In a letter sent to the US State Department Nov. 4, ousted President Manuel Zelaya asked the Obama administration why, after pressing for his reinstatement, it now says it will recognize upcoming Honduran elections even if he isn't returned to power first. The letter calls upon Secretary of State Hillary Clinton "to clarify to the Honduran people if the position condemning the coup d'etat has been changed or modified." The request came after Washington's top envoy to Latin America, Thomas Shannon, told CNN en Espanol that Washington will recognize the Nov. 29 elections even if the Honduran Congress votes against returning Zelaya to power.

On Nov. 1 Honduran president José Manuel Zelaya Rosales expressed optimism about an agreement his representatives signed with the country's de facto government on Oct. 30 to end a political crisis that began with a military coup on June 28. At the same time, he warned against possible "manipulation" by de facto president Roberto Micheletti. "[W]e need to stay alert until compliance [with the accord] is accomplished," he told the Venezuela-based TeleSUR television network.

There is little question that the US was the main force behind the Oct. 30 agreement between the de facto Honduran government and representatives of deposed president Manuel Zeleya. Talks to end the crisis were deadlocked as of Oct. 23, after 16 days of negotiations. A delegation from the US headed by Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas Shannon joined the talks in Tegucigalpa on Oct. 28, and an agreement was signed just two days later.

With just a month to go before scheduled presidential elections, a US-brokered agreement to return Manuel Zelaya to power in Honduras was announced Oct. 30, with the ousted president saying he hoped to be restored within a week. But the deal still needs to be approved by the Honduran congress, which has not set a date for voting on the plan. "Now it's in Congress' hands," said Armando Aguilar, a negotiator for de facto President Roberto Micheletti. (AP, Oct. 30)

On Oct. 23 negotiators for deposed Honduran president José Manuel Zelaya Rosales gave up on talks to end a four-month political crisis in Honduras. The negotiations had been "worn down" by the intransigence of de facto president Roberto Micheletti Bain's government, Zelaya representative Mayra Mejía announced in Tegucigalpa.

On Oct. 23 the Washington, DC-based polling firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner released the results of a survey involving face-to-face interviews held Oct. 9-13 with 621 randomly selected Hondurans; the firm didn't give the margin of error. According to the survey, 60% of Hondurans disapproved of the June 28 removal of President Manuel Zelaya from office, while only 38% approved. Some 19% rated Zelaya's performance in office as "excellent" and another 48% as "good"; the poll showed 57% personally disapproving of Roberto Micheletti, de facto president since Zelaya's overthrow, while 28% approved.

A number of legal experts are challenging an August report by the US Law Library of Congress claiming the June overthrow of Honduran president Manuel Zelaya was in accordance with Honduras' 1982 Constitution. Rep. Aaron Schock (R-IL) requested the report from the library and released it Sept. 24, incorrectly attributing it to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. It has been cited regularly since then by US supporters of the de facto Honduran government.

The Guatemalan coast guard, with assistance from the US Navy, seized a small submarine carrying 10 tons of cocaine Oct. 22. Officials say the sub was operated by three Colombian and one Mexican citizens. A statement from the Guatemalan interior ministry said the sub was detained some 180 nautical miles off Puerto Quetzal in the south of Escuintla. It marks the first time a submarine filled with drugs has been apprehended by law enforcement in Guatemala, and may be the largest drug bust the country has seen.