Nicaragua restores diplomatic relations with Honduras

MANAGUA – Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega announced late Sunday that his country was restoring diplomatic relations with neighboring Honduras as part of efforts to normalize the situation in the region.

The relations had been severed in the wake of a 2009 coup d’état in Honduras that overthrew leftist president Manuel Zelaya.

Ortega also recognized current Honduran leader Porfirio Lobo as the country’s legitimate president, a decision that was announced during a regional summit that brought together the leaders of Central American states.

In a statement, Ortega said the restoration of bilateral relations will be “immediate and full.”

The Nicaraguan president was the only regional leader who did not recognize Lobo, who assumed power in January 2010 after winning presidential elections hastily arranged in the wake of the coup.

The Honduran military bundled Zelaya out of the country on a plane after he dismissed an order from the Supreme Court to cancel a referendum to rewrite the constitution, in what his critics characterized as a bid to seek a re-election.

Lobo was elected president amid a political impasse between the de facto government that followed the coup and Zelaya, who was seeking his reinstatement.

But Lobo and Zelaya have recently signed an agreement, mediated by Colombia and Venezuela, that would allow Zelaya to return home from exile in the Dominican Republic.