Arcadia Foundation

Deposed Honduran President Mel Zelaya stated in a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama that he no longer accepted “any agreement” for his reinstatement in power.

“From this date forward, whatever had been the case, I do not accept any agreement for returning to the presidency,” Zelaya, who was ousted in a June 28 coup, said in the letter to Obama.

Copies of the letter were distributed to the press by his supporters.

“The Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord is without value or effect through the unilateral noncompliance of the de facto government” headed by Roberto Micheletti, who was appointed to lead the country by the Honduran Congress on June 28, Zelaya said.

The pact was signed Oct. 29 by dialogue committees representing Micheletti and Zelaya and – among other things – established that the Congress must decide whether or not to reinstate the deposed president and that a unity government of national reconciliation would be formed.

The Honduran Congress announced that it will debate the matter once it receives the opinions it requested from the Supreme Court and other state entities.

Cuban dissidents holed up in a Havana house for 36 days started a liquids-only fast this week that led a doctor to order one of them to go home for health reasons, one of the protesters stated on Friday. The doctor ordered another protester — the only one who had been on a full hunger strike since the fast began on Wednesday — to start drinking liquids, protester Lazaro Yuri Valle Roca said in a telephone interview. The dissident vowed that the nine people remaining in the house will continue their protest. ”We remain firm in our decision and our disposition is to go forward,” Valle Roca said.

Asked what they are protesting, he said, “We are demanding our rights as Cubans.”

The nation has been run by Fidel Castro and his brother, Raul, for 50 years. Civil liberties are severely restricted and a noted Cuban blogger, Yoani Sanchez, reported she was roughed up by plainclothes government agents last week.

“They’re doing something quite risky,” author Ann Louise Bardach said of the dissidents. “They can all go to jail now for a long time.”

One of the protest leaders is Vladimiro Roca Antunez, who is the son of former Communist leader and Cuban Revolution icon Blas Roca. Lazaro Yuri Valle Roca is Vladimiro Roca’s nephew. Blas Roca died in 1987 at age 78.

Zimbabwe’s tourism chief says hotels have seen occupancy rates double in the past year as the country begins to enjoys the political and economic stability brought about by a unity government.

Emmanuel Fundira, president of the Zimbabwe Council of Tourism, says since a new government was formed in February, hotels have been about 60 percent full compared to 30 percent last year.

The country is rich in wildlife and natural attractions but tourism has suffered because of the country’s political and economic crisis.

Investors at a conference in Johannesburg were told how Zimbabwe’s battered economy is starting to show signs of growth. But full recovery is very much linked to the success of the new government which many fear is on the brink of collapse.

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