Honduras: Former President Manuel Zelaya Returns  · Global Voices
Silvia Viñas

Former president Manuel Zelaya returned to Honduras on Saturday, May 28, 2011, amid celebratory cries from his supporters and skepticism from his opponents. Zelaya was removed from office almost 2 years ago through a coup d'etat.
After refusing to reinstate Zelaya in 2009, Honduras was suspended from the Organization of American States. Now, Zelaya's peaceful return paves the way for the country's re-entry into the organization, as settled in ‘The Cartagena Accord,‘ an agreement signed by Zelaya and his successor, Porfirio Lobo.
The Latin Americanist blog explains:
The pact, which was facilitated by the Colombian and Venezuelan governments, also permits for the country's planned return to the Organization of American States (OAS). According to the Council on Hemispheric Affairs, OAS Secretary General José Miguel Insulza claimed that Honduras “has already met the necessary conditions for its reentry into the organization”. Reinstatement could come as soon as next month.
Secretary general of the OAS, José Miguel Insulza with former president Mel Zelaya in Tegucigalpa, Honduras on May 28, 2011 (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0).
Several bloggers wrote anticipating the ousted president's return. Belén Fernández in PULSE blogged about the rhetoric used by Zelaya's opponents:
Despite the accord, golpista rhetoric continues in the same  broken-record fashion as always, and the first person I spoke with upon  setting foot in the capital city informed me—as though it were urgent  news and not something I had been repeatedly informed of for four months  in 2009—that Zelaya had sought to remain president for life.
La Gringa’s Blogcito described the expectant atmosphere that was felt before Zelaya’s return:
Tomorrow,  May 28th is the big day. The second coming of  the messiah, or at least  that is how the return of the former president  Mel Zelaya is being  treated in some quarters. I don't know how Zelaya  could possibly live up  to the expectations. For that, I am sorry. Not  sorry for Mel, but sorry  for the people who think that his coming will  somehow change their  lives or prospects.
On May 28, ‘La Gringa’ periodically updated a post on the day’s events.
3:00  p.m. This crowd has been waiting for four hours to  see their leader!  Some have been waiting since 6 p.m. yesterday. I  guess Insulza [Secretary General of the Organization of American States]   and the other dignitaries waiting to welcome him have been waiting a   few hours for their lunch, too. Total lack of respect for everyone, most   of all the pueblo that he claims to represent. It's all about Mel.  Always has been.
In Nacer en Honduras [es], a blogger under the pseudonym Árdegas criticised Zelaya’s government, but added,
En  mi opinión, es positivo que Mel venga a Honduras. No hay por qué temer.  Con su venida se le bajará el perfil internacional al drama del “golpe  de Estado”. Se cierra un círculo y se derrumba el mito de que Mel es un  perseguido político.
Árdegas concluded:
El  ex-presidente Zelaya causará cierta agitación con su venida, al  principio, pero luego dejará de ser una novedad, aunque siempre  mantendrá cierto liderazgo entre sus seguidores incondicionales.
But some Hondurans were not as optimistic. While waiting for Zelaya’s arrival, the blogger behind MelWars [es] argued that the former president's return will cause division among the people:
A  partir de Hoy, Honduras tendrá dos presidentes, dos tipos de pueblo, y  el fraccionamiento será absoluto, una brecha demasiado grande como para  sanarla, está divisón será permanente, de eso ya no cabe duda.
In a follow-up post [es], the same blogger echoed his previous concern:
Recibido  como un héroe, entre gritos de ¡Viva Mel! ¡Presidente Zelaya! dando a  conocer que él, sigue siendo su presidente, ahora es tiempo de  reflexionar ¿Quién es el verdadero presidente de la nación?
From a different perspective, Guillermo Paz (@Guille_Paz) said that Zelaya is not responsible for causing division:
Acusan  a Mel Zelaya de crear división en el país pero La división reside en la  Intolerancia de la gente al no respetar opiniones de otros
'Viva Mel' by Jose Luis Duron on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0) .
While thousands of Zelaya's supporters welcomed him at the airport, others, like Nelly Suria (@nellysuria) and Marvin Josue (@M_JosuePaz), celebrated his return on Twitter. Oscar Guzmán (@Oscarletto) told Marvin Josue:
@M_Josuepaz! Llego el Lider. Vino #Zelaya para quedarse ;) y lo mejor de todo, a transformar #Honduras
Some, however, thought differently, like Cris (@CrisMC9), Rodrigo Gomez (@rodrigomez93) and Shirley Rodriguez (@S_Nicolle25). The latter wrote:
Que triste! -.- Gente esperando a Manuel Zelaya, como si fuera un heroe el bigotudo ese!
Under the Cartagena Accord, Zelaya is allowed to participate in Honduran politics, but whether his return will bring a positive or negative change to Honduras –or any change at all, for that matter– is uncertain and something to watch for in the coming months.