Manuel Zelaya

Manuel Zelaya, the president of Honduras ousted in a military-led coup nearly two years ago, returned home from exile Saturday, greeted by a large, heated crowd and a nation still bitterly divided by tension and violence. With Zelaya's return, Honduras hopes to end its political and diplomatic isolation and overcome one of the ugliest periods of recent Central American history. Zelaya pledged to immediately reengage in politics and will probably lead a new party. "This is the moment to declare victory for the democratic process in Latin America," Zelaya proclaimed.

Is Honduras ready for a return to the community of nations? It has been almost two years since the forced removal of then-President Manuel Zelaya at the hands of the Honduran military. On June 1, the Organization of American States said yes, when it lifted the suspension of Honduras from the organization by a vote of 32 countries in favor and one against. Still, the question on everyone's mind remains: Was there a coup d'état in 2009? Perhaps the better question to ask is: How can similar instability be avoided in the future in Honduras and elsewhere in the region?

Deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya jumped behind the wheel of a white Jeep in the Nicaraguan capital of Managua on Thursday and roared north toward the border, launching a second attempt to return home and reclaim power. With negotiations deadlocked, Zelaya said the time had come for him to make his move. He said he hoped to cross into Honduras from northern Nicaragua on Saturday.

Nearly two years after former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was ousted in a military coup, he returned home Saturday. His arrival clears the way for the Organization of American States to reinstate Honduras, which had been expelled from the group, during a special session Wednesday. Zelaya's return and Wednesday's expected OAS vote mean Honduras will no longer be a pariah in the hemisphere, which rightfully condemned the coup. But it would be a mistake to conclude that the crisis in that country is over.

When Bertha Oliva's husband was kidnapped by a death squad during the darkest chapter of Honduran history, she was three months pregnant. She never saw him again. Coming to her defense during that time 28 years ago was Ramon Custodio, a champion of leftists and militants persecuted by a brutal army. The two worked together for years, founding one of the first independent human rights organizations in a country that has slowly shed military rule and attempted to move toward democracy.

Talks to resolve the coup crisis in Honduras collapsed Sunday after the de facto government refused a mediator's proposal to reinstate ousted President Manuel Zelaya. The failure of negotiations under the direction of Costa Rican President Oscar Arias dashed the most promising diplomatic effort aimed at ending the crisis and raised the specter of more violence. "What is the alternative to dialogue?" a disappointed Arias said in San Jose, the Costa Rican capital. "Possibly . . .

Honduras' ousted president and the officials who exiled him have agreed to try to resolve their conflict through a U.S.-endorsed mediator, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced Tuesday. Signaling an expanding U.S. effort, Clinton said the two sides had agreed to talks supervised by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, who was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1987 for his efforts to broker peace accords in Central America.

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya on Tuesday continued to build support for his return home, but the country's de facto rulers said he'd be arrested the minute he set foot on national territory. As Zelaya addressed a supportive United Nations audience in New York, Hondurans in Tegucigalpa were demonstrating against and, in smaller numbers, in favor of the deposed leftist leader. Zelaya was flown to exile in Costa Rica early Sunday after soldiers removed him from his home. Honduran Atty.

Manuel Zelaya was inaugurated as Honduras' president with promises to fight corruption and help criminals and gang members become useful citizens. Zelaya, a wealthy agricultural landowner, has railed against alleged government corruption and promised to do more for Hondurans with few resources. Zelaya, 56, replaces Ricardo Maduro, who led a government crackdown that threw thousands of gang members into overcrowded jails.

Honduras' interim government ordered Venezuelan diplomats to leave the country as the international community threatened new sanctions on the Central American nation if negotiations fail to resolve the crisis following the overthrow of the president. Venezuelan Embassy Charge d'Affaires Ariel Vargas said he received a letter from the Honduran Foreign Ministry ordering his diplomats to leave in 72 hours. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been the most vociferous critic of the government that overthrew his ally, Manuel Zelaya, on June 28. The interim government accused Venezuela of meddling in Honduran affairs and of threatening to use its armed forces against Honduras, according to a copy of the letter obtained by the Associated Press.

Manuel Zelaya, the president of Honduras ousted in a military-led coup nearly two years ago, returned home from exile Saturday, greeted by a large, heated crowd and a nation still bitterly divided by tension and violence. With Zelaya's return, Honduras hopes to end its political and diplomatic isolation and overcome one of the ugliest periods of recent Central American history. Zelaya pledged to immediately reengage in politics and will probably lead a new party. "This is the moment to declare victory for the democratic process in Latin America," Zelaya proclaimed.

As a new Honduran president took office Wednesday, former leader Manuel Zelaya flew into exile in the Dominican Republic under a deal that ends months of turmoil since his ouster by the military last summer. Zelaya, accompanied by his wife, two children and President Leonel Fernandez of the Dominican Republic, left Honduras just hours after Porfirio Lobo was sworn in as president. Under an arrangement brokered last week by Fernandez, Zelaya agreed to abandon the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, where he had holed up in September, and to leave the country once his term officially ended.

Reporting from Mexico City and Tegucigalpa, Honduras -- Hondurans voted Sunday for a new president, many hoping that despite the questions surrounding the election they could restore legitimacy to their national government five months after a military-backed coup ousted President Manuel Zelaya. Official results late Sunday gave an insurmountable lead to Porfirio Lobo, a wealthy businessman from Honduras' political elite and candidate of the conservative National Party. His closest opponent conceded defeat.

Hondurans are voting today in a presidential election that many hoped would restore legitimacy to their national government five months after a military-backed coup ousted President Manuel Zelaya. But Zelaya and his supporters branded the vote illegal and called for a boycott. Streets here in the capital, Tegucigalpa, were calm through the morning. Voting stations reported varying degrees of attendance, so it was difficult early to determine the turnout. Army patrols were seen in some poorer neighborhoods, where support for Zelaya is strongest.

Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, ousted in a military-backed coup four months ago, said today that a U.S.-brokered deal to end his nation's political crisis has collapsed. Zelaya pronounced the week-old agreement a "dead letter" after de facto rulers formed a new "reconciliation government" without Zelaya's participation, as the deal had required. "The accord is a dead letter," Zelaya said on a Honduran radio station. "There is no sense in continuing to fool the Honduran people."

The Obama administration last week brokered what looked like a promising deal to end the political crisis in Honduras. Sadly, this week it already is fraying. The de facto leaders of Honduras are foot-dragging, prompting President Manuel Zelaya, whom they ousted in a civilian-military coup four months ago, to issue an ultimatum from his refuge in the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital. Both sides need to stand down and focus on restoring democracy before the country's Nov. 29 presidential election.

Leaders of a bloc of leftist Latin American and Caribbean governments urged the international community Saturday to reject the presidential election planned by Honduras' interim government next month. The leaders of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas group also denounced Colombia's plan to give the U.S. military expanded use of bases in that South American nation, calling it a threat to the region's security. In a joint statement issued at the end of the two-day ALBA meeting, the leaders criticized the coup-installed government in Honduras and urged the world's nations to continue pressing for the reinstatement of ousted President Manuel Zelaya.

Backers of the coup against Manuel Zelaya made progress Wednesday in negotiations with representatives of the ousted Honduran president, but the key point, Zelaya's reinstatement, remained unresolved. Victor Meza, negotiating on Zelaya's behalf, said delegations representing the two factions had agreed on wording regarding that sticking point. But later, the de facto government of Roberto Micheletti, who replaced Zelaya, said no agreement had been reached. "The dialogue on this point has been cordial and both sides have made important advances," said a statement from the delegation representing Micheletti, according to news reports.

After months of resistance, the de facto government of Honduras relented today and agreed to a deal to restore deposed President Manuel Zelaya to power. "This is a triumph for Honduran democracy," Zelaya, ousted in a military-backed coup on June 28, said from the Brazilian Embassy in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa. Zelaya was deported in the coup but sneaked back into the country on Sept. 21 and took refuge in the diplomatic mission. The breakthrough came when the coup-installed government succumbed to U.S. pressure.

Representatives of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and the de facto government that replaced him in a coup returned to negotiations Monday, but the two sides remained deadlocked over whether to return Zelaya to power. Both delegations had suggested Monday as a deadline for resolving the dispute, or calling off talks altogether. De facto President Roberto Micheletti abruptly announced Friday that the Supreme Court was the body that should decide whether to reinstate Zelaya.