The de facto government of Honduras announced Thursday it has accepted a future visit of a mediation team composed of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias and Panamanian Vice President Juan Carlos Varela, in order to maintain a dialogue regarding the Honduran crisis.

The crisis has deepened with the return on Monday of Honduras' deposed president, Manuel Zelaya, who remains holed up in the Brazilian Embassy in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa.

The announcement came along with the de facto government's postponement of a planned visit by the Organization of American States (OAS), which was expected to send a group headed by its secretary general, José Miguel Insulza, in the coming days. That visit would come after a conflictive one by Insulza on July 3, during which he failed to persuade Micheletti to meet the OAS' demands to allow Zelaya to return to the presidency.

According to a statement from the Honduran Foreign Ministry, Micheletti is willing to receive the OAS mission at a future date.

De facto President Roberto Micheletti said he suggested to President Carter that Varela, who also serves as Panama's foreign minister, accompany Arias and Carter.

In an ease-up from the region's hard line against Honduras' upcoming presidential elections, the recently elected Panamanian government has said it will endorse whichever candidate wins the November vote (TT Daily News, Sept. 21).

At the behest of the government of Brazil, the United Nations Security Council will hold an emergency meeting Friday to discuss the Honduran crisis.