TEGUCIALPA, Honduras, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Deposed former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya went into exile as a new president of Honduras was inaugurated, officials said.
Zelaya left the Brazilian Embassy with his family for the airport Wednesday accompanied by Honduras's new president, Porfirio Lobo, and the Dominican Republic's president, Leonel Fernandez, who invited Zelaya to the country's capital, The New York Times reported Thursday.
Upon arriving in Santo Domingo, Zelaya called on Lobo to continue trying to restore democracy in Honduras, which has been gripped by a political crisis since the June 28 coup that ousted Zelaya.
"We are emerging from the worst political crisis in our history," Lobo told the audience at a stadium in the Honduran capital of Tegucialpa.
Lobo signed an amnesty decree a few minutes into his inaugural speech, the Times reported. The decree removes the abuse-of-power charges against Zelaya, still facing embezzlement allegations, and protects the coup's organizers.
Lobo said he would set up a truth commission to investigate events leading up to the coup and its aftermath.
