Talks between the ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya and the leaders of last week’s military coup began on Thursday in Costa Rica. Zelaya and the military-backed president of Honduras, Roberto Micheletti, met separately with Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, but there were no face-to-face meetings between the two sides. Zelaya maintained his demand to be reinstated as head of state of Honduras. Micheletti argued Zelaya was lawfully ousted last month, because he violated Honduras’s constitution by trying to lift presidential term limits. Dozens of Costa Ricans protested outside the Honduran embassy in San Jose in support of ousted president Manuel Zelaya.

Jorge Hernandez: “We came here to protest in a peaceful and democratic way to support President Zelaya, and also to support President Arias, asking that he not fall into the trap of the militarists and coup plotters by recognizing Micheletti and treating him as a head of state.”