Responses to the Coup d'etat in Honduras on Sunday June 28, with special emphasis on producing English-language versions of commentaries by Honduran scholars and editorial writers and addressing the confusion encouraged by lack of basic knowledge about Honduras.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Visit to Embassy

Both El Heraldo and La Tribuna report that Raul Valledares, an advisor to Zelaya, and Arturo Corrales, one of Michiletti's negotiators, arrived at and entered the Brazilian Embassy without speaking to the press.

Update 4;35 PM PDT: Corrales gave statements to the press on leaving. He said he and Zelaya exchanged points of view on how to resolove the situation. He said the meeting, which lasted for a little more than an hour, was at the invitation of Zelaya.

"We exchanged information about what had happened during the dialogue; he asked me questions, he took positions, I took positions, in the honduran fashion, very friendly, very open, forward looking."

Victor Meza, head of the Zelaya negotiating team said he knew nothing about the meeting but he considered it valid. "The dialog is stagnant; but can be unstuck by an intelligent proposal." Meza said he was in favor of anything that was constructive, but that he couldn't accept jokes like the proposal on Friday. "That we should accept that there was no coup! My God! we're not so foolish as to accept that."

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

The State Department briefing had a question from a reporter in which s/he asked about members of the Electoral Tribunal in Washington.

Ian Kelly said he knew nothing about it.

RNS said...

Given the press releases about the visit put out last week by the Republican House members, it must be a willful "I know nothing about it".

Its simply not credible that he was not briefed about it by someone, since that would be incompetence by the State Department.

Nell said...

Charles has the actual wording at his site. Kelly doesn't say he knows nothing about the visit, but when asked if the visiting election tribunal members will meet with anyone at State, says he doesn't know of any plans.

More defensible, not showing hard-to-swallow levels of ignorance, but on the other hand well short of a definite "No."

Pete said...

The actual question asked was:

"...several people from the Honduran electoral tribunal are going to be in town this week. Are they meeting with anybody at the State Department?

And the answer:

MR. KELLY: Oh, I’m not aware that they are.

Slightly different than reported above!

Anonymous said...

Look, Pete: any imprecision in characterizing the exchange was my fault. As Nell says, the exact language is on my site, which anyone can find by clicking the website above my post. Or by looking on the State Dept. website.

Kelly's response is surprising. He is asked whether a delegation from a dictatorship which State has disavowed and is gradually suspending the travel privileges of will meet with State and he says he doesn't know.

As RNS said to my poorly-phrased description of the exchange: "Its simply not credible that he was not briefed about it by someone, since that would be incompetence by the State Department."

Except that I would say that incompetence by the State Department is extremely credible.

--Charles