Agreement clears way for ousted Honduran president to return home

May 23, 2011, 3:39 GMT

Bogota - Honduran President Porfirio Lobo promised his ousted predecessor Manuel Zelaya a safe return from exile, thereby clearing the way for his country to rejoin the Organization of American States (OAS).

The two men signed an agreement Sunday in Cartagena, Colombia, two years after Zelaya was expelled from his Central American country in a coup.

'Return to your home,' Lobo told Zelaya as the former adversaries shook hands.

The pact assures Zelaya of 'full recognition of his rights ... in regards to his security and his freedom' and allows him and his supporters to participate in politics.

Officials from the countries who mediated also signed the agreement: for Colombia, President Juan Manuel Santos, and for Venezuela, Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro.

Santos said it would allow Honduras to immediately return to the OAS, from which it was expelled after Zelaya was ousted in June 2009 by an alliance that included military officers and conservative politicians, including those from Zelaya's party.

OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza welcomed the agreement, and the regional organization said its Permanent Council on Monday would determine the date on which Honduras would re-establish its membership.

Other countries had made Zelaya's return to Honduras a condition for normalizing relations while the former president asserted that the coup leaders intended to put him behind bars if he returned.

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