way for a peaceful end to the coup in Honduras. Instead, the accord seems to have provided the country's de facto government with a way to stay in power until a presidential election scheduled for the end of this month.

Honduran crisis 'threatens democracy'.

by Katherine Butler. The Independent. November 12, 2009.

A rash of military coups could be triggered across Latin America if the world fails to stand up to the illegal regime in Honduras, a close aide of the ousted president Manuel Zelaya warned yesterday.

"The fate of Honduras is not just the fate of Honduras, but of the Latin American continent," Mr Zelaya's special adviser Allan Fajaro told The Independent. "Dark forces," he said, were watching to see how the crisis ends. "If we resolve this constitutionally they will know they too have to respect democracy. If not, these dark forces will know they have a green light and the continent will become an erupting volcano. That will be a very bad outcome, not only for our continent, but for Europe and the world."

Manuel Zelaya's backers: Boycott Honduran election

Manuel Zelaya's backers: Boycott Honduran election - 5-Minute Herald - MiamiHerald.com

CARACAS -- A U.S. brokered accord that was supposed to return ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya to power has collapsed. And his supporters, who have been organizing street protests against his successor, are down to their final card: calling on Hondurans to boycott upcoming elections.

Carlos H. Reyes, the presidential candidate who was favored by the leftist Zelaya's hard-core supporters but had no chance to win, withdrew from the race Monday. ``For us to participate in the elections would mean following the strategy of the coup-installed government,'' Reyes said.

Zelaya pinned much of the blame Monday on the Obama administration.

The U.S. State Department helped broker a deal that called for the Honduran Congress to vote on whether to allow Zelaya to finish his term. But once Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon made televised comments last week that seemed to remove pressure from Washington, Honduras' Congress has made no plans to vote on whether to enact the agreement.

Public Prosecutor Threatens Congress

Luis Rubi, public prosecutor for the de facto government of Honduras, warned Congress today that they might face legal responsibilities if they vote to restore Manuel Zelaya to his Presidency. "Our legal opinion will go beyond pronouncing, if its necessary, to see if taking determined actions puts the Congress people in legal jeopardy," Rubi said.

OAS will not recognise elections

The ever informative Honduras Coup 2009 blogspot reports the following

While the Honduran press is full of Micheletti's calls for Zelaya to return to the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord that Micheletti willfully burlesqued, the Secretary General of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza, sees little or no hope that there will be a return to dialog, and has said the OAS will not send election observers unless there is a radical change in the situation.

"It is difficult for the Congress to rule on the restitution of Zelaya...any solution will have to come from decisions of the Honduran nation and the Congress to rule on the issue of the restitution of Zelaya."

While Lanny Davis fiddles for his fascist masters in a Wall Street Journal editorial, Miguel Insulza correctly notes that the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord was broken when Micheletti tried to form a government of national unity without the participation of Zelaya. This past Sunday, after Zelaya declared the accord dead, Micheletti offered to let Zelaya participate in the unity government, but remained adamant that he, Micheletti, would lead it.

Micheletti's response was to issue an 8 point communique Sunday that demanded that the international community send election observers (they aren't going to), remove all sanctions and restore foreign aid (which will continue frozen until there is full compliance with the accord) and stop interfering in the internal affairs of Honduras.

Other than the recognition which Thomas Shannon has guaranteed the de facto government, no government in the Hemisphere is likely to recognize the results of the November 29 elections if held under the current conditions. Honduras will remain diplomatically, and economically isolated.

Honduras' Congress says no guarantee it will vote on Zelaya before elections; candidate withdraws

Article By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ
The Associated Press November 09

The head of Honduras' Congress said Monday there is no guarantee lawmakers will vote on whether to restore ousted President Manuel Zelaya before the Nov. 29 election that will choose his successor.

Washington and the rest of the international community — which cut off most foreign aid and diplomatic ties to Honduras after the June 28 coup — are pushing for a swift solution and Zelaya's reinstatement. A U.S.-brokered pact calls on Congress to decide whether to return Zelaya to office with Supreme Court input, but imposes no deadline.

Congressional leader Jose Alfredo Saavedra said lawmakers are still awaiting an opinion from the Supreme Court on whether Zelaya should resume the presidency. He said he could not say how much longer the court will take.

Spain believes that a government without representatives of Zelaya unit is "a flagrant breach" of the agreement

Translated excerpts from Europa Press. Original at http://es.noticias.yahoo.com/5/20091106/twl-espaa-cree-que-un-gobierno-unitario-f6923c3.html

The Spanish Government considers that the creation of a unity government in Honduras without representatives of the ousted president Manuel Zelaya is "a flagrant breach of the agreement" that Roberto Micheletti and Zelaya signed last week to put end the political crisis in the Central American country since the coup of June 28.

"I believe that there is a flagrant breach of the agreement," the Secretary of State for Latin America, Juan Pablo de Laiglesia, told Europa Press, when asked about the announcement made on Thursday that the unity government does not include representatives of the deposed president.

"It seems clear that the government of national unity and reconciliation...is a mere continuation of the situation following the coup," the secretary of state....[It] "at first sight appears to be contrary to the spirit and even the letter of the agreement".

...Regarding the return of Zelaya in power, De Laiglesia stressed that although the agreement between the opposing parties do not set "a date" for the country's Congress to rule on the return of the legitimate representative [this] does not mean that Congress "can not fulfil an essential element of the agreement."

The Secretary of State for Latin America stressed that the whole international community expects "the restoration of democratic order and the effectiveness of this political agreement and the holding of elections within a framework of reconciliation and return to normality"..

Honduras: Communiqué No. 33. Message from the National Front of Resistance.

Honduras: Communiqué No. 33.

Message from the National Front of Resistance
Friday, Nov 6, 2009.

The National Front of Resistance Against the Coup wishes to inform the Honduran people and the international community of the following:

Whereas,

1. During the 131 days of continuous struggle, we have pushed for a peaceful solution to the political crisis in our country as a result of the coup d'état carried out by the Honduran oligarchy. In this period we have supported the efforts promoted by various national and international sectors, putting forward three key demands: (a) the return to constitutional order with the reinstatement of the legitimate president, Manuel Zelaya Rosales; (b) respect for the sovereign right to establish a National Constituent Assembly for the purpose of refounding our nation; and (c) punishment for those who have violated human rights.

2. The Tegucigalpa-San Jose agreement underscores the priority of returning to constitutional order and affirms, literally, the need to "return the holder of executive power to its pre-June 28 state through to January 27, 2010, which marks the end of the term of the current government."

3. The National Congress, co-author of the break with the constitutional order on June 28, is using delaying tactics by refusing to convene the full assembly of the Congress to revoke the decree that set up the de-facto regime.

4. The OAS and the U.S. government, which we consider to be an accomplice in the military coup, do not show an interest in the definitive departure of the coup perpetrators from political power.

Therefore We Resolve That,

1. If by 12 midnight today, Thursday, November 5 -- at the latest -- President José Manuel Zelaya Rosales is not reinstated, the National Front of Resistance Against the Coup will refuse to recognize the electoral process and its results.

2. We warn all organizations of the national Resistance that if President Zelaya were not to be reinstated within this time frame, they should be ready to carry out the actions necessary to deny any legitimacy to the electoral farce.

3. We call upon the international community to maintain its position of refusing to legitimize the de-facto regime and the elections of November 29.

"We Are Resisting and We Shall Win!"
Tegucigalpa, M.D.C.
November 5, 2009

Talks over Honduras crisis crumble

Zelaya will not recognise elections

An AP article "Zelaya: US-brokered pact for Honduran crisis fails" reports that 

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said Friday that a U.S.-brokered pact failed to end a four-month political crisis after a deadline for forming a unity government passed.

"The accord is dead," Zelaya told Radio Globo from from the Brazilian Embassy where he has been hold up under threat of arrest. "There is no sense in deceiving Hondurans."

and

Jorge Reina, a negotiator for Zelaya, said the pact fell apart because Congress failed to vote on whether to reinstate the deposed president before the deadline for forming the unity government."The de facto regime has failed to live up to the promise that, by this date, the national government would be installed. And by law, it should be presided by the president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya," Reina said.

and that

Hundreds of Zelaya supporters gathered outside Congress on Thursday to demand his reinstatement. The protesters said they will boycott the elections if Zelaya is not returned to power beforehand to serve out his constitutionally limited single term, which ends in January.Reina accused Micheletti of preparing "a great electoral fraud this November." "We completely do not recognize this electoral process," Reina said. "Elections under a dictatorship are a fraud for the people."

Deal over Honduran crisis 'dead' - President Zelaya

Honduras has been suffering from a political crisis for four months

A deal to resolve the political crisis in Honduras is "dead", ousted President Manuel Zelaya has said.

He was speaking after interim leader Roberto Micheletti said he was forming a "unity government" without Mr Zelaya's representatives.
Mr Micheletti acted as a deadline passed for putting a power-sharing agreement into effect.

Honduras has been shaken by a political crisis that began when Mr Zelaya was forced out of the country on 28 June.

The two rivals agreed to a US-backed power-sharing deal last week, with a deadline for it to be implemented by midnight on Thursday (0600 GMT Friday).
But Mr Zelaya had warned on Thursday that he would withdraw from the deal unless Congress held a vote on his restoration to power.

He has said elections planned for 29 November will not be valid unless he is restored to power first, though the agreement did not guarantee the ousted leader's restitution.

'Theatre'
Interim authorities did not consider the Congressional vote demanded by Mr Zelaya to be an essential part of the agreement.

They said the agreement set a deadline for the formation of a government, but not for Congress to meet.

As the power-sharing deadline passed, Mr Micheletti said he had "finalised the process of confirming a unity government".

"Everybody, with the exception of Mr Zelaya, recommended Hondurans to lead the institutions of our country as part of the new government," he said.

Though Mr Zelaya had not submitted a list of names, Mr Micheletti said the government was "representative of a large ideological and political spectrum in our country and complies strictly with the agreement" signed last week.

Mr Zelaya, who has been sheltering in the Brazilian embassy since his return to Honduras in September, responded by pronouncing the accord "dead".

"It's absurd what they are doing, trying to mock all of us, the people who elected me and the international community that supports me," he said. "We've decided not to continue this theatre with Mr Micheletti."

Mr Zelaya was ousted after planning to hold a non-binding public consultation to ask people whether they supported moves to change the constitution.

His critics said the move was unconstitutional and aimed to remove the current one-term limit on serving as president and pave the way for his possible re-election.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8345899.stm

London protest demands immediate reinstatement of Zelaya

With backers of the coup regime in Honduras seeking to undermine the accord agreed last week that would see a return of President Zelaya to power, a picket was held on Wednesday 4 November in London outside the US Embassy.

The picket was addresses by Jeremy Corbyn MP, leading trade unionists Linda Perks (UNION) and Tony Burke (UNITE) and Jose Vallejo Villa, Justice for Cleaners.

Photos are below:

President Obama's Credibility on the Line in Honduras

By Mark Weisbrot
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/nov/04/honduras-zelaya-agreement-obama-clinton

Last Friday an agreement was reached between the de facto regime in Honduras-- which took power in a military coup on June 28th -- and the elected president Mel Zelaya, for the restoration of democracy there.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in announcing what she called an "historic agreement, said: "I cannot think of another example of a country in Latin America that…overcame such a crisis through negotiation and dialogue." Hopefully this will turn out to be true.

But the ink was barely dry on the accord when leaders of the coup regime indicated that they had no intention of honoring it. Some of them clearly saw the agreement as just another delaying tactic. They have talked of postponing congressional approval of the accord until after the November 29th elections, or even voting not to restore Zelaya.

Decision on Zelaya's return postponed

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- The Honduran Congress won't convene a special session to consider returning ousted President Manuel Zelaya to power, a legislative committee has decided.

The panel of 13 lawmakers voted instead to wait until Congress receives non-binding legal opinions from the Central American country's Supreme Court, attorney general and others, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

The lawmakers' decision puts a damper on Zelaya's chances of returning to power even temporarily under a deal brokered by the United States last week, the Journal says.

Both Zelaya and the interim government agreed to let the country's Congress decide the matter. In return, the United States promised to renew aid to Honduras and recognize the legitimacy of the upcoming Nov. 29 presidential election.

The election could take place before Congress decides on Zelaya's return.

Zelaya was ousted on June 28 just hours before an unpopular constitutional referendum.

Ousted Honduran leader asks Clinton stand on coup

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — Ousted President Manuel Zelaya has sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking the U.S. to clarify its position on the coup that overthrew him four months ago.

Zelaya sent the letter Wednesday, a day after assistant U.S. Secretary of State Thomas Shannon told CNN en Espanol that "the U.S. will recognize the outcome" of Honduras' Nov. 29 election even if Honduras' Congress does not restore Zelaya to power first.

Zelaya asks Clinton in his letter "to clarify to the Honduran people if the position condemning the coup d'etat has been changed or modified."

The Obama administration has said Honduras needs to restore the constitutional government.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Ongoing pressure needed to ensure return of President Zelaya

Elected Honduras President, Manuel Zelaya, yesterday called for ongoing international pressure to ensure the deal around his return to office is implemented, in the face of prevarication and delay from coup backers. A statement from the Constitutional Government on November 3 said:

    "We call upon the international community to remain vigilant so that [there is] compliance with the Agreement [and] Congress agrees the immediate return of the Constitutional President Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales - the only way to return to Constitutional Order, full respect of Human Rights and Constitutional Guarantees, and full respect for international law."

The Zelaya government communiqué also called on the international community not to recognise the November 29 elections until the full implementation of the Accord.

Though a deal was reached last week in Honduras that would see the return of President Zelaya to office, this has so far this has not been implemented. The coup installed President of the Honduran Congress, Jose Alfredo Saavedra, yesterday deferred a vote on the reinstatement of deposed President Zelaya and instead asked the Supreme Court for its view. No date has yet been set fro Congress to meet to implement the reinstatement of President Zelaya despite the accord being agreed 6 days ago. The BBC reports that "Correspondents say the latest move may lead to the collapse of the agreement". Speaking on Monday, Congressional leader Jose Alfredo Saavedra said he would not rush Congress's vote on the accord, despite calls from foreign diplomats not to delay.

Organisation of Americas’ Secretary, Jose Miguel Insulza, has urged Congress to restore President Zelaya and has called for an emergency meeting of the OAS next week to lift the sanctions against Honduras on condition that they restore Zelaya. Insulza told Honduran MPs: "Stop the rhetoric and reinstate Zelaya".

Ricardo Lagos, a member of the Verification Commission that will implement the Micheletti-Zelaya agreement has made it clear that the spirit of the agreement involves the immediate restoration of Zelaya. Lagos together with Hilda Solis (US Labour Secretary) have visited Zelaya in the Brazilian embassy. Hundreds of candidates for elections scheduled later this month from the Liberal Party, the PINUSD Party (100 out a total of 125 candidates) and other political formations have stated unambiguously that they will withdraw from the election if there is no democratic restoration

There is a permanent mass vigil outside the Honduran Congress demanding the implementation of the agreement and the reinstatement of President Zelaya.

PROTEST AT THE US EMBASSY - End all US economic, political and military support to the dictatorship in Honduras now!

EMERGENCY PROTEST AT THE US EMBASSY! * Reinstate President Zelaya Now! Defend human rights in Honduras! * End all US economic, political and military support to the dictatorship in Honduras now! * No election without the restitution of Zelaya! Wednesday November 4, 5.30-7.30pm US Embassy, 24 Grosvenor Square, London, W1A 1A. (For a map click here) Wednesday November 4, 5.30-7.30pm At the US Embassy, 24 Grosvenor Square, London, W1A 1A. A deal was reached last week in Honduras that should see the return of President Zelaya to office. But so far this has not been implemented. There are already many reports that this will be delayed by those opposed to the return of Zelaya, including in the Supreme Court and Congress, which both have to approve the deal. President Manuel Zelaya has warned about a possible "manipulation" by the coup government after signing the agreement that could return him to power and end the crisis in his country. "There may be manipulation, so we must remain vigilant until compliance has been achieved," he said in a telephone contact with the channel Telesur, adding that "possibly some members are trying to impede the drive to complete this agreement." We need to keep up the pressure to ensure the return of the elected President. Please join us on Wednesday! Speakers to include: · Jeremy Corbyn MP · Tony Burke, Assistant General Secretary, Unite the Union · Linda Perks, Regional Secretary, Greater London UNISON · Jose Vallejo Villa, Justice for Cleaners · Bellavia Ribeiro-Addy, Black Students’ Officer, NUS

Supported by:

This picket is part of the activities of the Emergency Committee Against the Coup in Honduras. The Committee involves Venezuela Solidarity Campaign, Cuba Solidarity Campaign, Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign, Labour Friends of Venezuela, UNITE the Union, UNITE London & Eastern Regions, South East Region TUC, and other bodies of the British Labour movement and Latin American communities. Visit  the blog at http://committeeagainsthondurascoup.blogspot.com. For more information email: notohondurascoup@googlemail.com

Letter from TUC regarding Honduras

Rt Hon. David Miliband MP,
Secretary of State Foreign and Commonwealth Office
King Charles Street Whitehall
London SW1A 2AH

issued 2 Nov 2009

Dear David

Continuing crisis in Honduras

On behalf of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) I ask you to increase the pressure on the de facto government of Roberto Micheletti to restore democracy and to strongly condemn the series of human rights violations that have taken place since the 28 June coup d'état removed President Manuel Zelaya Rosales from office.

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) which represents 170 million workers in 158 countries through its 316 national affiliates unanimously passed a resolution at its most recent General Council meeting in Berlin (attached) calling for the following actions to be taken;
suspension of Honduras's European Union GSP+ trade preferences until the country returns to genuine democratic control;
financial aid and all other financial co-operation with the de facto regime to be halted immediately; and non-cooperation by the international community with the bogus election called for 29 November, including a refusal to send election observers.
In relation to GSP+ we urge the British government to publicly support and push for a suspension of Honduras' trade preferences granted under this EU scheme.
In the 100 days since the coup, 20 people have been killed, 12 of whom were trade unionists, over 3000 people have been arrested, and the de facto regime has committed countless serious violations of human and trade union rights, including the suppression of the Honduran people's fundamental right to freedom of association and the closing down of media loyal to the legitimate government.
We ask you to call once again on the de facto government there to engage meaningfully in the talks held under the auspices of the OAS. Such talks must immediately result in the legitimate president, Manuel Zelaya, returned to office, with a view to enabling the holding of free and fair elections and bringing an end the coup. The coup is something we hoped had been confined to history in Latin America. If it is not resolved it could set a very dangerous precedent for the future.
Yours sincerely
BRENDAN BARBER
General Secretary
Berlin General Council Meeting

Honduras Congress not yet called back into session

By OLGA R. RODRIGUEZ (AP)
The leadership of Honduras' Congress will meet Tuesday to begin consideration of an accord that could reinstate ousted President Manuel Zelaya, but no date has been set for bringing the issue to the floor.
Congressman Carlos Lara Watson told HRN Radio late Monday that he and other legislative leaders would decide when to submit the measure to the full Congress for debate. He said the leaders also would consult the courts and prosecutors.
Under the U.S.-brokered pact, lawmakers must decide on whether Zelaya should serve the remaining three months of his term, a decision that could end the country's debilitating, 4-month-old political crisis.
Congressional president Jose Alfredo Saavedra said earlier Monday he would not be rushed despite calls from diplomats not to delay the vote. He said he wanted to consult first with the Supreme Court, which ordered Zelaya's June 28 ouster.

Zelaya demads end to manipulation of the deal

Tegucigalpa, Nov 2, (PL).- Honduran Constitutional President Manuel Zelaya called putschists to stop manipulating the agreement reached to end the political crisis in this Central American nation.

Zelaya, overthrown in June by a coup, demanded that the de facto government of Roberto Micheletti stopped playing dirty games and delaying strategies to apply the pact signed on October 30, according to which National Congress must declare itself on the return of Zelaya, as part of measures to restore institutionality.

In Zelaya's opinion, it is a matter of urgency to make this analysis effective in Congress, as "we have stood enough harm already as a country, for anyone to try to continue manipulating the crisis."

"None of the parties must use dirty games, delaying strategies or measures that make us lose credit and respect we deserve as a country before the international community," he added.

Zelaya's remarks come as several sectors in the country think National Congress may delay the materialization of what was agreed during negotiations.

Otto Reich: Zelaya not automatically to be re-seated as President in Honduras.

In an article Otto Reich, who served under President Bush from 2001 to 2004, first as assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere and later in the National Security Council, states:

Contrary to press reports, Zelaya is not in any way automatically returned to office by the accord. First, there must be a vote by the entire Honduran congress on whether Zelaya is fit to return to office. Prior to that, the Honduran supreme court, which ruled against Zelaya in June by a vote of 15 to 0, must issue an opinion on the same.

Zelaya warns that deal must be implemented in full

MOSCOW, November 2 (RIA Novosti) - Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said he will refuse support to the country's reconciliation government if he is not be reinstated ahead of national elections next month, the EFE news agency reported on Monday.

The reconciliation government was agreed to be established during Friday's meeting between representatives of Zeleya and the country's de facto leader, Roberto Micheletti.

"The reconciliation government can only be established if we reach an agreement," Zelaya told EFE in a telephone interview.

"No agreement - no reconciliation government," he added.

According to the deal, the Supreme Court is to decide whether the ousted leader will be reinstated ahead of national elections next month. The issue has been the sticking point between the two sides.

Micheletti says the agreement contains no guarantee that Zelaya will return to power.

Many countries and international bodies had warned they would not recognize the results if the Honduran elections were held under the Micheletti presidency.

Micheletti has argued that Zelaya's removal was a constitutional transfer of power and not a coup.

Zelaya was bundled out of Honduras on June 28 by the military, acting on instructions from the Supreme Court and parliament, over efforts to seek an unconstitutional second presidential term. He was flown to Costa Rica, and his place was taken by Micheletti, the parliamentary speaker.

The ousted president secretly returned to the country on September 21 and took refuge in the Brazilian Embassy.