Eleven months after former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was ousted by a military coup, a truth commission led by the Organization of American States (OAS) arrived in Tegucigalpa this week to start the process of collecting information and making suggestions to help the country avoid any future democratic ruptures.
The delegation is headed by OAS secretary general José Miguel Insulza, U.S. Sub-Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere Craig Kelly and Guatemalan Vice President Eduardo Stein. The trio arrived in Honduras Monday evening and was scheduled to meet with President Porfirio Lobo prior to launching the commission on Tuesday.
Stein, who will coordinate the commission, said they expect the information-gathering process to take eight months. At that point the commission will make a series of recommendations, which the Honduran people can accept or reject.
Stein said the commission members will conduct a “wide range of interviews with all the principal actors from the crisis,” including Zelaya, who is now living in exile in the Dominican Republic.
Stein acknowledged that certain sectors are against the work of the truth commission, but said he hopes the commission does not encounter any type of “limitations” to its work. He said that part of the report could be classified as “confidential” for a period of 10 years before being made available to the public.
Zelaya was ousted from power by the Honduran military on June 28, 2009 and whisked off to Costa Rica, starting a highly publicized effort to return to power. The de facto government of Honduras, led by Roberto Micheletti, claimed Zelaya’s ouster was a “constitutional transition of power.”
–Nica Times & EFE
