State Dept Daily Press Briefing October 5

U S State Department ^ | October 5, 2009 | Ian Kelly

[don-o]

MR. KELLY: Dave’s got one question.

QUESTION: Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen, ranking Republican on the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House, is going to meet Micheletti, the de facto president of Honduras. Can we assume that that comes against the wishes of the Administration?

MR. KELLY: Well, I mean, it’s not for us to tell members of Congress what to do. I mean, you probably saw over the weekend that Senator DeMint went to Tegucigalpa on – I guess it was on Friday, and along with Representative Roskam – Representatives Roskam, Lamborn, and Shock. They met with members of de facto regime, the Supreme Court, the Supreme Election Tribunal, and also with some members of civil society. Those meetings were arranged directly with the de facto regime. The U.S. Embassy did not set them up.

And I would imagine it would be the same thing for Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen too. We do provide logistical support, as we always do, for visiting members of Congress in terms of transportation and security protection and things like that. But we didn’t have involvement in setting up these meetings.

QUESTION: In general, do you take the dim view of actions that would seem to convey recognition on Micheletti?

MR. KELLY: Well, you know what our policy is. And the policy of the Executive Branch is that we don’t recognize the de facto regime down there. But our focus is on coming to a resolution of this conflict between the duly elected President Zelaya and this de facto regime. So that’s where our focus is. There’s a OAS mission that’s scheduled to arrive there on the 7th. And this is all part of, as I say, where our focus is – trying to find a negotiated solution.

QUESTION: So the Embassy did provide these visiting lawmakers with transport – they picked them up at the airport and --

MR. KELLY: That’s my understanding.

QUESTION: -- ferried them around town?

MR. KELLY: Yeah. Mm-hmm.

QUESTION: So they drove them to these meetings?

MR. KELLY: (Laughter.) Where are you going with this, Matt?

QUESTION: I’m just curious.

MR. KELLY: I believe so. That’s my understanding.

QUESTION: But on the idea that you’re continuing to call for a negotiated solution, we really don’t hear that much about the call for President Zelaya to return to finish out his term. I mean, is that still your position?

MR. KELLY: Absolutely.

QUESTION: For the remainder of his term? Or isn’t it true that you’re trying to find a way where he can come in for like, five minutes and then get --

MR. KELLY: Well, I don’t know. The leading role is the OAS here. And our position has been unwavering that we support the return of the democratically elected president.

QUESTION: For the remainder of his full term?

MR. KELLY: You know –

QUESTION: That was your position about a month ago.

MR. KELLY: Well, I don’t know if it was our position. But we support the OAS effort in this regard. And the O – and there is unanimous opinion among the OAS as well that we need to restore the constitutionally, democratically elected president.

QUESTION: But not for the full term, though.

MR. KELLY: Well, that’s all being worked out. I would assume it’s the full term, but it’s an OAS issue next.

QUESTION: Thank you.

(The briefing was concluded at 1:54 p.m.)

[don-o]

Different day. Same pile

[don-o]

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[SumProVita]

Zelaya was democratically ousted....according to the CONSTITUTION.

People need to make a LOT more noise about this!