OAS gives Honduras ultimatum

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(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-02 08:38

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras: Honduras' interim leader warned that the only way his predecessor will return to office is through a foreign invasion - though a potential showdown with the ousted president was delayed due to action yesterday by the Organization of American States (OAS).

A defiant Roberto Micheletti said in an interview late on Tuesday that "no one can make me resign," defying the United Nations, the OAS, the Obama administration and other leaders that have condemned the military coup that overthrew President Manuel Zelaya.

The UN General Assembly voted by acclamation on Tuesday to demand Zelaya's immediate restoration, and the Organization of American States said yesterday that coup leaders have three days to restore Zelaya to power before Honduras risks being suspended from the group.

That period for negotiation prompted Zelaya to announce he was putting off his plans to return home today until the weekend.

Micheletti vowed Zelaya would be arrested if he returns, even though the presidents of Argentina and Ecuador have signed on to accompany him along with the heads of the Organization of American States and the UN General Assembly.

Zelaya "has already committed crimes against the constitution and the law," said Micheletti, a member of Zelaya's Liberal Party who was named interim leader by Congress following the coup. "He can no longer return to the presidency of the republic unless a president from another Latin American country comes and imposes him using guns."

Soldiers stormed Zelaya's residence and flew him into exile early on Sunday after he insisted on trying to hold a referendum asking Hondurans if they wanted to reform the constitution. The Supreme Court, Congress and the military all deemed his planned ballot illegal.

Zelaya, who is an ally of leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, backed down from the referendum on Tuesday, saying at the United Nations that he would no longer push for the constitutional changes he wanted.

One of several clauses that cannot be legally altered in the Honduran constitution limits presidents to a single, 4-year term. Congress claims Zelaya, whose term ends in January, modified the ballot question at the last minute to help him eventually try to seek re-election. Chavez has used referendums in Venezuela to win the right to run repeatedly.