[HNA] Honduras coup leaders charged; amnesty likely

[Sofia JarrinT]

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Honduras coup leaders charged; amnesty likely
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/01/07/MNRR1BEP85.DTL

Six military officers involved in the ouster of Manuel Zelaya from the
Honduran presidency last year were charged with abuse of power on
Wednesday, but the charges are expected to be dropped as part of a deal
to ease tensions in the country, officials said.

The matter will now go to the Supreme Court, which will decide whether
to pursue a case against Gen. Romeo Vasquez Velasquez, the country's
military chief, and five of his subordinates.

The nation's chief prosecutor, Luis Alberto Rubm, issued arrest
warrants for the officers for forcing Zelaya from the country, still in
his pajamas, aboard a flight to Costa Rica on June 28. The prosecutor
did not question the military's decision to detain Zelaya, which had
been ordered by the courts.

Zelaya's forced departure was widely condemned around the world.
Backers of his ouster, however, contend that Zelaya had broken the law
by pushing for a vote on changing the constitution even though the
Congress and the courts had ruled the referendum illegal. At bottom,
the issue was whether Zelaya was trying to get around the
constitution's limit of a single four-year term for the presidency.
Besides Vasquez, others charged were one of his top aides on the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, Venancio Cervantes; Luis Javier Prince, the air
force commander; Carlos Antonio Cuellar, inspector general; Miguel
Angel Garcia, army commander; and Juan Pablo Rodriguez, navy commander.

The military has acknowledged that it made the decision to force Zelaya
out of the country because of fear that his presence would cause unrest.
The charges against the military commanders are not expected to go
far. Porfirio Lobo, who won a presidential election on Nov. 29 and is
to be inaugurated later this month, has said he supports granting
amnesty both to Zelaya, who has been accused of treason and abuse of
power, and to those who removed him from office. The Honduran Congress
is scheduled to begin debating an amnesty motion next week.

The United States, seeking a diplomatic solution to the long and
bitter standoff, continued pressing this week for the formation of a
temporary unity government and the resignation of Roberto Micheletti,
who became de facto president after Zelaya's ouster. After a meeting in
Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, with Craig Kelly, deputy assistant
secretary of state, Micheletti angrily said that he intended to remain
in office until Lobo's inauguration on Jan. 27.

"Washington should respect the sovereign decisions of our people," he said, according to news agency reports.
Zelaya remains inside the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa with a
small group of supporters. Micheletti has threatened him with arrest if
he steps outside, and talks to have him flown out of the country have
not produced results.

Zelaya dismissed the charges filed against the military brass as a
smokescreen. "It's a trick from prosecutors to charge the army officers
with a minor crime instead of with the grave crimes they committed,"
Zelaya said in a statement, suggesting that the military leaders who
ousted him and later cracked down on his supporters be charged with
treason, murder and human rights violations instead.