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Zelaya, defying coup, plans return to Honduras

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-07-01 08:06

TEGUCIGALPA - Defying a coup and bolstered by international support, ousted President Manuel Zelaya said he will return to Honduras on Thursday to serve out the rest of his term.

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya addresses a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York June 30, 2009.  [Agencies]

He said he would be accompanied by the Argentine and Ecuadorean presidents, and the UN General Assembly and Organization of American States chiefs.

But the interim government -- set up after the army bundled Zelaya out of the Central American country on Sunday -- said it would arrest him if he tried to re-enter Honduras.

In the Honduran capital several thousand protestors took to the streets to rally against Zelaya, a leftist leader ousted in a dispute over presidential term limits.

Zelaya told a news conference at the United Nations he intended only to complete his mandate, which ends in early 2010, and would not run for president ever again.

"I going back to Honduras on Thursday, I'm going to return as president," Zelaya told reporters after the UN General Assembly urged member states to recognize only his government.

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The coup in the impoverished coffee-producing country of 7 million -- the first in Central America since the Cold War -- has been greeted by a tide of condemnation, from US President Barack Obama to Zelaya's leftist allies in Latin America, led by Venezuela's Hugo Chavez.

But the interim government set up with Roberto Micheletti, a veteran of Zelaya's Liberal Party, as caretaker president, said it would arrest Zelaya if he went back. Micheletti said he intends to stay on until November elections.

Enrique Ortez, the interim government's foreign minister, told CNN's Spanish-language channel that Zelaya had charges pending against him for violating the constitution, drug trafficking and organized crime.

"As soon as he enters he will be captured. We have the warrants ready so that he stays in jail in Honduras and is judged according to the country's laws," Ortez said.

ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY

Standard & Poor's placed Honduras "B-Plus" credit rating on its Creditwatch negative category to reflect the damaging economic impact of rising political uncertainty.

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