 Day
25
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Honduran
Interim Government Asks
Venezuelan Diplomats To Leave
Tegucigalpa - Honduras'
interim government on Tuesday gave 72 hours
to Venezuelan diplomats to leave, accusing
them of threatening to use force and
interfering into the country's internal
affairs.
"The Foreign Ministry has requested the
honorable embassy of Venezuela the
withdrawal of its administrative, technical
and diplomatic staff in a term of 72 hours
due to the threats of using force, the
interference in internal issues as well as
the lack of respect to the territorial
integrity," Deputy Foreign Minister Martha
Lorena Alvarado said.
The request, however, was turned down by
Vezezuelan diplomats who said they would not
leave Honduras and would not obey the order
of any coup government not recognized by
Venezuela.
"We do not recognize the government led by
Roberto Micheletti. It is a coup government,
supported by bayonets," Uriel Vargas, the
first secretary from the Venezuelan embassy
in Honduras, told local radio station HRN.
Since the June 28 coup in which Honduran
President Manuel Zelaya was deposed by
force, Venezuela has shown full support for
the ousted leader and condemned the
post-coup government as "usurpers" and
"coup-mongers."
Chavez said Tuesday that Zelaya's expulsion
had also been an attack on Venezuela and
regional leftist countries.
The Venezuelan president has also reiterated
in various occasions that his country would
not use force to meddle in Honduras'
internal affairs.
The European Union on Monday suspended 65.5
million euros (93 million U.S. dollars) in
aid to Honduran institutions, saying that
the bloc would continue to restrict
political contacts with Honduras' de facto
government "until a peaceful negotiated
solution has been found." |
