Tegucigalpa - The Organization of American States (OAS) has reiterated its support to Honduras' ousted president Manuel Zelaya, while the de facto government is vowing to organize elections even if they do not have the approval of the international community, media reported Thursday. An OAS delegation comprising several foreign ministers and OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza met Zelaya on Wednesday at the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, where he took refuge on returning from exile on September 21.
The foreign ministers reiterated their backing to Zelaya, whom the international community wants to see reinstated as president, Zelaya aide Rassel Tome said.
Zelaya was sent into exile to Costa Rica after being toppled in a June 28 coup.
The OAS delegation also met de facto President Roberto Micheletti, who told it the elections planned for November 29 would go ahead unless Honduras was "attacked" or "invaded."
"There is no other way to prevent the elections," Micheletti said.
Zelaya meanwhile issued a communique demanding that he be reinstated as president by October 15 or he would not recognize the elections.
"I am a solution, I am not a problem," Zelaya told the radio station HRN.
The OAS delegation was helping to launch talks between the representatives of Zelaya and of the facto government. Insulza urged both parties to negotiate "without hidden intentions" and to look for "concrete solutions" to the crisis.
The talks started Wednesday two hours behind schedule, mainly because of the late arrival of Zelaya representatives who complained that they had had difficulties in moving around freely and in remaining in contact with the ousted president.
De facto Foreign Minister Carlos Lopez Contreras criticized the international community for having suspended an estimated 400 million dollars in aid to Honduras, saying the measure affected the poorest segment of the population.
Lopez Contreras also urged Brazil to disarm people who were guarding Zelaya at the embassy. Press columnists have said that Venezuelan guards have been checking people who came to see the ousted president.
The OAS and the United States called for a rapid solution to the crisis, given that the election date was drawing close.
Conditions for successful talks included improving Zelaya's living conditions inside the embassy, reopening media which supported him, and suspending violent protests, Insulza said.
In Washington, US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said that "time is running out" and that the US would not recognize the planned elections in the current circumstances.
The OAS delegation headed by Insulza included the foreign ministers of Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico and Panama.
Micheletti, who was named leader under succession rules after the coup, wants Zelaya to face court charges for attempting to force a referendum on changes to the constitution, against the opposition of parliament and the country's Supreme Court.
