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Honduran rulers insist Zelaya cannot be president
TEGUCIGALPA, July 30 (Reuters) - The de facto Honduran government insisted on Thursday it would not allow ousted President Manuel Zelaya to return to office, cooling hopes of a deal to end a political crisis following a coup last month.

Rafael Pineda, who as minister of the presidency is No. 2 in the interim government headed by Roberto Micheletti, told Reuters the administration was "firm, unchangeable" against Zelaya's return to power.

Micheletti, named by Congress as president after Zelaya was ousted in a coup on June 28, asked on Wednesday for a special envoy to come to Honduras "to cooperate in the start of dialogue in our country."

The new government coup leaders are under pressure from the United States to reinstate Zelaya and a source close to the de facto government said on Wednesday that Micheletti might be willing to consider letting Zelaya come back if there were assurances the ousted president did not try to derail democracy.

But Pineda rejected a return to office for Zelaya, who upset conservative critics by allying with socialist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. "The position of the government in this issue is firm, unchangeable," Pineda told Reuters. "The agreement, if there has to be one, can only happen if President Zelaya is not reinstated in the presidency of the republic," he said.

Pineda earlier told a morning show on Honduran television that the de facto government was committed to dialogue but also ready to hold out until a presidential election set for November if talks do not produce a deal.

He said Micheletti could quit as part of an accord that Costa Rican President Oscar Arias is trying to broker. "President Micheletti has said that to avoid the shedding of Honduran blood ... he would be willing to stand down but only on condition that his standing down does not mean Zelaya's return to the presidency," he said.
Posted by: Steve White 2009-07-31
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=275506