Ousted Honduran president calls UN for help by mobile phone security measures

Sep 29, 2009, 4:04 GMT

   Tegucigalpa, Honduras/New York - Ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya on Monday issued a plea for help to the UN General Assembly, saying his country has turned into a dictatorship, as the de-facto government backed down on tough security measures faced with parliamentary opposition.

   During the UN General Assembly's debate session, Patricia Rodas, who served as foreign minister in Zelaya's government, took the floor and, holding her mobile phone to the microphone, provided Zelaya with an opportunity to address the international community.

   'Honduras is subjected to fascist rule which is suppressing the rights of the people,' Zelaya said, calling on the UN to help to 'reverse this coup d'etat.'

   The de-facto government of Roberto Micheletti, formed after a June 28 coup that ousted Zelaya, is backing down on curbs on civil liberties following resistance by the Honduran Congress against an executive decree allowing a crackdown on protests.

   The Honduran Congress vowed to overturn Sunday's decree which authorized police to disperse public demonstrations, banned speech violating 'peace, public order or offending human dignity' and allowed the state telecommunications agency to suspend radio and television broadcasters.

   Micheletti, in a televised news conference Monday evening, said he would ask the Supreme Court to lift the decree as quickly as possible and asked the Honduran people for forgiveness.

A November 29 presidential election had been set before Zelaya's ouster and is still scheduled, though the international community and Zelaya have both declared it illegitimate.

Brazil stressed Monday that Zelaya will be able to stay inside the country's embassy compound in Tegucigalpa as long as necessary. Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said Brazil was 'protecting' the democratically elected and legitimate president of Honduras.

Zelaya slipped into Honduras on September 21 and took refuge in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, where he remains.

The ousted president had urged supporters to march on Monday - three months since the leftist was seized by the military and sent into exile - to the capital in a 'final offensive' to restore his elected government.

   The international community has refused to recognize the government and has demanded Zelaya's reinstatement. The Organization of American States (OAS) suspended Honduras' membership this summer.

   The post-coup government's attempt to suspend constitutional rights is a move in 'the absolute opposite direction' from a path leading to normalization of relations for Honduras, OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza said during a special session of the OAS Permanent Council Monday in Washington to debate the Honduran situation.

   Insulza said it was 'not possible to reconcile' curtailed civil liberties with a democratic election.

   At the OAS, US authorities described Zelaya's return a week ago to Honduras without an agreement as 'irresponsible.'

   Carlos Lopez Contreras, Micheletti's foreign minister, said Honduras had issued Brazil a 10-day deadline to grant Zelaya asylum or hand him over to the Honduran government, which has accused him of crimes in office.

Zelaya was ousted over efforts to amend the constitution to allow him to run for another term in office, which the Honduran Supreme Court declared illegal.