Costa Rica President Arias mediates Honduras rivals

The hoped for face-to-face meeting in Costa Rica between ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya and the man who replaced him, Roberto Micheletti, didn't take place. The men held separate, closed-door meetings with Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, who is mediating efforts to end the standoff over a June 28 coup that drew worldwide condemnation and presented the Obama administration with one of its biggest tests in Latin America.

“We have no illusions, this may take longer than what was imagined,” said Arias, who won the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize for helping Central Americans resolve their civil wars.

Micheletti and Zelaya, who were once friends and political allies, had staked out hardline positions ahead of the talks. The ousted leader said he was in San Jose only to arrange his return to power. Honduras' interim leader, in turn, insisted that Zelaya's reinstatement was not negotiable.

Little appeared to change Thursday.

Zelaya was the first to arrive for the talks in Arias' home in Costa Rica's capital. As he headed back to his hotel, the leftist rancher called for “the reestablishment of the state of law, democracy and the return of the president elected by the Honduran people.”

Micheletti arrived shortly afterward and met with Arias for almost three hours. On emerging, he only said that he was “satisfied” with the meeting and was returning to Honduras. He named four officials who will represent him in future negotiations and said presidential elections in Honduras would be held in November as planned.

On arriving back in Tegucigalpa, Micheletti told reporters that the main point argued by Zelaya's supporters was that the toppled leader return to Honduras as president.

“We are in agreement with his return here — but to be sent directly to the courts,” Micheletti said, referring to the 18 charges against Zelaya in Honduras, including treason and usurping public functions. Interim leaders say the coup was legal because the Supreme Court ruled that Zelaya's push for a referendum on constitutional change violated the charter.

Offering some hope for future talks, Micheletti said he would return to San Jose for talks “if it is necessary.”

Arias had hoped to bring the rivals together for their first direct meeting since the coup, but that was not to be.

“Each one put as a condition that the other not be there, that it wasn't the moment to meet,” said Costa Rican Information Minister Mayi Antillon.

Antillon said commissions named by Zelaya and Micheletti had already begun talks Thursday afternoon.

“At this time, they are exchanging ideas ... it is a basic process but both delegations are sitting at the same table,” she said.

Costa Rica's president said any resolution to the dispute must included Zelaya's reinstatement as president.

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