That proposal is certain to anger the interim government, which views the elections, scheduled before Zelaya’s June 28 removal, as the best hope of moving past the crisis.
Insulza presented a proposed agreement that would restore Zelaya as head of a unity government and offer amnesty to both the coup leaders and the deposed president, who faces abuse of power and other charges stemming from his defiance of a court order that he drop a referendum on changing the constitution.
The proposal, which also requires Zelaya to abandon any ambitions to change the constitution, is similar to one proposed months ago by President Oscar Arias of Costa Rica and rejected by the interim government.
Delegates from the United States, Canada, and eight Latin American countries were mediating negotiations between representatives of Zelaya and the interim president, Roberto Micheletti, who has the support of Honduras’s Congress and Supreme Court but has faced intense international pressure to allow his predecessor’s return.
Canada’s minister of state for the Americas, Peter Kent, said it was imperative for an deal to be reached before the November elections, which many countries in the Americas have warned would not be recognized if Zelaya remains out of the power.
“I sense that everybody involved understands that we are nearly out of time and this crisis needs to be resolved now,’’ Kent said.
The interim vice president, Marta Lorena Alvarado, however, said she did not expect an agreement yesterday.
