As negotiators labored over the weekend to hammer out further compromise between Honduran president-in-exile Manuel Zelaya and Roberto Micheletti's party of putschists, reports raising new concerns about the country's stability took center stage.  On Friday, the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) issued a statement expressing concern over the appearance of mercenaries in Honduras since Zelaya's ouster over the summer. 

The HRC highlighted its findings that at least forty Colombian paramilitaries -- drawn, it is believed, from the right-wing United Self-defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), a US-designated "terrorist organization" -- and some 120 other operators from around the region have arrived in Honduras to support Micheletti's regime and protect the private holdings of his primary patrons. 

"We urge the Honduran authorities to take all practical measures to prevent the use of mercenaries within its territory and to fully investigate allegations concerning their presence and activities," the Commission exhorted in a press release issued on Friday. 

Revelations of mercenary activity in Honduras, while startling, should come as no surprise.  After all, Micheletti's personal security advisor is none other than Billy Joya -- an infamous death squad leader from the 1980s and erstwhile CIA operative -- who New York University's Greg Grandin reports travelled to Colombia a month ago to secure help from paramilitaries there.  Joya was a lieutenant in the brutal, and American-financed, 3-16 intelligence unit nearly twenty years ago, and founder of Lince de los Cobros, the unit's elite coercive arm.

But the emergence of paramilitaries underlines the need to resolve this crisis, and soon.  Reports of abuse at the hands of Honduran security forces continue to pour into human rights monitoring bodies, while the number of murders perpetrated against opponents of the de facto regime, women, and homosexuals has climbed sharply.  Scores of journalists, teachers, union leaders and aid workers have also requested increased protection from the government against constant death threats and harassment.  Unfortunately, the government in all likelihood is responsible for these actions in the first place.  According to the New York Times, "Since Mr. Zelaya's return, security forces also have been rumbling through poor neighborhoods that are the base of his support...'There were eight policemen and their faces were all covered,'" said one woman beaten by policemen in Tegucigalpa, "adding that they had selected her at random from the group at the bus stop. 'There was no motive. It is their hobby now.'"

Negotiators claim progress in their deliberations, despite the fact that the key issue -- Zelaya's return to power, however briefly -- remains hopelessly deadlocked, obstructing any chance for a peaceful solution.  According to Reuters, talks closed Friday with opposing camp mediators "sharing smiles and saying progress had been made in their third day of talks. 'We have advanced 60 percent,' said Vilma Morales, a member of Micheletti's team and former Supreme Court president. 'I agree totally,' said Mayra Mejia, representing Zelaya.'"

This may be, but time is running out.  Zelaya has indicated that he is giving the talks until 15 October to reach some semblance of resolution, or he will take unspecified action.  But more importantly,  while Micheletti dithers in the name of democracy at the presidential palace, and Zelaya plays at revolutionary-man-of-the-people from inside the Brazilian embassy, Hondurans themselves increasingly fall victim to torture, gangland style executions, and hate crimes.