TFH01: ARIAS DISCUSSES MEDIATION EFFORT

S E C R E T TEGUCIGALPA 000635 SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA A/S TOM SHANNON E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/22/2019 TAGS: AEMR AMGT ASEC CASC KDEM PGOV PINR PREL HO TFH01 SUBJECT: TFH01: ARIAS DISCUSSES MEDIATION EFFORT REF: A) TEGUCIGALPA 634 B) TEGUCIGALPA 627 C) TEGUCIGALPA 516 D) SECSTATE 69222 Classified By: Ambassador Hugo Llorens, reasons 1.4 (b & d) ¶1. (S) Early afternoon on July 22, the Ambassador spoke to President Arias. Arias confirmed that the de facto regime of President Roberto Micheletti had made a sudden decision to attend the afternoon session in San Jose. Arias was very pleased. He said the meeting is now pushed back to 4:00 p.m. ¶2. (S) Arias said he would present his latest proposal and would ask both sides to comment on the proposal. If there was progress, he said he was inclined to give both sides a chance to consult with their respective leaders in order to give the process a bit more time. The Ambassador told him that if there was good faith in the talks, it made great sense to continue to the process. The Ambassador said he believed that the pressure was growing on the Micheletti side and that a bit more time might be needed to force a positive decision The Ambassador and Arias both agreed that the Micheletti team had no authority to negotiate and that the team would need to return to Tegucigalpa to consult with Micheletti and his senior people. Arias spoke of giving both sides 3-5 days to respond to his proposal. ¶3. (S) Arias said he would hold a press conference after the session. The Ambassador and Arias agreed to speak later today. LLORENS