But in a sudden reversal, Micheletti said yesterday afternoon that he wanted to “ask the Honduran people for forgiveness’’ for the measures and said he would lift them in accordance with demands from the same Congress that installed him after a June 28 coup. He said he would discuss lifting the measures with court officials “as soon as possible,’’ adding: “By the end of this week we’ll have this resolved.’’
He also repeated his pledge not to attack the Brazilian Embassy, where Zelaya has been holed up with 60 supporters since sneaking back into the country on Sept. 21. He even sent “a big hug’’ to Brazil’s president, a day after giving him a 10-day ultimatum to expel Zelaya or move him to Brazil.
The increasingly authoritarian measures by the government had prompted international condemnation, though the US representative to the Organization of American States also had harsh words for Zelaya, calling his return to Honduras “irresponsible and foolish.’’
The Micheletti government says Zelaya supporters are planning a violent insurrection. So far, protests have seen little bloodshed - the government says three people have been killed since the coup, while protesters put the number at 10. Protest leader Juan Barahona said that could change.
“This mass movement is peaceful, but to the extent they repress us, fence us in and make this method useless, we have to find some other form of struggle,’’ he said.
Micheletti made clear that even if the emergency measures are lifted, “that doesn’t mean the police are going back to barracks.’’
Yesterday’s march drew hundreds of people, many of whom covered their mouths with tape to protest censorship. Protest leaders insisted that thousands more were trying to join but were stopped from leaving poorer neighborhoods or from traveling from the countryside.
“There is brutal repression against the people,’’ Zelaya told the Associated Press in a telephone interview yesterday.
The emergency decree issued Sunday bans unauthorized gatherings and lets police arrest people without warrants, rights guaranteed in the Honduran Constitution. It also allows authorities to shut news media for “statements that attack peace and the public order, or which offend the human dignity of public officials, or attack the law.’’
The increasingly authoritarian actions by the interim government signaled a shift in strategy after appealing for foreign support and arguing it ousted Zelaya to preserve democracy.
Zelaya supporters noted that the emergency decree effectively outlawed any campaigning until two weeks before election day on Nov. 29.
“If they can’t campaign . . . what happens then to the electoral solution?’’ asked protest leader Rafael Alegria.
