Honduras president postpones return home after OAS ultimatum

Honduras president postpones return home after OAS ultimatum

2009-07-02 00:08:53  

·Zelaya will delay return after OAS gave Honduras an ultimatum to restore him to power. ·Honduras' attorney general issued an arrest warrant for Zelaya. ·Honduras' congress named speaker Roberto Micheletti as the interim president.

    WASHINGTON, July 1 (Xinhua) --

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said here on Wednesday that he would postpone his plan to return home after the Organization of American States (OAS) gave the country an ultimatum to restore him to power.

    "We will wait 72 hours in order to continue with this process," Zelaya said in an interview with the CNN after the OAS gave Honduras 72 hours to restore Zelaya's presidency or would face suspension from the organization. Zelaya said on Tuesday that he would return to Honduras on Thursday.

    Honduran Attorney-General Luis Alberto Rubi said Zelaya would be arrested "as soon as he sets foot on Honduran soil" and he could face 20 years in prison.

    Hundreds of soldiers stormed the presidential residence in Honduras' capital Tegucigalpa on Sunday. Zelaya was put on a plane and sent into exile in Costa Rica.

    Honduras' congress named speaker Roberto Micheletti as the interim president. He has imposed a curfew.

OAS gives Honduran coup leaders three days to reinstate deposed president

2009-07-01 13:44:10  

    WASHINGTON, July 1 (Xinhua) --

The Organization of American States (OAS) gave the coup leaders in Honduras three days to reinstate deposed president Manuel Zelaya, or the country will face suspension.

    "If within 72 hours the reinstatement doesn't happen, the (OAS)assembly ... will meet again to suspend Honduras," OAS chief Jose Miguel Insulza told reporters Wednesday.

    OAS members held meetings in the Washington headquarters Tuesday and decided to take diplomatic and political steps necessary to restore democracy in Honduras, Insulza said.

    Zelaya, toppled and exiled by the military Sunday, gained wide international support.

    The UN General Assembly on Tuesday adopted a resolution condemning the military coup in Honduras and demand an immediate restoration of Zelaya's government.

    Zelaya said Tuesday that he will return to Honduras Thursday, flanked by the president of the UN General Assembly, the secretary-general of the Organization of American States (OAS) and presidents of Argentina and Ecuador.

    Honduran Attorney General Luis Alberto Rubi said Zelaya would be arrested "as soon as he sets foot on Honduran soil" and he could face 20 years in prison.

    Rubi said Zelaya's arrest warrant include 18 separate crimes such as abuse of power and treason.

    "If Zelaya loves Honduras he should not come," said the coup-installed president Roberto Micheletti in a Tuesday interview with local radio station HRN.

Editor: Zhang Xiang

U.S. suspends military ties with Honduras

2009-07-01 23:12:04  

    WASHINGTON, July 1 (Xinhua) --

The United States said on Wednesday that it has suspended its military ties with Honduras days after Manuel Zelaya, president of the country, was deposed in a coup.

    "We've postponed any activities in Honduras right now while we are assessing the situation," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters.

Editor: Yan