Two men and a mediator: Can Arias help Honduras?

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Talks to resolve the leadership crisis in Honduras began Thursday, with both sides holding closed-door meetings with Costa Rican President Oscar Arias to discuss a coup that has re-awoken fears of political instability in the region.

Ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya appeared first, and left Arias’ home in Costa Rica’s capital shortly before the arrival of the man who replaced him after a military coup, his former friend and political ally Roberto Micheletti.

If Zelaya offered any concessions, he wasn’t talking about them. As he headed back to his hotel, Zelaya called for "the reestablishment of the state of law, democracy and the return of the president elected by the Honduran people.”

Micheletti, for his part, insists that Zelaya had been legitimately removed from office for violating the constitution and must relinquish any claim to the presidency.

After meeting with Arias for almost three hours, Micheletti named four officials who will represent him in future negotiations and said he was returning to Honduras.

The interim Honduran leader said he was "satisfied” with the meeting, but ruled out, for now, a face-to-face meeting with Zelaya. He added that presidential elections in Honduras would be held in November as planned.

Arias, who won the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize for helping Central Americans resolve their civil wars, had hoped to bring the rivals together for their first direct meeting since the coup.

"Each one put as a condition that the other not be there, that it wasn’t the moment to meet,” said Costa Rican Information Minister Mayi Antillon.

She said the commissions named by Zelaya and Micheletti had already begun talks Thursday afternoon. "At this time, they are exchanging ideas ... it is a basic process but both delegations are sitting at the same table,” she added

Even getting both sides to appear in the same city was an achievement for Arias — something that hasn’t happened since the leftist Zelaya surrendered under gunfire and was flown out of his country by masked soldiers on June 28. The world has rallied behind Zelaya, demanding his reinstatement, but Honduras’ interim leaders have refused to budge.

The coup crisis has become one of the biggest tests so far for the Obama administration in Latin America.

OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza expressed concern that if the Honduran crisis is not resolved, it could leave the door open for other coups in Latin America.

"I’m not going to mention countries,” Insulza told reporters in Washington on Thursday.

Arias was invited to mediate by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. That move effectively sidelined Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who had lent Zelaya a Venezuelan plane and other support, and cast the crisis as an epic battle between the poor and the region’s "oligarchies.”

President Barack Obama has framed the issue in non-ideological terms, encouraging leaders from the left and right to come together to support the institutions of democracy.

Obama has insisted that Zelaya be restored to power, but "not because we agree with him,” he told an audience in Russia. "We do so because we respect the universal principle that people should choose their own leaders, whether they are leaders we agree with or not.”

U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said no U.S. representatives were participating in the mediation sessions. "We are keenly interested in these talks. We want to see a good outcome that restores the democratic order in Honduras. But I just want to emphasize, this is President Arias’, these are his talks.”

In Honduras, thousands of Zelaya’s supporters and detractors continued marching in the streets Thursday. Pro-Zelaya forces cut off several highways, including a key southern truck route to Nicaragua and El Salvador. Backers of the Micheletti government demonstrated in the northern industrial city of San Pedro Sula and other places.

In contrast, very few people — almost all journalists — showed up at the metal security gates placed in front of Arias’ home, a one-story house in a residential neighborhood of San Jose. The only guards were about two dozen unarmed tourism police wearing polo shirts.

Both Zelaya and Micheletti have said there is nothing to negotiate — that the other man can’t possibly be president of Honduras. Oscar Arias also sought to dampen expectations, saying before the talks that "in two days there could be a solution or it could be that in two months there is no solution.”

And Micheletti did express some optimism after his plane touched down. "We will work ceaselessly to find a successful solution to the present situation,” Micheletti said, committing to "trying to solve my country’s internal differences in a peaceful way.”

Micheletti, a congressional leader who was named president by legislators following the coup, has already replaced his foreign minister, who caused a flap by repeatedly referring to Obama as "a little black man” and a "little black field hand.”

Enrique Ortez, now replaced by Honduras’ former ambassador in Washington, Roberto Flores, has been a prominent spokesman for Micheletti, arguing that the coup was legal because congress and the Supreme Court had ruled Zelaya was illegally pursuing a referendum to change the constitution.

The United Nations and the Organization of American States have demanded Zelaya be returned to power, imposing or threatening sanctions and aid cuts. Venezuela said it is canceling shipments of subsidized oil, and the U.S. suspended more than $18 million in military assistance and development aid programs. No other country has recognized the interim administration.

But support for Zelaya is much less certain inside the impoverished country.

Some Zelaya supporters claim Honduras’ wealthy class backed the military action because Zelaya raised the minimum wage and pushed other policies that favor the poor. Micheletti counters that Zelaya and Chavez stoked class divisions.

Before the talks began, Zelaya offered to drop his aspirations for a constitutional change that might allow him to run for another term.

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Associated Press Writers Marcos Aleman in Honduras and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this story.