Brazil Seeks U.N. Meeting On Honduras

Tuesday, Brazil said it has requested an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council to address the crisis in Honduras after deposed leader Manuel Zelaya secretly returned to the country and took refuge in the Brazilian embassy, reports say.

In a letter to the members of the council, Brazil’s U.N. ambassador, Maria Luiza Viotti, urged the council to guarantee the safety of the embassy premises and personnel and that of Zelaya.

Viotti reaffirmed in the letter that the Organization of the American States (OAS) continues to be the appropriate forum where a political solution should be found to the situation in Honduras.

Brazil, which does not have a permanent seat at the Security Council, also requested that it be allowed to participate in any Council meeting on the crisis following Zelaya’s return.

The request came after after baton-wielding soldiers used tear gas and water cannons Tuesday to chase away thousands of Zelaya’s supporters who were demonstrating outside the embassy.

Earlier Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said acts against the country’s diplomatic mission “would not be tolerated.”

Meanwhile, the U.S. government called for calm in Honduras and also urged the de-facto government to respect the diplomatic immunity of the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa.

Water, electricity and phone service have been cut off to the Brazilian embassy as Honduran authorities tried to isolate the building even as interim president Roberto Micheletti urged Brazil to respect the judicial order handed down against Zelaya, and deliver him to the competent Honduran authorities.