State Department daily press briefing - July 9, 2009

U S Dept of State ^ | July 9, 2009 | Ian Kelly - spokesman

[don-o]

QUESTION: In Costa Rica, Zelaya, I think that he’s already there for the process. I don’t know if Micheletti is going to participate or not. I don’t know if he confirmed yet. And I want to know if the U.S. is in some way monitoring this process with Oscar Arias.

MR. KELLY: Yeah.

QUESTION: If you were getting any updates.

MR. KELLY: Yeah.

QUESTION: Or this process will continue.

MR. KELLY: Yes, I do have an update. We understand that the mediation talks were supposed to have started about 20 minutes ago. I understand that President Zelaya is already there. Roberto Micheletti, the head of the de facto regime, was expected to be there, and I believe I’ve seen some reports that he’s there.

QUESTION: He is.

MR. KELLY: Yeah. And in terms of our monitoring it, this is something led by President Arias. Of course, we are keenly interested in these talks. We are – we want to see a good outcome that restores the democratic order in Honduras. But I just want to emphasize this is President Arias’s – these are his talks, and it’s up to him to determine who participates in the talks. And I think today’s talks, it’s basically – it’s going to be the two sides that are sitting down with President Arias as the mediator.

We’re not present in the talks. Because that was a long way of saying we’re not present in the talks.

QUESTION: Are they going to be face-to-face? And if not, what would the U.S. reaction be to that, if there’s kind of an independent bilateral --

MR. KELLY: Yeah. Again, this is President Arias’s show, so I’d refer you to the – to his office about how exactly he wants to put this together. But I understand that the two parties will be in the room.

QUESTION: With the U.S.’s keen interest in this, will Secretary Clinton want to do something evenhandedly and meet with a non-Zelaya principal of some kind at any point, as they’ve met with Zelaya?

MR. KELLY: We’re just – we’re not at that point. Right now, we’re – the point we’re at is we’re in a – we’ve begun this process. We’re very encouraged by this process. We’re – we want to play a constructive role. But our focus right now is on this process mediated by President Arias.

QUESTION: And any reaction to yesterday’s congressional letter?

MR. KELLY: This is the letter from --

QUESTION: Senator Mack and the others.

MR. KELLY: -- from Senator – I’m not sure exactly. I’ve seen one letter, but I’m not sure exactly what – this is from Senator Mack?

QUESTION: From Senator Mack, yes.

MR. KELLY: I don’t think I’ve seen that letter. Yeah. Of course, we respect the opinion of senators. We consult very closely with Congress. This particular letter I have not seen, though.

Yeah.

QUESTION: In President Obama’s meeting with Russian President Medvedev --

QUESTION: Can we stick with Honduras for one sec?

QUESTION: What?

QUESTION: Can we close out with Honduras?

MR. KELLY: We’ll – yeah, let’s let Arshad ask another question on Honduras, and I’ll get to you after that.

QUESTION: Great, thank you. Ian, can you tell us whether the State Department has sent anyone from Washington to Costa Rica to keep tabs on the talks, even if they’re not in the room, or whether the Department has sent anybody from Tegucigalpa?

MR. KELLY: Yeah.

QUESTION: Or to the extent that this is being – you know, obviously, you have a keen interest. If you could explain how you’re keeping track of it – is that by, you know, State Department diplomats here keeping tabs on it, or the Embassy in Tegucigalpa or the Embassy in Costa Rica?

MR. KELLY: Right. I believe it’s the latter. I believe it’s the Embassy in Costa Rica. I don’t think we’ve sent anybody down. If that’s not so, we’ll let you know.

QUESTION: Great.

MR. KELLY: But as I say, this is a process that we’re allowing President Arias to coordinate and mediate. And there’s no need for U.S. – a big U.S. staff or anything down there. We have an embassy.

[don-o]

ping

[wastoute]

Here's hoping Micheletti is telling Zelaya to sell what he owns in Honduras cause he ain't coming back.

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[watusa1775]

These are conversation from White House? Seem not very information full.