The Honduran leadership warned the Brazilian government to define the situation of deposed president Manuel Zelaya, who has found shelter at the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa. They have asked in the past that Brazil hand the ousted leader to the Honduran justice or give him asylum in Brazil.
"I won't accept any ultimatum from a government responsible for a coup," Lula told reporters in the Venezuelan town of Porlamar where he went for a South-America/Africa summit hosted by Venezuelan leader, Hugo Chavez. Moreover he indicated that he will not negotiate with a government that "usurped power."
Once again the Brazilian chief of state declared that Zelaya is Honduras's legitimate president. Lula also reminded that the ousted leader is a host of the Brazilian embassy in capital Tegucigalpa.
"Zelaya was ousted from power the most shameful way possible", said Lula. "For me, the solution is simple: the coupsters should leave the presidential palace."
According to Lula, the South American continent "fought a lot to consign to the trash can of history the military dictatorships of the past. We cannot allow this kind of reversal in the continent."
Lula, who talked after meeting with South American and African colleagues, commented that he doesn't believe that the de-facto government of Honduras will stage a take over of the Brazilian building. According to his reasoning not even the worst dictatorships entered embassies by force:
"Not even Pinochet's dictatorship (Augusto Pinochet, Chilean dictator in the 70s), which was the bloodiest in all the continent, violated an embassy."
Lula gave the path to normalization in Honduras: Zelaya should be returned to power and then call for presidential elections to define his successor. "If the coupsters call for elections, very few countries would admit the results," added the president.
And Lula, stressed that few times in history there was as much consensus against a government responsible for a coup d'état.
Honduras's Foreign Affairs Ministry issued a communiqué Saturday night demanding that the Brazilian government define Zelaya's status and giving Brazil a maximum of 10 days to do so. It this doesn't happen, the note warned "we will be forced to take additional measures." It wasn't clear, however, which measures would be taken.
For Itamaraty, the Brazilian foreign ministry, the communiqué doesn't mean a thing and Brazil won't even bother responding to it since the country doesn't recognize Roberto Micheletti, the current president, as Honduras's legitimate chief of state.