Brazil: Zelaya can stay at embassy as long as he wants

Fri, 11 Dec 2009

Brasilia - Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya can stay at the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa for as long as he wishes, the Brazilian Foreign Ministry said Friday. Earlier in the day, Francisco Catunda, charge d'affaires at the Brazilian embassy in Honduras, told Brazilian television that Zelaya would have to leave by January 27, the day his presidential mandate formally ends.

Zelaya was ousted from power by a military coup on June 28 and was sent into exile. He secretly returned to Honduras on September 21, and has since then been staying at the embassy.

"Foreign Minister Celso Amorim always said that Zelaya could stay for as long as necessary," a ministry spokesman told the German Press Agency dpa.

Conservative Porfirio Lobo is set to be inaugurated as Honduran president in late January, after winning in the November 29 election that Zelaya and Brazil, among others, regard as illegitimate.

"President Zelaya is fully conscious that a new government is set to be inaugurated on January 27 and that, once his mandate ends, he will have to follow another path," Catunda said.

The Brazilian Foreign Ministry spokesman said Catunda's comments were an "interpretative mistake." He added that "it is clear" Zelaya's mandate will end next month, but "that does not mean that he automatically has to leave the embassy."

Zelaya told Brazilian media in a telephone interview that he would like to leave the embassy as soon as possible.

"My wish is to leave as quickly as possible, logically with the support of the Brazilian government," he said.

Zelaya was unsuccessful Thursday in his attempt to travel to Mexico. He blamed the failure on the de facto Honduran government led by former Congress speaker Roberto Micheletti, which he said wanted him to "resign" as president in exchange for safe passage out of Honduras.