|
 Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, president of Brazil, once again reiterated that the Honduras's interim government is illegitimate, and called for de facto president Roberto Micheletti and his administration to step down.
Speaking to reporters in Stockholm, Sweden, the Brazilian president said the crisis in Honduras would be solved if the leaders of the June 28 coup simply left office and returned democratically-elected president Manuel Zelaya to office.
"For us the solution in Honduras is quite simple: those who participated in the coup should leave office and allow the return of President Zelaya so that elections can take place next November, as scheduled and the problem would then have been solved".
"The only difficulty is that there's a president that shouldn't be there." he added standing next to Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, and currently rotating president of EU, and the head of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso.
The Brazilian president visited Stockholm for a summit with EU leaders in anticipation of the Copenhagen climate change conference.
Zelaya has been holed up in the Brazilian embassy since his surprise return to Honduras last month. President Lula said that Zelaya is a "guest" of the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa.
On Monday, interim Honduran President Roberto Micheletti lifted a week-old emergency decree that had restricted civil liberties. The revocation order was expected to take effect when published in the government's official gazette.
Micheletti has been under intense international pressure to negotiate an end to the political crisis stemming from Zelaya's ouster in the June coup. A mission from the Organization of American States is in Honduras for meetings on the political crisis.
The United States and other nations have condemned Zelaya's overthrow. Washington also has revoked the visas of Honduran officials and cut aid to the Central American country.
The de-facto government says Mr. Zelaya was ousted because he was trying to illegally change the constitution to extend his term in office.
Press Freedom
The head of the United Nations agency tasked with defending press freedom today welcomed the decision by the de-facto authorities in Honduras to lift an emergency decree imposing restrictions on freedom of expression in the wake of the surprised return of the ousted President.
Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), said that he hoped
the "wise decision" by the de facto government in the Central American country "will bear fruit for the benefit of all Hondurans."
Last week Mr. Matsuura had voiced concern about the decree, which authorized the National Telecommunications Commission to suspend media outlets blamed for broadcasting messages that were hostile to the decisions of the authorities.
UN human rights officials have also spoken out in recent days about the suppression of civil liberties in Honduras in the months following the June ousting of President José Manuel Zelaya in a coup d'
état.
Mr. Zelaya made a surprise return to Honduras on 21 September, and has sought shelter in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, the capital.
Mr. Matsuura said in his statement today that the fact that the restrictions on freedom of expression are being lifted "augurs well for the chance of a peaceful end to tensions in the country.
"Indeed, open and informed debate is an important condition for democracy and good governance," he added.
MP/UN
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Brazil received a huge boost in its international image with its selection as the host of the 2016 Olympics, but it was really just the cherry on top of the overall recognition of the country's ascension to the ranks of one of the world's most important countries. Now, as it finally takes its place on the world scene, there has been a great deal of concern about what kind of image Brazil hopes to project, now that the world is really paying attention. 
The only good thing to say about the visit to Brazil of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on Monday November 23, is that it was mercifully short and lasted less than 24 hours. Ahmadinejad had his picture taken being hugged by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva who gave him a warm welcome and said Iran had every right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. 
The small, coastal town of Condé is located just a twenty minute's drive from João Pessoa, the capital of Paraíba. The Northeast of Brazil has historically been a place of encounter and mixing between peoples. For millenia groups of indigenous people fished, farmed, migrated and sometimes fought along this large, fertile area. 
The Brazilian diplo-MÁ-cia (bad diplomacy) carries on its accelerated course towards the non-acknowledgment of human rights, although sometimes it takes pleasure in saying that it does precisely the opposite. The visit of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is another example of a diplomatic omission that verges on hypocrisy. 
On July 4, 2006, representatives of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay met in Caracas to sign the protocol for the entrance of Venezuela into the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). After two and a half years, the protocol was approved by the legislative bodies of Argentina and Uruguay, and as of now it may be only days away from being ratified by the continent's economic megalith, Brazil. 
Some sectors of the fight against AIDS have suggested that Thabo Mbeki, the former president of South Africa, committed genocide through his absence from the fight against the illness in his country throughout his two terms. 
One hundred and eleven years after Brazil abolished slavery, the number of workers deprived of their freedom is still huge. They raise cattle, produce charcoal, sugar cane or timber. Some of them, most undocumented Bolivians, work in basements of small apparel factories in São Paulo and other metropolis. 
On November 7, 2009 a few friends and I had an opportunity to take a look inside a Brazilian jail outside the city of Rio de Janeiro. We were able to take some amateur footage of our experience on video (see link below). It's no surprise, of course, that the typical Brazilian jail lacks some of the functionality of those in North America or Europe, but our experience that day was quite shocking. 
Depletion of the Amazon Rainforest is not a new concern facing environmentalists, biologists, ecologists, and a growing number of the Amazonian indigenous peoples. For decades they have feared for the fate of the world's most biologically diverse and species-rich hothouse. 
Geisy Arruda made history this week in Brazil, but for all the wrong reasons. What began as a poorly planned fashion statement has become a worldwide tale. Geisy decided to wear a pink mini-dress to her private college in São Paulo state, and after that, all hell broke loose.
brazil always tells the US to stay out of other countries business but will spet in and do the same when chaves tells them .
it wa s no take over he was just sent out of the country for doing something illeagle he could be in jail but they sent him out .
if he is so pure than let him stand trail in hounduras in the brasilian embassy undre your guards till its over than what ever they decide to do you have to do .
unless you give him citisenship where he cant be deported he can stay in the brasilian embassy for life .
can any one say get me a beer , yes mr Z we can
come on lula cry in hounduras for Z just maybe he will be put back in power if you bring a fat bag of cash and a foot ball player with you like you did for the O games ,
and have fun with that one