Honduras: Finally Talking About Talking

Today is Sunday. Democratically elected, legal President Manual Zelaya of Honduras remains in sanctuary in the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa. And the military golpistas remain in control of the Government. But today there is the tentative news of a beginning of negotiations finally to end the coup. The end of the crisis and the restoration of normalcy can't come soon enough for the people of Honduras.

AP reports that talks between the two sides have actually begun:

Interim President Roberto Micheletti told reporters that a dialogue is "beginning" between his supporters and those of President Manuel Zelaya...

"We are having talks with different sectors officially, with people from Mr. Zelaya's side and with others," Micheletti said Friday outside the presidential palace, hours after meeting with a delegation of four Republican members of the U.S. Congress.

Jim DeMint (Golpista S.C.) is spinning the possible start of talks as if it were the result of his controversial visit to Micheletti in Tegucigalpa.

And BBC is reporting that

Aides to Manuel Zelaya and interim President Roberto Micheletti will reportedly meet next week.

The talks would precede a visit by the Organisation of American States aimed at brokering a deal, the OAS says.

There have been unsuccessful efforts to have talks since the June coup. Costa Rican President Oscar Arias was to mediate them. The two sides never met; the proposed mediation collapsed.

In the meanwhile, the decree suspending civil liberties remains in effect, although Micheletti says it will be lifted "within days." Zelaya supporters remain skeptical about this. And Radio Globo is still off the air, the golpistas having seized its transmitters, though it is still broadcasting via the Internet.

There remain many reasons to end the coup quickly. First, the disruption of Honduras's economy has been disastrous. Poor people in Honduras have been unable to work because of curfews. And businesses generally have been disrupted. The impact of the curfew and the inability to work has been felt most by poor people, who have to work daily to feed themselves.

Second, the Presidential Election in Honduras is set for November 29. And the OAS and others, including the USM, have made it clear that the results of the election will not be accepted if the coup remains in power on the date of the election.

Third, the World Cup qualifying match between Honduras and the United States is scheduled for San Pedro Sula on October 10. There was a question whether FIFA, futbol's governing body, would permit the game to be played amid civil unrest in Honduras, but the game is not going to be moved unless the situation deteriorates. Moving the game will enrage both sides of the controversy in Honduras.

Both sides are finally talking about talking. There is little the US, the OAS, the UN, Honduras's neighbors can do that they have not already done to speed the removal of the golpistas and the restoration of Zelaya to the presidency. The terms under which this will be carried out are going to be important, and they'll be a measure of the degree to which pro-democracy nations stick to their expressed demands that the coup must leave and that Zelaya must be restored.