Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo Supports Dialogue
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Porfirio Lobo Sosa, the presidential candidate for the opposition party, the National Party, has been interviewed on CNN. His position is that no decision that comes from outside should be binding, because this will cause many deaths. He repeatedly said that he supports any decision, even the return of Zelaya, if it comes from the mediated dialogue in Costa Rica. He counseled that it is in the best interest of everyone that Zelaya and Micheletti be flexible.
Today the interim government of Honduras restored the curfew that was lifted on Monday, after Zelaya and Chávez both called for generalized “insurrection” in Honduras to keep pressure on the government. CNN omitted this statement in their report of Zelaya’s speech, preferring to highlight the words “weekend activities”.
The crisis has boosted Zelaya’s popularity to 46% favorable from a low of 30% two weeks ago, according to the most recent Gallup poll. Nevertheless, 41% of Hondurans agree that Zelaya’s removal was justified, 31% were unsure, and only 28% said that it was unjustified.
The AP news agency has reported Micheletti made an offer to resign, stressing that he would do so only if Zelaya would not return to power. I have searched for this in Honduran and Venezuelan news, but only this AP article is reporting this. The New York Times published the article, stating its source as the AP
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Where in the dialogue do you hear Porfirio Lobo say that he supports "even the return of Zelaya".
He was extremely careful not to say it explicitly. But when the interviewer asked whether he would support Zelaya's return “to save human lives” he replied, near the end of the video, that he will support “everything that results from the consent of the dialogue”. That includes the possibility of Zelaya's return.
He said, though, that he prefers that there be free elections instead.