ANALYSIS: Honduras seeks more active US role to overcome crisis

Tegucigalpa - The active involvement of the United States government is necessary to solve Honduras' ongoing political crisis, many analysts said, more than a week after President Manuel Zelaya was ousted in a coup. The first request came from Zelaya himself late Sunday, after he failed to land in capital Tegucigalpa and despite the support of the United Nations General Assembly, Organization of American States (OAS) and the governments of Argentina, Ecuador, Paraguay and Venezuela. 'As of tomorrow (Monday), whatever happens in Honduras will be the responsibility of powers, especially of the United States,' said Zelaya. Political analyst Kevin Casas, a former Costa Rican vice president, said what was happening in Honduras was 'a farce that the international community has to stop.' 'I think that North American diplomacy has to be less subtle and that they have to send a delegation to speak with Honduras' de facto president and with Zelaya. 'And they should also (talk) to some governments like those of Mexico and Brazil and other countries in the area. Costa Rican President Oscar Arias has already offered his help,' Casas told broadcaster CNN. Casas argued that the United States must take on a leadership role to prevent countries like Venezuela and Nicaragua from using the Honduran crisis for their own benefit. He added that if the administration of US President Barack Obama could not look for a way out of the Honduran crisis then it was unlikely that it 'can solve the real crises there are in the world.' The possible intervention of a third country has the backing of Honduran politicians like Elvin Santos, Zelaya's former vice president, who resigned in December to stand for the presidency. 'We are in a hurry to have dialogue and we will propose that such a dialogue, which has so often taken place in Honduras and which has not borne fruit and has led to these circumstances, will this time be carried out in another country,' said Santos. The government set up after the coup on Monday sent a six-member mission to Washington to give its version of events in the troubled Central American country. However, the US has said that it would not engage in talks with a de facto government. Some analysts are suggesting an early presidential election as a way out of the crisis. Elections are currently scheduled to take place late November. However, Juan Ferrera, coordinator for Honduras' National Anti- Corruption Council, told the German Press Agency dpa that even if the election is held early it should afford voters the necessary guarantees. 'We demand a clean, transparent job, that guarantees that power is granted to whomever the people decide,' Ferrera said. Ernestina Mejia, a former legislator of Zelaya's Liberal Party, said the ousted president enjoys no immunity in Honduras because such protection from prosecution for public servants was abolished in 2004. Since the coup on June 28, Honduras has been rejected by the international community and suspended from the OAS. Protests have so far killed two people, while ten others were wounded. The OAS suspension will entail economic losses, which is bound to worsen the effects of the global financial crisis on Latin America's third-poorest country that depends on loans from multilateral agencies and the remittances from its expatriates.