Tegucigalpa, July 04: Honduras rebuffed a personal appeal from the Americas' top international diplomat on Friday, refusing to reinstate president Manuel Zelaya and setting the stage for a dramatic showdown if the ousted leader returns to reclaim power this weekend.
Jose Miguel Insulza, who heads the Organisation of American States, said the hemispheric body would decide on Saturday whether to suspend Honduras, a move that could lead to further sanctions against one of the Latin Americas' poorest countries and encourage other organisations and countries to halt aid and loans.
The OAS chief had flown to Honduras on Friday to demand that the interim government restore Zelaya before a Saturday morning deadline. Zelaya was ousted in a military-backed coup on Sunday and flown into exile, but the world community has rallied around him to demand his return to office.
"We wanted to ask that this situation be reversed," Insulza told a news conference in the Honduran capital after meeting with Supreme Court President Jorge Rivas, the attorney general and other political leaders. "Unfortunately, one must say that there appears to be no willingness to do this."
Insulza said Honduran officials gave him documents showing that charges are pending or have been brought against Zelaya, charges they say justified the coup. The military-backed ouster came after Zelaya pushed for a referendum on constitutional reform that the Supreme Court, the attorney general and Congress had all said was illegal.
Earlier on Friday, Honduras' Supreme Court, which authorised Sunday's coup, said it wouldn't agree to restore the toppled leftist leader despite Insulza's demands.
"Insulza asked Honduras to reinstate Zelaya, but the president of the court categorically answered that there is an arrest warrant for him," said court spokesman Danilo Izaguirre.
"Now the OAS has to decide what it will do," Izaguirre said.
Insulza had conceded before travelling to Honduras that his mission was unlikely to succeed, saying, "It will be very hard to turn things around in a couple of days."
During the trip, the diplomat also met with the two main candidates in Honduras' November 29 elections, as well with the leftist Popular Block, an umbrella group of farm, labour and student groups that largely supports Zelaya.
But he said he would not see Roberto Micheletti, whom Congress named president after Zelaya's ouster, in order to avoid legitimising the government.
Micheletti's Foreign Minister, Enrique Ortez, said that Insulza "can negotiate all he wants, except for Zelaya's situation."
"That is not negotiable because he cannot return to Honduras, and if he does he will be arrested and tried," Ortez said.
Zelaya, who was travelling in Central America, planned to return to Honduras on Sunday, according to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. Zelaya has said he would be travelling with Insulza and the Presidents of Argentina and Ecuador.
Honduras' interim government has said it will arrest Zelaya if he returns, setting up a potentially volatile showdown.
Contrary to assertions by the Micheletti government, Interpol on Friday released a statement saying it had not received any request to issue an arrest warrant for Zelaya.
Micheletti led a raucous chant of "Democracy!" before a giant crowd waving blue-and-white Honduran flags in front of the palace that Micheletti has occupied since Zelaya was seized by soldiers. He pledged to stand firm in the face of the international pressure.
"I am the President of all Hondurans," he proclaimed.
A rival rally by thousands of Zelaya backers marched to the offices of the OAS. Marchers carried a banner with a picture of Zelaya and the words -- "Mel our friend, the people are with you!"
Despite feared violence, the two groups did not clash. Police helicopters circled overhead and dozens of soldiers and police guarded the palace.
Bureau Report