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Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya (L) shakes hands with Organization of American States (OAS) chief Jose Miguel Insulza at the end of the special general assembly of the in Washington - Source: Reuters -
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Honduras faced growing pressure to reinstate ousted President
Manuel Zelaya after the Organization of American States set a
72-hour deadline to reinstate him and reverse an army coup.
The crisis in Honduras, a coffee and textile producer, has
spiralled into the worst political turmoil in Central America since
the US invasion of Panama in 1989.
Troops captured Zelaya and whisked him out of the country to
Costa Rica in a dawn raid on Sunday.
The ousted leftist president had planned to return home on
Thursday, accompanied by foreign leaders, to serve out a term that
ends in 2010, defying a warning from the interim government that he
faces arrest if he returns.
But with the OAS setting an ultimatum for the interim government to
back down, Zelaya told reporters in Washington he now did not
expect to return before the weekend.
Zelaya headed to Panama to attend the inauguration of the new
president there, a US official said in Washington.
The ouster of Zelaya - forced out over his push to extend
presidential terms beyond a single four-year term - has been
condemned by leaders from US President Barack Obama to Zelaya's
left-wing allies in Latin America and posed a test for both
regional diplomacy and Obama's ability to improve the battered US
standing in Latin America.
His arrival in Honduras - Zelaya said the Argentine and Ecuadorean
presidents and the UN General Assembly and OAS chiefs would
accompany him back to Honduras - could trigger a diplomatic
standoff.
Roberto Micheletti, sworn in as caretaker president by the Honduran
Congress soon after the coup, opened a potential window for talks
by sending a delegation to Washington.
However, it was not clear who the delegation might see - OAS chief
Jose Miguel Insulza said officials from the organization had no
plans to meet with any delegation from the caretaker
government.
A senior US official said that no one from the Obama
administration would see the representatives.
Pentagon move
The Pentagon said the US military had postponed activities with its
Honduran counterpart while the Obama administration reviewed the
situation in Honduras.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said he could not specify what
activities had been postponed.
"It's only prudent, as we assess this situation, to postpone the
activities," he told reporters.
The US military has a task force of about 600 troops stationed at a
Honduran base northwest of the capital city.
Honduras was a US ally in the 1980s when Washington helped
Central American governments fight Marxist rebels.
The OAS resolution, agreed early on Wednesday in an emergency
session at its Washington headquarters, demanded the immediate,
safe, and unconditional return of the president to his
constitutional functions.
It warned Honduras would be suspended from the body if diplomatic
measures to restore democracy failed in 72 hours.
Further pressuring Honduras, France and Spain recalled their envoys
for consultations.
Protests, international condemnation
Since coming to power in 2006, Zelaya has become a divisive figure
in Honduras, an impoverished coffee, textile and banana-exporter of
seven million people, especially after he allied himself with
firebrand socialist and fierce US foe Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez.
Public support for the wealthy businessman had dropped as low as
30% in recent months, with many Hondurans uncomfortable over his
tilt to the left in a country with a long-time conservative,
pro-Washington position.
Micheletti, a veteran of Zelaya's Liberal Party who is backed by
business and political powerbrokers, has said he plans to stay on
until an election in November.
Honduras extended a night-time curfew to the end of the week.
Troops and police tightened security at the international
airport, but traffic was normal and many stores reopened for
business, although schools remained shut.
Several thousand demonstrators on Tuesday rallied to applaud
Zelaya's ouster in the capital Tegucigalpa, after a day of clashes
between riot police and the toppled leader's supporters broke out
near the presidential palace.
The interim government said Zelaya would be detained if he returned
on charges ranging from violating the constitution to drug
trafficking.
The crisis erupted as Honduras struggles with a sharp decline in
remittances from Hondurans living in the United States and in vital
textile exports.
Thousands of jobs have already been lost due to the slowdown in
exports.
But coffee producers said exports had not been affected even after
protesters blocked major highways in the interior of the
country.
