SANTO DOMINGO.- Honduras president Manuel Zelaya arrived in the National Palace at 9:05 a.m. Friday, where his Dominican par Leonel Fernandez received him with full military honors

They met for around 45 minutes and said they'll hold a press conference aftewards..

Zelaya, in a brief telephone interview on Z-101 FM radio fefore arriving in the National Palace, had said he’ll ask Fernandez to be his spokesman and state his position on the coup, in the Summit of Non-Allied Countries in Egypt.

He said in yesterday’s meeting in San José, Costa Rica with the mediation of president Oscar Arias, he didn’t want to speak face to face with the coup leaders. He added for him to return the coup’s participants must leave power.

Military honors

To the cheers and applause of more than 100 Government employees gathered the Palace esplanade, the two leaders reviewed the Dominican Presidential Guard in parade uniform for the occasion.

The Presidency’s press office has yet to release Zelaya’s agenda in the country, and if the surprise meeting would delay Fernandez’s departure to the Middle East, to take part in the Summit of Non-Aligned Nations in Egypt and an official visit to Israel.

In July U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggested that Fernandez would be an ideal mediator in regional disputes, for which today encounter may lead to intensifying the diplomatic wrangling aimed at reinstating Zelaya in Honduras.