Managua/Tegucigalpa - The designated leader of Honduras urged US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to mediate a solution to the political crisis in the country as she was to meet with its ousted president on Tuesday. Roberto Micheletti, the former speaker of Congress who took power following a June 28 military coup, said he backed Clinton's attempt to find a peaceful solution to the crisis consistent with Honduran security and sovereignty.
Manuel Zelaya, who was removed from power and flown out of the country, was to meet with Clinton at the State Department. Before flying to the United States, Zelaya said in Managua late Monday that he expected to get "clear and solid" support from Clinton in his effort to resume the presidency.
Honduran authorities have refused to allow him to return to the country despite international pressure - including from the United States - and a decision Sunday by the Organization of American States (OAS) to suspend Honduran participation.
Zelaya said Washington was obliged to support OAS and UN General Assembly resolutions that call for his "immediate reinstatement to the presidency" of the Central American country.
Zelaya said OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza would be accompanying him to the meeting with Clinton, in which the ousted president plans to bring up the "historic resolutions by the OAS and the UN, which for the first time condemn a coup d'etat."
"This coup-perpetrating government is isolated, it has few hours left. I shall return because the system of coups and the return (to power) of the military through coups d'etat cannot be perpetuated," Zelaya said.
The United States has refused to recognize the new Honduran government and has demanded Zelaya be returned to power. Some US aid to the country has been placed on hold.
Zelaya's opponents in Honduras insist he was violating laws in an attempt to hold onto power and he remains deeply unpopular, although hundreds of supporters took to the streets over the weekend.
Zelaya "must be held accountable for his violations of the constitution and other illegal actions," Micheletti said.
Micheletti noted that the Honduran Supreme Court, the Congress and the public prosecutor's office all ruled against Zelaya's call for a constituent assembly to amend the constitution. Zelaya wanted changes that would allow him to seek a second term, a move critics saw as a power grab.
The new Honduran government has sent a delegation to Washington to makes its case. Micheletti says there was no coup in Honduras, but a regular transfer of power in line with the constitution after Zelaya was deposed by Congress.
