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In a deal brokered by Venezuela and Colombia, ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya returned to his country after a coup nearly two years ago this past Saturday. Zelaya signed an agreement on May 22nd with President Porfirio Lobo who was elected in November 2009, promising to pursue his agenda outside the electoral arena, in particular tackling issues of poverty and hunger. The agreement was signed in Cartagena, Colombia, with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos in attendance. President Lobo called the return of Zelaya a “very important day for Honduras,” and “for the millions of Hondurans who choose to live in peace and harmony.” In advance of Zelaya’s return, Honduras’ courts dropped pending corruption charges and arrest warrants against him. As part of the agreement for Zelaya’s return, Honduras was allowed reentry into the Organization of American States (OAS) in a vote that took place yesterday. This past Sunday, there was a large demonstration on the streets of the capital, Tegucigalpa, by thousands of people demanding action on poverty and its related symptoms. A Los Angeles Times editorial yesterday said that even though Zelaya has returned “it would be a mistake to conclude that the crisis in that country is over. Violence and economic and political isolation persist.”

GUEST: Gerardo Torres, representative of the International Commission of the National Front of Popular Resistance of Honduras, General Secretary of the Political Organization Los Necios/Las Necias (Organización Politica Los Necios — OPLN). Torres is also a member of the Analysis Commission of the FNRP and Ideological Education of the National Front of Youth Movements in Resistance of Honduras.