Honduras regime wavers amid international uproar

Honduran de facto leaders pledged to reconsider a clampdown on rights and resume mediation efforts, as deposed President Manuel Zelaya appealed for help from the United Nations.

The deep divides within the Central American country echoed beyond its borders as the Organization of American States failed Monday after more than 10 hours of debate to reach consensus on the crisis sparked by the June 28 coup.

Amid widespread international criticism, de facto leader Roberto Micheletti said he was prepared to rescind a decree restricting civil liberties so that upcoming presidential polls are not affected.

"We're worried that this decree could affect the elections," Micheletti told journalists in Tegucigalpa, hours after soldiers shut down two dissident media outlets under the new measures. "If it's necessary, we'll revoke it."

Protesters earlier taped their mouths shut to symbolize the loss of their right to express themselves as they were prevented from answering Zelaya's call to converge for a mass protest.

Zelaya appealed to the U.N. General Assembly on Monday to restore law in Honduras in an address he gave by telephone from his refuge in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa - where he emerged after a surprise return last week.

"Anybody who had any doubt that a dictatorship is taking hold of my country, now with what has happened in the last 93 days of repression, I think any of those doubts that might have existed are dispelled," Zelaya said.