Honduras' interim government today lifted a curfew imposed on the country since the June 28th coup that ousted president Manuel Zelaya, saying it had succeeded in restoring calm to the nation.
The caretaker administration of president Roberto Micheletti, installed by Honduras' Congress after the coup, announced the ending of the curfew on television and radio.
"The government was able not only to reduce crime in the whole country, but also to restore calm to the people of Honduras," the government said in its broadcast.
Isolated by the international community after Zelaya's ouster, Honduras is bracing for months of austerity under the weight of economic sanctions imposed after the coup.
But the announcement of the lifting of the curfew indicated Mr Micheletti's government felt it could control the situation in the Central American state, despite almost daily demonstrations by pro-Zelaya supporters.
The interim government, installed by Congress after widely unpopular Zelaya was booted out of the country in his pajamas last month by soldiers, has resisted international pressure and says Zelaya's reinstatement is not negotiable.
It accuses Mr Zelaya, who ran afoul of his political base and ruling elites in the conservative country by allying himself with Venezuela's firebrand leftist president Hugo Chavez, of contravening the constitution and seeking to illegally extend his rule.
The impasse over Mr Zelaya's return has left little wriggle room for talks brokered by Costa Rica aimed at defusing one of the worst crises in Central America since the Cold War. The talks have resulted in little apparent progress, aside from an agreement to keep talking.
Mr Zelaya, bolstered by widespread international condemnation of the coup, has vowed "actions" at home and abroad to support his return, but says he will use nonviolent methods, although he also says Hondurans have the "right to insurrection".
At least one pro-Zelaya protester was killed in clashes at Tegucigalpa's airport a week ago when Honduran troops blocked an attempt by Mr Zelaya to return in a plane provided by Mr Chavez.
Reuters