Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. won’t recognize a
scheduled November election in Honduras without a resolution to
the political crisis that began with a coup that ousted
President Manuel Zelaya in June, a State Department aide said.

The U.S. has told the “de facto regime that because of
the environment on the ground, we will not recognize the
election,â€

On Sept. 27, the de facto government led by interim
President Roberto Micheletti banned protests and suspended
other civil rights for 45 days and denied entry to an
Organization of American States delegation seeking to negotiate
an end to the three-month standoff in the Central American
nation.

At an emergency meeting of the 35-member body of the OAS
in Washington yesterday, both sides were criticized for their
actions.

“We are very concerned by the de facto regime’s
suspension of fundamental civil liberties,” Charles Luoma-
Overstreet, spokesman for the State Department’s bureau of
Western Hemisphere Affairs, said in a telephone interview.

“We call on the de facto regime to lift the decree and
take the necessary steps to initiate a meaningful negotiation
with President Zelaya. At the same time, we strongly urge
President Zelaya and his supporters to direct their statements
in a constructive and positive manner,â€

Luoma-Overstreet added that “both sides need to refrain
from actions that incite division.”

Support for Settlement

The U.S. has supported a negotiated settlement proposed by
Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize-winner.
His plan would restore Zelaya to power, create a unity
government and schedule early elections.

The de facto government has rejected the proposal,
alleging that Zelaya violated the constitution by seeking to
amend it to extend his term in office.

Zelaya said he wants to hold talks with Micheletti at the
Brazilian Embassy in the Honduras capital of Tegucigalpa, where
he has holed up since last week, and will recognize Nov. 29
elections, a precondition set by Micheletti.

Micheletti and Zelaya met separately with the nation’s
four leading presidential candidates last week, meetings that
were seen as a step toward direct talks.

The acting government has given Brazil a 10-day deadline
to declare whether Zelaya has been granted asylum, Foreign
Minister Carlos Lopez Contreras said Sept. 27. Honduras will
act to remove the embassy’s diplomatic status and protections
after 10 days, Lopez Contreras added, though he said the
government will refrain from attacking the embassy to remove
Zelaya by force.

Brazil doesn’t recognize the ultimatum, President Luiz
Inacio Lula da Silva said in Venezuela Sept. 27.

To contact the reporter on this story:
Indira Lakshmanan in Washington at
ilakshmanan@bloomberg.net