Sunday July 5, 2009

Ousted Honduran leader mulls return after OAS ruling

By Patrick Markey

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya tried to rally support to fly home after the Organization of American States suspended the country because its caretaker government refused to reinstate him.

Honduras' ousted President Manuel Zelaya waves upon his arrival at Comalapa international airport, in San Salvador July 2, 2009. (REUTERS/La Prensa Grafica/Milton Flores/Pool)

The interim government said it would not allow Zelaya in the country.

The OAS met into the early hours of Sunday in Washington and took the rare step to suspend one of its members after the interim authorities ignored an ultimatum by the 34-member body to reinstate Zelaya. It was the strongest move yet by foreign governments to isolate the caretaker government.

In Central America's first coup since the Cold War era Zelaya, a leftist who took power in 2006 and had been due to leave office in 2010, was ousted by troops and sent into exile a week ago after a dispute over presidential term limits.

Honduras, a coffee and textile exporter with a population of around 7 million, is the third poorest country in the hemisphere after Haiti and Nicaragua. The OAS slap could hamper its ability to obtain loans.

Zelaya told the OAS meeting said he wanted to fly from Washington to Honduras later on Sunday.

But several countries at the OAS meeting advised against the move -- which could sharply escalate tension given the interim government has said since last week it will arrest him if he returns.

In Honduras, Enrique Ortez, foreign minister of the caretaker government, said any aircraft carrying Zelaya would not be allowed to land.

"I have given orders that he not be allowed back. We cannot allow recklessness," he told local radio.

Zelaya, a businessman who edged to the left after he came to power, upset the country's traditional elite, including members of his own Liberal Party, with what critics say was an illegal attempt to lift presidential term limits and by establishing closer ties with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a U.S. foe.

Honduran Archbishop Oscar Andres Rodriguez warned Zelaya against trying to come home in a television broadcast on Saturday. "Returning to the country now could trigger a bloodbath. I know you love life, that you respect life. Until today not one Honduran life has been lost. Consider this, because later it will be too late," he said.

There have been rallies in support of and against the coup in the last week but so far no serious violence.

OAS MOVES

Zelaya was discussing his return in Washington with leftist allies including Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa and Argentina's Cristina Fernandez. But it remained unclear who would travel with him or if the OAS would accompany him.

The OAS, in a resolution passed by a 33-0 vote late on Saturday night, with Honduras itself not voting, encouraged member states to review their relations with Honduras.

The suspension, which was to take immediate effect, could complicate access to credits from regional lender Inter-American Development Bank for Honduras. The IADB said last week it was suspending loans over the coup.

The Obama administration, European governments and Zelaya's left-wing allies have condemned last Sunday's ouster. The caretaker government, installed hours after the coup, has said it legally removed a president who violated the constitution.

Insulza, who visited the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa on Friday, said on Saturday that the interim government showed no willingness to restore Zelaya to office or recognize there had been a rupture in the constitutional order.

"It is better to pay this high price... than live undignified and bow the our heads to the demands of foreign governments," said Roberto Micheletti, named caretaker president by the Honduran Congress after Zelaya's ouster, on Saturday ahead of the expected OAS move.

The coup has thrown up a test for regional diplomacy and for President Barack Obama's ability to mend the battered U.S. image in Latin America.

The Obama administration has so far given the OAS the lead role in seeking a solution. It has also held off on issuing a legal determination of the ouster as a coup -- a definition that would force a cutoff of aid to the country.

(Additional reporting by Jim Wolf in Washington, and Gustavo Palencia and Mica Rosenberg in Tegucigalpa)

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