TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS, AND MEXICO CITY — The meeting, by all accounts, was tense and difficult. Whether it erupted in shouted insults remains a matter of dispute. On one issue, everyone agreed: Something must be done to ease the political crisis engulfing Honduras.
U.S. Ambassador to Honduras Hugo Llorens and the diplomat representing the Organization of American States, John Biehl, got an earful from Honduran business leaders and senior politicians. And they gave back some of what they got, according to several participants.
But two significant themes emerged from the secret session at Llorens' residence on Sunday, themes that have the potential to finally ease the deepening political crisis that has divided and isolated Honduras and vexed Washington and other regional powers:
Key backers of the coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya three months ago have begun to temper their support for the de facto government they helped to install. And some even mention a concession until now taboo. They might agree to allow Zelaya to be reinstated and finish his term due to expire in January.
Whether a result of angst over the economic damage caused by international sanctions against Honduras, or more simply a product of exhaustion, these shifts were cemented when de facto President Roberto Micheletti on Sunday suspended civil liberties in a crackdown on opposition press and the public's right to congregate and move about freely. (Micheletti backed down 24 hours later amid cries of outrage from his closest allies.)
The businessmen and politicians who met with Llorens and Biehl spoke of an almost visceral fear of Zelaya and the ways he tried to change the country they had so long dominated, an unwanted push in their view toward socialism. The diplomats, according to participants, repeatedly reassured them that Zelaya's authority would be strictly limited if he is reinstated, under the terms of the so-called San Jose Accord, brokered by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias in July.
"If the accord in fact limits any abuse of power, or political persecution, upon Mr. Zelaya's reinstatement, [then] along those lines we can reach agreement," a former Honduran president who attended the meeting said Tuesday. He asked not to be identified because of the sensitivities of ongoing discussions.
"The international community [condemning the coup] has been unfair with us, but that pressure from the international community is what has pushed us to seek a solution," the former president added.
