By Gustavo Palencia
TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya will leave the country on Wednesday for exile in Mexico after spending nearly three months holed up in the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa, sources said.
"He is going to leave the country today. He is leaving of his own will," a politician close to Zelaya told Reuters.
A Mexican government source said the leftist overthrown in a June coup would arrive in Mexico on Wednesday night.
Zelaya's chances of returning to power suffered a serious blow last week when the Honduran Congress voted he could not take office again. That was also a setback to the United States, which had tried to broker a deal to resolve the crisis and reinstate Zelaya.
Extra police forces beefed up security at the Brazilian Embassy and a small group of Zelaya supporters carrying banners arrived at the building.
Soldiers grabbed Zelaya from his home on June 28 and threw him out of the country in his pyjamas, sparking Central America's worst political crisis since the Cold War.
Zelaya later sneaked back into Honduras to take refuge in the Brazilian Embassy and conduct a campaign, often through the media, for his return to power.
Zelaya had upset Honduras' ruling elite by forging an alliance with leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and hinting that the wanted to change the constitution to allow presidential re-election.
Hondurans chose a new president, Porfirio Lobo, in elections on November 29, but many countries have yet to recognise the vote even though it was scheduled long before the coup. Lobo is to take power in January.
Earlier on Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the election "marked an important milestone" towards restoring democracy but was not the final step under a deal between Zelaya and de facto leaders who took over after the coup.
Clinton lauded president-elect Lobo for working to achieve national reconciliation and calling for the formation of a national unity government and a truth commission as agreed.
The agreement struck before the elections left it up to the Congress to decide whether Zelaya could return to office to finish his term ending January 27.
(Reporting by Gustavo Palencia and Adriana Barrera in Mexico City, editing by Anthony Boadle)
Relacionados
- Mercosur clama por la restitución de Zelaya y desconoce elecciones en Honduras
- Chávez condena la salida de Zelaya y las "elecciones amañadas" en Honduras
- Zelaya busca crear un partido en Honduras mientras Lobo inicia una gira
- Zelaya busca crear un partido en Honduras mientras Lobo inicia gira
- Honduras: Zelaya confirma su permanencia en la Embajada de Brasil
