Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya on Friday pulled out of an agreement that was supposed to solve the country's political crisis, leaving the next moves to voters in a presidential election on Nov. 29 -- and to Latin American leaders who will have to decide whether to accept the winner.

"This deal is dead. The other side has failed to uphold their end," said Mr. Zelaya in a radio interview Friday. His move followed the Honduran Congress's failure to vote this week on reinstating him.


Mr. Zelaya and the interim government, led by President Roberto Micheletti, agreed a week ago to create a government of national unity and let the country's Congress decide on the issue of Mr. Zelaya's return to office, which has been the central issue of the crisis since he was removed on June 28.

In return, the U.S., in what was a policy turnaround, said it would recognize this month's election even if Congress didn't return Mr. Zelaya to power, and would lift economic sanctions Washington had placed on Honduras, one of the hemisphere's poorest countries.

After Mr. Zelaya's statement Friday, a U.S. State Department spokesman said the U.S. didn't consider the agreement to be dead. "Both sides need to return to the table and negotiate the formation of a national unity government," the spokesman said.

Mr. Zelaya made his intention to withdraw from the agreement obvious late Thursday when he didn't submit a list of candidates for a unity government. Earlier, Mr. Micheletti's cabinet ministers had tendered their resignations to pave the way for the new government. On Friday morning, U.S. diplomats made a last-ditch, failed attempt to get Mr. Zelaya to submit names, according to a person close to the negotiations.


U.S. officials had hoped that Honduras's Congress would reinstate Mr. Zelaya until his term ends in January in order to secure widespread international recognition for the election. But as days passed, it became clear Honduras' Congress was in no mood for a quick return of the controversial leader. It put off a vote and said it would wait for decisions on the legality of Mr. Zelaya's restitution from the country's Supreme Court and other institutions.

Mr. Micheletti is likely to gain from the latest fracas. The Micheletti government, along with many Hondurans, says elections represent the best way out of the crisis, which has turned Honduras into an international pariah.

If Mr. Zelaya's return does come to a vote in Congress, he is likely to lose. He would be facing the same legislators who on June 28 voted overwhelmingly to replace him. Mr. Zelaya's Liberal Party, which has a majority in Congress, is now split, while Honduras's other major party, the Nationalist Party -- whose candidate now is expected to win the election -- is solidly anti-Zelaya.

Mr. Zelaya's withdrawal from the accord could put the U.S. at loggerheads with a number of Latin American countries who are insisting that the ousted president be restored to power as a necessary part of any political settlement in Honduras. Most of these countries, such as Nicaragua and Bolivia, are closely allied to Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez, Mr. Zelaya's most vocal supporter. But hemispheric heavyweight Brazil, which is increasingly seeking a higher profile role in Latin America, is also among the countries loudly demanding Mr. Zelaya's return.

Mr. Zelaya was forced from the country by the army at the end of June after the Supreme Court ruled that he violated the constitution by trying to promote a referendum that critics said was aimed at keeping him in power beyond his term. Mr. Zelaya denies that was his intention.

Republican Sen. Jim DeMint lifted a hold Thursday he had placed on two key Obama administration nominees to top Latin American posts. Mr. DeMint placed the holds because the State Department had suggested it might not recognize election results if Mr. Zelaya wasn't returned to power.

The legislator said he had received assurances from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the U.S. would recognize the outcome of the elections "regardless of whether Manuel Zelaya is reinstated."