Honduras News by In-Honduras.com

Thomas A. Shannon Jr., Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs, stated yesterday, that the agreement signed in Honduras by both parties representing Manuel Zelaya Rosales and Roberto Micheletti states that the decision made by Congress must be respected by both sides.

Shannon reiterated that the United States and the International community will also respect the decision made by the Honduran Congress, whether it be positive or negative regarding reinstating Manuel Zelaya Rosales as president of Honduras.

He made it clear that the they (US and international community) recognize the Honduran Congress will make a decision on when and if Zelaya should return to power. It is a political matter that has to be resolved politically and Congress is the appointed branch of government to make that decision. Both sides have committed themselves to respect the results of that decision and emphasized that there are two options, yes or no on Zelayas return, and not one as Zelaya followers have tried to force on the media.

The Honduran Congress is currently on recess and efforts are being made to meet and review the Guaymura accord.

Honduras’ 8 Point Accord, Zelaya in Hands of Congress

The accord ex president Zelaya’s and president Micheletti’s sides will sign tonight, contemplates Zelaya’s restitution will be considered by the Honduran Congress after consultation with the Honduran Supreme Court.

The agreement is comprised of 8 points which are:
1. Creation of a unity and reconciliation government.
2. No political amnesty for either side even though Micheletti offered it to Zelaya.
3. Recognition of the elections to be held on November 29, 2009.
4. Transfer of authority over the Honduran Armed Forces to the Electoral Supreme Tribunal.
5. Creation of a verification commission to uphold all points of this accord.
6. Creation of a Commission of Truth that will investigate the events before, during and after June 28th when Zelaya was removed from office.
7. Ask the international community to remove all sanctions against Honduras and send international observers to the November elections.
8. Regarding the possible restitution of Mr. Zelaya, let the Honduran National Congressn decide, after receiving the Supreme Court’s opinion, to return the executive branch to its status before June 28, 2009.

If both sides sign the agreement tonight, it will have to be followed thoroughly and the results accepted without hesitation by both parties.

Las night, the Honduran Congress finally elected the new 15 justices that will conform the Supreme Court.

Current law states that a Nominating Committee will evaluate all candidates in public forums. This process is to guarantee the nominees meet moral and knowledge standards. Any nominees that have performed questionable acts in their past (corruption in any form, family abuse, etc) will not be selected.

There was tension during the weekend as Mel Zelaya and some of his ministers like Aristides Mejia pressured to have one of the current justices reelected and threatened to break Constitutional order (coup). Civilian society had been on watch and said they would not accept a presidential imposition.

Congress finally made their selection from the 45 nominees selected by the Nominating Committee.

In the end Roberto Michelleti Bain, in a statement that goes against the public requests for transparency, said the process should not be held in public and that past actions of the nominees should not be evaluated. 

 The new justices are:

1.-Jorge Alberto Rivera Avilés
2.-José Tomás Arita Valle
3-Rosalinda Cruz Sequeira
4-Raúl Enrique Interiano
5-Víctor Manuel Martínez Silva
6-Jorge Reyes Díaz
7-Rosa de Lourdes Paz
8.- José Francisco Ruiz Gaekel
9.- Oscar Fernando Chinchilla
10-José Antonio Gutiérrez navas
11-Jacobo Cálix Hernández
12- Carlos David Cálix Vallecillo
13.-Marco Vinicio Zúniga Medrano
14.-Gustavo Enrique Palma Bustillo
15-Edith María López Rivera