2009-09-23 12:48:01  

    By Alejandra del Palacio

    MEXICO CITY, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) --

The de facto Honduran government denied on Tuesday that police would raid the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa to arrest ousted President Manuel Zelaya.

    "I publicly tell Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva: We are going to respect your embassy, because that is Brazil's land, and we are going to respect it, as long as they answer our petitions," Micheletti said during a meeting with different sectors of the government.

    On Tuesday, 143 people were detained and 18 others injured when police and soldiers cleared away Zelaya's supporters from the front of the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, where was Zelaya staying.

    "There are more than 140 detainees, including three minors. The police's actions were legal and did not violate human rights," police spokesman Daniel Molina said.

    Police and soldiers set up a ring of security around the Brazilian embassy after clearing away the protesters, leaving Zelaya trapped inside.

    Brazilian President Lula said the integrity of the Brazilian embassy in Honduras must be respected.

    He also warned the Honduran government against taking any actions against the embassy, which is considered to be on Brazilian soil. However, he also asked Zelaya not to provoke the current administration into taking action.

    Brazil granted refuge to Zelaya as any other government would have done, Lula said.

    Staying inside the embassy, Zelaya managed to avoid an arrest warrant issued against him by the interim government, which ousted him from the presidency in a June 28 political-military coup.

    Micheletti urged Brazil to turn Zelaya over to Honduran authorities for trial or grant him asylum.

    He also announced Tuesday that he was ready to assemble a work team to start a dialogue aimed at ending the crisis." I make a call to the entire world: We are ready for dialogue," Micheletti told reporters after a meeting with businessmen.

    The work team would include sectors of the Honduran civil society and impartial foreign diplomats, Micheletti announced.

    "We will set up the commission without the people who formed them before," he added, noting that on Tuesday noon he would announce the names of the people to be part of the new commission.

    He expected the participation of "serious and responsible organizations with which he had not had ties before" and "someone impartial from the United Nations to come to listen to the position of the Honduran people."

    Staying in the embassy, Zelaya said he was not afraid of the Honduran police to arrest him.

    "I do not have any fear; we are not afraid," Zelaya told local media.

    INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY VOICES AGAINST VIOLENCE IN HONDURAS

    The European Union on Tuesday asked Micheletti and Zelaya to abstain from "any action which could increase the tension and violence in the country." Also, it stressed "the importance to reach a negotiated solution" to the political conflict.

    European Commissioner of Foreign Affairs Benita Ferrero-Waldner said, "now more than ever, it is imperative that Zelaya and Micheletti, the legislative and executive powers, as well as the presidential candidates of the country, unite their efforts in favor of an agreed solution."

    Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero urged the de facto government to respect Zelaya's physical integrity and the Brazilian embassy.

    France also asked Micheletti to "guarantee the security" of Zelaya and urged him to sign the San Jose Agreement, proposed by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias. The agreement stipulates that Zelaya be allowed back into the country to form a government of national unity, to end the political crisis and to restore the democratic order in Honduras.

    President of the Organization of American States (OAS) Permanent Council Pedro Oyarce condemned the violent events on Tuesday morning at the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa.

    He asked the de facto authorities "to respect human rights of all the Honduran citizens, full guaranties for Zelaya and the Brazilian diplomatic representation."

    Paraguay's President Fernando Lugo demanded "respect to the physical integrity of the constitutional President Zelaya" and guarantees "for the freedom of speech of the citizens and the right to mobilize."

    Chile's Foreign Ministry also urged the de facto authorities to protect Zelaya's life and physical integrity, and called on the involved parties to be calm and appease violence in the country.

    "We ask, in the same way, the restitution of President Zelaya," the Chilean Foreign Ministry added.

    Non-governmental organizations from Guatemala requested Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom to ask the UN Security Council to stop "the grave situation" in Honduras.

Editor: Xiong Tong