THE latest round of talks to resolve the dispute over Honduras' coup has ended in failure, a negotiator for ousted leftist president Manuel Zelaya said yesterday, adding that further talks were unlikely.
Negotiator Victor Meza accused the government of interim president Roberto Micheletti of rejecting the main demand of the international community: that Mr Zelaya be reinstated to office.
"For us, there is no room to continue talks with people who
are only seeking to draw out the discussion," Mr Meza said.
Supporters of Mr Micheletti hope that next month's presidential election will make calls for Mr Zelaya's return irrelevant because his term will be ending.
But many governments, including that of the United States, have said they will not recognise the vote unless Mr Zelaya is back in office by then.
The latest plan proposed by representatives of Mr Micheletti would permit the two factions to consult whichever branch of government they wished to decide whether Mr Zelaya should be restored to office.
The government, which seized power with a coup in June, did not explain how it might resolve the dispute.
Negotiations hit an impasse last week after the delegations failed to agree on who should decide whether Mr Zelaya can resume his post and serve out his term, which ends in January.
Mr Micheletti wants the decision to be made by the Supreme Court, which initially ordered Mr Zelaya's arrest before he was ousted on 28 June over his attempt to hold a referendum on changing the constitution.
The court, which had ruled the referendum illegal, has said Mr Zelaya should not be allowed to return to office.
Mr Zelaya says Congress should make the decision, even though he currently enjoys the support of only about a fifth of the legislators.
Mr Zelaya has been holed up at the Brazilian embassy in Honduras after secretly re-entering the country in late September.
