ZELAYA ADVISORS UPDATE ON ACTIONS REGARDING

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 TEGUCIGALPA 001290 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/14/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM HO SUBJECT: ZELAYA ADVISORS UPDATE ON ACTIONS REGARDING ZELAYA'S DEPARTURE REF: A. TEGUCIGALPA 1284 ¶B. TEGUCIGALPA 1280 Classified By: Ambassador Hugo Llorens for reasons 1.4 (b/d) ¶1. (S) Summary: Liberal Party leader Carlos Montoya told the Ambassador that he contacted Armed Forces Chief of Staff Romeo Orlando Vasquez, former President of Honduras Carlos Flores, and Micheletti representative on the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord Verification Commission Arturo Corrales and all agreed that it would be best for de facto regime leader Roberto Micheletti to relinquish power and for President Jose Manuel "Mel" Zelaya to depart the country. Minister of Justice Victor Meza said the plan to fly President Zelaya to Mexico on December 9 fell apart because hard-liner Roberto Turcios led the regime's negotiations with the Mexican Charge d'Affaires. Meza said Dominican Republic President Leonel Fernandez told President Zelaya on December 13 that granting Zelaya political asylum in the Dominican Republic would not be the best solution since it would require that Zelaya not make any public pronouncements during his stay in the Dominican Republic. Meza said President Zelaya will not request political asylum. The Ambassador encouraged Montoya, Meza, and Jorge Arturo Reina, President Zelaya's representative on the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord Verification Commission, to speak to president-elect Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo about facilitating Zelaya's departure. The Ambassador said the U.S. will use its good offices, but will not take the lead on this issue because the primary objectives for the U.S. must remain implementation of the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord and formation of a unity government with Micheletti relinquishing power. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) The Ambassador met on December 14 with Jorge Arturo Reina, the representative of President Jose Manuel "Mel" Zelaya on the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord Verification Commission; Victor Meza, Minister of Governance and Justice and negotiator at the Guaymuras Dialogue that led to the accord; and Carlos Montoya, Liberal Party leader, to discuss the status of efforts to find a solution that would permit President Zelaya to leave Honduras. ¶3. (S) Montoya said he spoke to Armed Forces Chief of Staff Romeo Orlando Vasquez, former President of Honduras Carlos Flores, and Arturo Corrales, de facto regime leader Roberto Micheletti's representative on the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord and they all agreed that it would be best for de facto regime leader Roberto Micheletti to relinquish power and for President Zelaya to depart Honduras. Montoya told the Ambassador that Vasquez told him he had raised the issue with Micheletti to no avail. According to Montoya, Vasquez said Micheletti is becoming "foolish" and "no longer listening." Montoya told the Ambassador that Flores said he could not try to persuade Micheletti because he has had no contact with him for some time. Reina noted that Zelaya's presence in Honduras bolsters the de facto regime's claim that it must hold on to power to ensure the nation's security. ¶4. (S) Meza told the Ambassador that Zelaya's planned departure on December 9 fell apart when de facto regime foreign minister Carlos Lopez Contreras and Vice Foreign Minister Marta Lorena Alvarado left regime hard-liner Roberto Turcios to negotiate with Mexican Charge d'Affaires Carlos Torres. According to Meza, Turcios told Torres that the operation to fly Zelaya out of Honduras on an airplane sent by the Mexican government was aborted because Zelaya no longer wanted to leave the country. Meza said that when Torres responded that he had just spoken to Zelaya and that was not the case, Turcios said Zelaya could leave only if he departed on a Honduran military plane while his immediate family left on the Mexican plane. Meza told the Ambassador that Torres rejected this proposal. According to Meza, Turcios agreed to Zelaya's departure if Zelaya advisor Rasel Tome stayed in Honduras and Zelaya's family departed on a commercial flight and the safe conduct document issued by the regime referred to deposed President Zelaya. Meza said that the Mexican government agreed to this proposal and submitted a diplomatic note requesting safe conduct for citizen Jose Manuel Zelaya. According to Meza, the regime rejected the Mexican government's communication and presented Zelaya with a document for signature recognizing the validity of the TEGUCIGALP 00001290 002 OF 002 Tegucigalpa-San Jose Agreement and recognizing as legal the December 2 congressional decision reaffirming his removal from office. Meza told the Ambassador that Turcios then told the Mexican Embassy that its government's plane could not land in Tegucigalpa but had to go to the country's second largest city, San Pedro Sula. Meza said that, as the plane was preparing to land at San Pedro Sula, the regime ordered it out of Honduran air space and it flew onto El Salvador (reftel B). ¶5. (S) Meza reiterated to the Ambassador that President Zelaya remains interested in meeting with president-elect Porfirio "Pepe" Lobo outside Honduras (reftel A). Meza said the regime is putting up obstacles to President Zelaya's departure because they want to remain in power until January 27 when Zelaya's term expires and Lobo takes office. Meza told the Ambassador that President of the Dominican Republic Leonel Fernandez told President Zelaya on December 13 that granting Zelaya political asylum in the Dominican Republic would not be the best solution since it would require that Zelaya desist from making any public statements while in the Dominican Republic. According to Meza, Fernandez told President Zelaya that he did not want to bring him to the Dominican Republic to force him to remain mute. Meza told the Ambassador that at this moment Zelaya appears reluctant to request political asylum. ¶6. (S) The Ambassador told Reina, Meza, and Montoya that flexibility is required on the part of both President Zelaya and the regime to find a formulation acceptable to all that permits Zelaya's departure. He urged them to speak to president-elect Lobo about this matter. The Ambassador told them that the U.S. believes Zelaya's departure would be best for him and for his country and will use its good offices to facilitate such a solution, but will not take the lead on this issue. The Ambassador said that the U.S. goals will remain implementation of the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord with installation of a unity government and relinquishment of power by Micheletti. The Ambassador noted that the U.S. will continue to recognize President Zelaya as the legitimate President of Honduras until January 27 regardless of the formulation found to permit his departure. LLORENS