CRISIS IN HONDURAS
Honduras Interim
Government Declines To Negotiate With OAS
Teguicigalpa - Honduras'
post-coup government will not negotiate with
the OAS and allow ousted President Manuel Zelaya to return to office, the interim
government said Wednesday.
Supporters of Honduras' President Manuel
Zelaya stage a rally in Tegucigalpa, capital
of Honduras, July 1, 2009. Honduras'
President Zelaya said he will postpone his
return to Honduras 72 hours to the weekend,
instead of Thursday, as originally planned.
(Xinhua/David De La Paz)
Supporters of Honduras' President Manuel
Zelaya stage a rally in Tegucigalpa, capital
of Honduras, July 1, 2009. Honduras'
President Zelaya said he will postpone his
return to Honduras 72 hours to the weekend,
instead of Thursday, as originally planned.
(Xinhua/David De La Paz)
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"Anyone who has violated the law cannot be
reinstated," the newly-appointed foreign
minister Enrique Ortez Colindrez told the
media.
"Honduras' sovereignty cannot be negotiated
with the Organization of American States
(OAS), nor with anyone," said the minister,
who was named by the acting president
Roberto Micheletti immediately after the
coup.
Ortez said "international commitments signed
with Honduras are being respected."
On Tuesday, the OAS gave Honduras an
ultimate 72 hours to reinstall Zelaya or
face expulsion from the bloc. see the story
Honduras' neighboring countries have closed
their borders with it, and the Central
American Integration System barred Honduras
from receiving disbursements or new loans
from its bank, the Central American Bank for
Economic Integration.
Zelaya plans to return to Honduras at the
weekend accompanied by Jose Miguel Insulza,
the OAS secretary general.
The president was driven out of Honduras on
Sunday after hooded and heavily armed
soldiers seized him from bed at the
presidential palace and forced him into
exile in Costa Rica.
A new government was appointed hours later
by a legislative session that began with the
reading of a letter, allegedly by Zelaya,
saying Zelaya had resigned on health
grounds.
A large number of international
organizations, including the United Nations
and the OAS, have denounced the coup. Many
governments, particularly those in Latin
America, insist they would not recognize the
post-coup Honduran leadership.
Supporters of Honduras' President Manuel
Zelaya stage a rally in Tegucigalpa, capital
of Honduras, July 1, 2009. Honduras'
President Zelaya said he will postpone his
return to Honduras 72 hours to the weekend,
instead of Thursday, as originally planned.
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