Talks on possible amnesty for all political acts relating to coup

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(16 Dec 2009) • 1. Wide exterior of National Congress building • 2. Security forces • 3. Mid of National Congress building • 4. Set up of president elect Porfirio Lobo • 5. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Porfirio Lobo, president elect of Honduras: • It will only apply to the political acts and not to common crimes; the amnesty would only refer to political activities, so that the amnesty could be a way of bringing peace to the nation. • 6. Cutaway of media • 7. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Jose Alfredo Saavedra, president of the Honduras Congress: • We all agreed, all the presidents of the different political groups, and we shared it with the president elect, that it is necessary to open a great national debate right away. It is necessary to have a consensus from all the different sectors of society because an amnesty imposed from outside and without a national consensus will solve absolutely nothing. • 8. Cutaway of news conference • 9. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Marvin Ponce, Honduras congressman: • There are killings, deaths, persecution, wounded, political prisoners... all a result of the coup d'etat. All of that must be reviewed before discussing the granting of a general amnesty. • 10. Various of Lobo and representatives of other political parties • STORYLINE • Honduras president elect Porfirio Lobo had a meeting with representatives of all the political parties at the Honduras National Congress in the capital Tegucigalpa on Tuesday, to discuss the possibility of granting a general amnesty for all those involved in the coup d'etat that ousted president Manuel Zelaya. • Lobo said the amnesty could be a way of bringing peace to the nation but insisted that it would be exclusively for political acts, not common crimes. • The president of the Honduras Congress, Jose Alfredo Saavedra, who voted to depose Manuel Zelaya, said it was essential to open a great national debate right away about the possible amnesty. • An amnesty imposed from outside and without a national consensus will solve absolutely nothing, he added, referring to pressure from the international community. • But some congressmen from the Democratic Union Party, which still supports Zelaya, said the activities of the interim authorities involved in the coup d'etat should also be carefully scrutinised before deciding anything. • The possibility of a political amnesty for both sides has been touted by the international community as the only chance to end Honduras' political standoff. • Lobo won the November 29 presidential election that Honduras had scheduled before Zelaya was removed from office and sent out of the country at gunpoint. • Lobo said he wants to start a national reconciliation process once he takes office, and that he supports granting amnesty both to Zelaya and to all of those involved in the coup. • His options are limited, though. Even after he become president he won't have the power to give Zelaya amnesty from prosecution. That power belongs to the same Congress that voted 111-14 early month against restoring Zelaya to office to serve out his term. • Meanwhile, Honduran officials and Zelaya have been at odds on terms of a deal that would let him emerge from the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa without fear of arrest on the charges of treason and abuse of power that led • to his ousting. • He has taken refuge in the embassy since sneaking back into Honduras on September 21. • The government insists he must concede he is no longer president, although his term runs to January 27. Zelaya says he won't do that. • • Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork • Twitter: / ap_archive • Facebook: / aparchives • Instagram: / apnews • • • You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...

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