Washington - The United States is planning to send envoys to Honduras this week to press the de facto government there to move to end the ongoing political crisis, The New York Times reported Tuesday. According to the US daily, this would be the first time since the Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was ousted on June 28 that Washington has taken a leading role in pressuring the leaders of the de facto government to restore democratic order.
The report - which cites State Department sources - says the decision to send unnamed envoys to Tegucigalpa was made in the wake of telephone conversations Friday between US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Zelaya, on the one hand, and de facto Honduran leader Roberto Micheletti, on the other.
Clinton reportedly told them both that there is "increasing frustration" in the United States and across Latin America over "the deteriorating situation" in Honduras.
Clinton is said to have "reserved her toughest comments" for Micheletti, because the United States believes he has been "the most difficult," according to The New York Times.
"During the call, (Micheletti) spent a lot of time talking about the past," the newspaper quoted a State Department official as saying. "She wanted to talk about the future."
The conversation with Micheletti reportedly lasted more than half- an-hour.
"The purpose was to remind him there were two pathways to the elections," the official was quoted as saying. "One where Honduras goes by itself and the other where it goes with broad support from the international community."
The presidential election of November 29 had been scheduled before Zelaya's ouster. However, Zelaya and the international community - which does not recognize the government set up after the coup - have rejected the election since it is being carried under what they see as illegitimate conditions.
The international community demands Zelaya's reinstatement as a necessary, non-negotiable precondition for any further developments in Honduras.
