Negotiations in Costa Rica between the ousted democratically elected president of Honduras and the military-backed coup government collapsed on Sunday when the de facto government rejected a call for ousted President Manuel Zelaya to return but with limits on his power. President Óscar Arias of Costa Rica had presented a seven-point plan that would have restored Zelaya as president under a power-sharing government. As part of the plan, presidential elections would also be moved up. Zelaya’s delegation accepted the entire plan, but the coup government rejected Zelaya’s reinstatement under any condition. Costa Rican President Oscar Arias warned a civil war could break out.

Oscar Arias: “As you and many Hondurans know, there are weapons. What happens if one of those weapons is shot at a soldier, or a soldier shoots at an armed citizen? A civil war could break out, and blood will spill, something the Honduran people do not deserve. My conscience tells me that I cannot give up and must continue working for at least three more days, and that is what I propose to do.”

On Saturday, President Zelaya threatened to return to Honduras and stage an insurrection if he is not restored to power.

President Manuel Zelaya: “If the international community allows this coup, authorizes this coup, it’s also authorizing society to rise up and to choose the path of insurrection that is in Article 3 of the Honduran constitution. The path of insurrection is a path authorized in the constitution to defend the constitutional order. They are then authorizing guerrillas to return, insurgents to return.”