L'AQUILA, Italy (AFP) — US President Barack Obama and his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called Thursday for the rapid return to power of deposed Honduran leader Manuel Zelaya, a Lula aide said.
"The position of Brazil and the United States is very firm in condemning the coup" which ousted Zelaya on June 28, Lula's diplomatic adviser Marco Aurelio Garcia told journalists.
They hope that a solution in Honduras is found as quickly as possible, "based on the legal and legitimate option which is the reinstallation of Zelaya in his position," he added.
During their unscheduled talks on the sidelines of the summit of G8 members and emerging nations in Italy, Lula welcomed the US stance on Honduras, Garcia said.
"For the first time all the countries of the Americas are coordinated in condemning an event of this importance," he added.
Washington and Brasilia both backed the efforts of Organisation of American States to resolve the Honduran crisis, he said.
Talks between Zelaya and Roberto Micheletti, the man picked by the Honduran congress to replace him, were due to begin Thursday in San Jose, hosted by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize winner.
Members of the OAS, including the United States, have backed the dialogue in the hope that talks could offer a way out of the crisis.
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