Micheletti puts a hold on the "government of unity"

In the latest twist in this bizarre story, Telesur reports that Roberto Micheletti has declared a "compás de espera" (waiting period) before installing the "unity" government he is unilaterally putting into place.

According to the report,

Micheletti communicated on radio and television that once the time period expires and if there have not arrived the proposed candidates of Zelaya to integrate the union, he will take the decision to run it.

The communique from the de facto regime is quoted as saying

Giving space again for reflection to Señor Zelaya, president Micheletti today (Friday) ratified his availability to recognize that a waiting period during this weekend is important to succeed in concretizing the Government of unity and reconciliation.

This is of course not good news; it presumes that Micheletti has the right to organize the government; it lends him cover in the face of the ambiguous US State Department position, as he seems to be saying he is willing to listen to President Zelaya; and it reinstates the same trap on Zelaya, who will be portrayed as blocking progress if he declines to provide names, but who can only subordinate himself to Micheletti under this one-sided model of forming a multilateral unity government.

That interpretation of the intentions of Micheletti is borne out in the de facto government's communique, which goes on to say:

Zelaya attributed the failure to participate in the Government of unity and reconciliation as his excuse to declare the Accord a failure and to abandon its fulfillment when he himself was the one that refused to cooperate.

The blame for this situation lies more with the international community than with the de facto regime, which took actions that are entirely predictable. Micheletti apparently is relishing this, adding to the communique that he is implementing the accord "point by point, letter by letter".

But at least the latest Micheletti spin opens a space between his declaration last night that he had already composed the government, and what one would hope will happen next, which is that someone in the international community or on the Verification Commission will explain to him what "unity" and "national reconciliation" actually mean. The Telesur report indicates that the Unión de Naciones Suramericanas (Unasur) may be trying to do just that, condemning "the violation of the political accords in Honduras on the part of the president de facto of this country, Roberto Micheletti" and reiterating its support for President Zelaya by pointing out that "his restitution is a central element of the signed accord".

It was the international community that not only so weakened the call for restoral that it doesn't even contain President Zelaya's name; but also let it be listed as point number 5. In the absence of a clear statement that says otherwise, Micheletti can claim-- and is claiming-- that the formation of the national unity government comes before consideration by Congress of restoring the Executive Power.

And in this communique he apparently again makes clear that what he told Hilda Solis and Ricardo Lagos about his own continuation in government was either misleading or at the very least, incomplete, declaring his "willingness to step aside" only on the condition that President Zelaya "renounce his intention to be restored".