Source: Prensa Latina, 23 May 2011.
Steps have been taken toward a new Constituent Assembly and referendum, former president Manuel Zelaya said after signing an agreement with current President Porfirio Lobo to end the political crisis in Honduras.
"It is a very important and historical advance restoring democratic rights for all Hondurans," Zelaya commented, referring to the commitment for "national reconciliation and democracy" signed on Sunday in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia.Zelaya also said the agreement ensured recognition and respect for human rights, and provides victims of the military coup with an official body for compensation.
He also said that he now has every right to return to his homeland with full guaranties of freedom, as do his former cabinet members and all Hondurans in exile.
Recognition of the Peoples National Resistance Front (PNRF) [FNRP - ed.] as a legal political force was also accepted.
The agreement was signed with the mediation of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, and marks the end of a series of events following the military coup that overthrew Zelaya on June 28, 2009.
On his regular television program Alo President, Chavez also praised the deal between Lobo and Zelaya to restore a normal political situation in this Central American nation, and warned that he would be watching its fulfilment.
