TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras – Honduran police cracked down on protesters and Congress delayed consideration of an amnesty bill needed to end the standoff, even as the interim leader appeared to back away from his opposition to reinstating ousted President Manuel Zelaya.

The mixed signals from Honduras' interim powers on whether a deal to resolve the country's coup crisis is imminent came as Zelaya met with the U.S. ambassador to Honduras in Nicaragua, where the ousted president has set up his government in exile.

But Zelaya's foreign minister expressed frustration with meeting with U.S. officials, saying nothing new came out of it.

The interim government has long said it hopes to outlast international sanctions and diplomatic isolation until November elections, which it hopes will weaken calls to restore Zelaya, who was flown into exile during a June 28 coup.

A former Honduran government official said Thursday that interim President Roberto Micheletti is open to considering Zelaya's reinstatement, but wants concessions to mollify reluctant business leaders. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to divulge information from a private conversation.

Micheletti's previous refusal to even consider Zelaya's reinstatement was a key stumbling block in talks mediated by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias on resolving Honduras' political crisis.

While Micheletti's apparent flexibility was seen as a positive sign for negotiations, Honduras' congressional leaders decided to put off until Monday consideration of a bill on granting amnesties to both sides in the dispute — an important part of Arias' plan to end the standoff. Congress had originally been scheduled to take up the matter this week.

Also marking a tougher stance, riot police in Tegucigalpa used tear gas and night sticks to break up a pro-Zelaya blockade of a main artery leading into the capital. Police said 25 people were injured and 88 arrested.

"We will not allow any more disturbances," Micheletti told reporters Thursday. "We are going to bring order to Honduras."

A Zelaya supporter was wounded in the head by a gunshot and was seriously hurt; police spokesman Daniel Molina alleged the shot was fired by protesters.

Red Cross spokesman Domingo Flores said protesters attacked an ambulance and beat three Red Cross workers, accusing them of being coup supporters.

Before this week, the interim government had largely tolerated the street blockades and protests, which regularly snarl traffic in Tegucigalpa and other major cities.

Zelaya's team, in turn, demanded a tougher strategy after Zelaya left the Nicaraguan town of El Ocotal to meet in Managua with U.S. Ambassador to Honduras Hugo Llorens.

Zelaya told reporters after the three-hour meeting that he asked for Washington to apply pressure on the interim government "with more energy, more strength and greater decisiveness." He will also ask for "immediate action" from the U.N. and Organization of American States.

But his foreign minister, Patricia Rodas, told the Telesur network that "it has been a meeting of repetitions, of positions that can't be negotiated. They the U.S. diplomats didn't come with a change, nor any new proposal."

Micheletti called the meeting an "interference," and said "Ambassador Llorens has committed a serious mistake by meeting with Zelaya."

Zelaya adviser Milton Jimenez said a proposal would be floated in the OAS for other countries to extend visa cancellations — like those by the United States against four interim government officials — to a broader range of those involved in the coup, as well as freezing their bank accounts.

Alexandra Olson reported from Mexico City. Associated Press writers Morgan Lee in Tegucigalpa, Filadelfo Aleman in Ocotal, Nicaragua, and Marianela Jimenez in San Jose, Costa Rica, contributed to this report.





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