Honduras de facto government scolds Zelaya, talks stall

By Mica Rosenberg and Gustavo Palencia

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - The de facto Honduran government relaxed curbs on protests and media on Monday but toughened criticism of ousted President Manuel Zelaya as talks to end a three-month political crisis stalled.

Talks to resolve the crisis sparked by Central America's first coup in more than a decade sputtered with both sides stuck on the question of whether Zelaya can return to the presidency ahead of a November election.

Zelaya's camp said late on Monday it would not return to the debating table until the de facto leadership produces a more serious proposal for a solution.

"The dialogue has been obstructed," Zelaya told Reuters in a phone interview from his base in the Brazilian embassy.

Tensions have run high in Honduras since Zelaya, forced into exile by a June 28 army coup, slipped back into the country last month and took refuge in the Brazilian embassy.

The de facto government of Roberto Micheletti, installed by Congress after the coup, sent troops to surround the building, imposed curbs on press freedoms and banned large marches.

Micheletti finally carried out a promise on Monday to lift the emergency restrictions on freedoms but Zelaya's negotiating team accused him of playing for time so he can stay in power until the presidential election scheduled for November 29.

"Micheletti has not shown any political will," said Zelaya envoy Victor Meza. "He is using the talks as a distraction tool to win time. He is trying to drag out the process with inadmissible and insulting proposals."

The United States and Latin American nations have insisted Zelaya be reinstated but the coup backers say he has legally been stripped of his powers and cannot come back.

Micheletti's lead negotiator Armando Aguilar said his team presented a proposal asking the Supreme Court and Congress to submit official opinions on Zelaya's reinstatement.

The Supreme Court, together with a near unanimous vote in Congress, was the body that ordered Zelaya's June ouster, however. The court argued he violated the constitution by seeking to allow presidential re-election and the two institutions are seen as unlikely to side with him now.

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The coup brought back memories of Central America's ugly past of civil wars and state-backed violence in the 1970s and '80s and created a foreign policy headache for U.S. President Barack Obama, who has pledged better relations with Latin America.

A failure to restore Zelaya to office could put the November election at risk if foreign governments who have condemned the coup refuse to recognize the result.

At a recent meeting in Bolivia, leftist Latin American allies of Zelaya called for tighter international sanctions. Zelaya angered business leaders at home by becoming close to socialist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.