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WORLD> America
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Zelaya, defying coup, plans return to Honduras
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-07-01 08:06 Coffee producers told Reuters that protesters had blocked parts of three major highways in the interior of the country. But the country's coffee institute said that exports had not been affected by the coup. The World Bank has "paused" all program lending to Honduras following the coup, its president Robert Zoellick said. Zelaya, a timber magnate who took office in 2006, had riled the armed forces, courts and Congress with his quest to change the constitution to let presidents seek re-election beyond a single four-year term. He upset conservative elites with his growing alliance with Chavez, a leftist firebrand in Latin America.
But in the capital, Tegucigalpa, several thousand anti-Zelaya protesters waving blue-and-white Honduran flags packed in a square to back Micheletti and protest against the return of a leader they say wants to follow Chavez's socialist model. After the coup, pro-Zelaya protesters clashed in the streets with security forces. But the capital was generally calm on Tuesday with traffic back to normal and many stores and cafes open for business again. Troops and police tightened security at the main international airport in the capital. NEGOTIATION? Micheletti, who has the backing of the country's powerful business and political elite, told Reuters most Hondurans supported the ouster, which he said had saved the country from swinging to a radical Chavez-style socialism. Zelaya has low support -- polls showed around 30 percent before his ouster -- as many Hondurans were uncomfortable with his tilt to the left in a country with a long conservative, pro-Washington position. "Some sort of negotiation will have to occur," said Shannon O'Neil at the Council on Foreign Relations. "For the international community, the most acceptable solution is that Zelaya comes back and completes the last several months of his term as President, and then steps down." Obama, facing a test as he tries to mend the battered US image in Latin America, has called the ouster illegal and the White House said Zelaya was likely to meet US State Department officials when he makes an expected visit to Washington for an OAS meeting later on Tuesday. The UN General Assembly called on its 192 member states to recognize only Zelaya's government. In a resolution passed by consensus it condemned what it called a coup d'etat and demanded "the immediate and unconditional restoration of the legitimate and constitutional government" of Zelaya. Zelaya said he had only tried to improve the lot of his country's poor but had been treated harshly by the army and business interests. "No-one has put me on trial. No-one has called me to a court to defend myself, no-one has told me what the crime is," he told the assembly.
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