Image: El Heraldo

Manuel Zelaya received Micheletti’s negotiators again, after vowing not to continue with talks unless it was to sign his restitution. This is exactly the surrealistic unreliability that makes this crisis so tiring, and so circus-like, (circense in Spanish). As the socialists complain, the only result of this is that the negotiations will take longer, giving time for the election to proceed, and giving the illusion of progress.

This is fine with me, but mentally exhausting. The alternative is more insurrection, which would cost Zelaya what remains of Clinton and Obama’s support for him.

Image: El Heraldo

Manuel Zelaya has called Micheletti’s proposals insulting and has vowed to refuse to return to the negotiating table if it is not to sign his restitution to office. The Arias plan, and it’s major flaw, is directly responsible for this.

The flaw in the Arias plan is not small. It isn’t a cosmetic detail that could be smoothed away with talk. It is foundational. Arias was not drafting a document to mediate, but to mandate. The first article states that Zelaya is to be reinstated. In this Arias revealed he had never read the Honduran constitution, a conclusion he later confirmed months after the crisis had begun.

The constitution forbids an ex-president from regaining office. In order to reinstate Zelaya to office, Micheletti would have to break the constitution, which would almost beg for a constitutional assembly to rewrite it. Victory for Zelaya. Needless to say, things are back to the beginning.

Micheletti will go forward with the election, and Zelaya will try to make as much trouble for him as possible. In the meantime, the Honduran economy bleeds 52 million dollars a day, more than 6 billion dollars since June 28.