Manuel Zelaya, the ousted president of Honduras, is set to meet with his elected successor next week, the leader of the nearby Dominican Republic announced.
President Leonel Fernandez said the meeting between Zelaya and Porfirio Lobo is likely to take place in the Dominican Republic on Monday. However, the news has not been confirmed by either the Honduran leadership or Zelaya.
Zelaya was ousted as president in a coup on June 28. In September he secretly returned to Honduras, and has been holed up in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa ever since.
CNN quoted an anonymous source in the de facto Honduran government as saying the meeting is unlikely to take place.
"Unless he leaves on a flying saucer, Zelaya is not going anywhere... The only legal way for him to leave the country is under the condition of political asylum," the source said.
The Mexican foreign ministry said in a statement on Thursday that it was "taking measures" to grant political asylum to Zelaya.
"The Mexican government has been taking measures to grant the request of President Manuel Zelaya," the ministry said on its website.
Mexican diplomats said they were seeking to "receive the necessary security guarantees, so that president Zelaya could safely leave the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa."
However, in an interview with TeleSur TV, Zelaya said he would leave Honduras only as the head of state.
"I do not seek asylum in any country" he said.
Last week, the Honduran Congress voted against the reinstatement of Zelaya for the remainder of his term, which ends in January.
Porfirio Lobo of the Honduran opposition National Party won the recent elections, which took place amid an ongoing political crisis.
MOSCOW, December 12 (RIA Novosti)
