Stockholm - Honduras coup leader Roberto Micheletti should step down immediately in return for an amnesty, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Tuesday. "For us the solution will be easy if those that participated in the coup leave power and allow the legitimately elected president to take power," Lula told journalists at a summit with European Union leaders in Stockholm.
If Micheletti "leaves and allows (ousted president Manuel) Zelaya to call elections there will be an amnesty, because we want Honduras to live well," he said.
Micheletti took power in a coup on June 28.
Zelaya is currently in hiding in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, while Micheletti's regime is coming under increasing international pressure with the impending arrival of a high-level mission from the Organization of American States.
But Lula stressed that Honduras could solve the problem instantly if the coup leaders returned Zelaya to power.
"There is only one thing wrong in Honduras, there's someone in the presidency that shouldnt be there," he said.
At the summit, Lula, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, current holder of the EU's rotating presidency, issued a joint statement condemning Micheletti's takeover.
"The EU and Brazil condemn the violation of the constitutional order in Honduras and reaffirm their deep concern over the ongoing political crisis in that country," the statement said.
The two sides "call on the actors involved, in particular the de facto government, to work in order to find a rapid and peaceful negotiated solution to the current situation," it said.
And they also warned Micheletti's supporters not to attack the Brazilian embassy, urging them to guarantee "the inviolability of the Embassy of Brazil in Tegucigalpa and respect the physical integrity of President Zelaya, his family and members of his Government."
