TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- Former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said Sunday the coup that toppled him two years ago was an international conspiracy and that some of those plotting his ouster wanted to kill him.
Zelaya ended his long exile and returned to Honduras on Saturday under a deal brokered by Colombia and Venezuela, paving the way for the poor Central American country's return to the Organization of American States and reintegration into the world community.
| Pro'ly more important for Honduras to get back into good graces since it's poor and needs the help, but it's just a matter of time before Mel starts causing trouble. |
The former president said in a news conference at his home that the June 2009 military-backed coup that saw him whisked out of Honduras by soldiers should be investigated.
Zelaya has previously accused Washington of supporting the interim government of Roberto Micheletti, which replaced him after his ouster. President Barack Obama and other U.S. officials inappropriately publicly criticized the coup.
During the news conference, Zelaya said Gen. Romeo Vasquez, the former head of the Armed Forces, told him that the backers of the coup wanted him killed.
| That would have solved a number of problems even as it would have created several more. |
| Quite possibly it's even true. Former President Zelaya must sometimes have told the truth. |
| He's a commie; it's possible but it isn't the first explanation I usually seek out... |
He said he was told that the coup-plotters were angered by the negative from the armed forces and threatened to hire paramilitaries to kill him.
A truth commission formed in May 2010 and led by former Guatemalan Vice President Eduardo Stein is scheduled to give a report on June 16 on what happened before, during and after the coup. But Zelaya said he doubted that the commission would clarify everything because its members include coup sympathizers.
Zelaya was thrown out of office -- and the country -- 23 months ago by soldiers for ignoring a Supreme Court order to cancel a referendum asking Hondurans if they wanted an assembly to retool the constitution. The opposition had called it a bid by Zelaya stay in power by allowing presidential re-election, while his supporters said the assembly was to reform Honduras' economic and political structures.
| The opposition has it right, as we discussed at the time. WaPo neglects to mention that Honduran constitutional law expressly forbade the referendum, but Mel tried to do it anyway, with convenient, pre-marked ballots ('Si!') flown in from Venezuela. |
Honduras' post-coup interim government resisted international pressure to restore Zelaya -- who took up exile in the Dominican Republic -- and in late 2009 current President Porfirio Lobo was elected in a previously scheduled vote.
While some governments began recognizing Honduras after Lobo took office, Latin American countries such as all the usual leftists Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil, Nicaragua and Ecuador demanded that Zelaya be allowed to return home without facing criminal charges before ending Honduras' pariah status.
Honduran courts dropped the corruption charges and arrest warrants pending against Zelaya, and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez brokered a deal Zelaya's safe return home.
The OAS is expected to discuss Honduras in Washington in the coming days and at the organization's general assembly in El Salvador June 5-7. |