Diplomatic efforts to solve Honduras's crisis after last month's coup stumbled today as leftist allies of the ousted president vowed he would return and the interim government showed no sign of budging.
Deposed President Manuel Zelaya stepped up a campaign today to rally international support for his reinstatement, and one of his most vocal backers, Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez, said Mr Zelaya would return home "by any means".
Mr Zelaya, and the man put in his place by the June 28th coup, Roberto Micheletti, failed to reach any accord or even meet face-to-face in mediation talks in Costa Rica yesterday.
They left behind low-level delegations to try to advance a dialogue, but there appeared to be little progress today, and hopes seemed to be fading for a quick solution to the crisis in Honduras, one of the poorest states in the Americas.
Venezuela's firebrand leader Chavez pronounced the Costa Rica talks "dead before they started". He called for a total trade embargo on Honduras.
Speaking in Caracas, Chavez also criticized President Barack Obama's administration for engineering the talks mediated by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, saying there could be no negotiations with "a usurper" in Honduras.
Chavez's comments seemed likely to rekindle fears that he and other leftist allies of Mr Zelaya, like Cuba and Nicaragua, might seek to help the ousted president regain office by force or by popular insurrection.
Mr Zelaya, who made an abortive Chavez-backed attempt to fly home last Sunday and has been advised by Washington to negotiate rather than try to force the issue again, said he was working on "peaceful, non-violent methods" to return to office.
The ousted president declined to reveal what other actions he planned, saying "I'm not going to tell my strategies to the press any more." But unlike Chavez, Zelaya was full of praise for the Obama administration. He was speaking in the Dominican Republic and was due travel to Guatemala on Saturday before returning to Washington.
Honduran soldiers blocked the runway when Mr Zelaya tried to return home in a plane provided by Chavez last Sunday. At least one person was killed when the troops clashed with pro-Zelaya protestors.
Mr Micheletti, who was appointed by Honduras' Congress after the coup, says Mr Zelaya's removal was lawful because he violated the constitution by trying to lift presidential term limits. He says if the ousted president returns he will face charges.
Reuters