US suspends military activities with Honduras

The United States has suspended all military activities with Honduras until further notice, a Pentagon spokesman said Wednesday, days after President Manuel Zelaya was deposed in a coup.

“We’ve postponed any activities in Honduras right now while we are assessing the situation,” Bryan Whitman told reporters, adding that he was referring to relations between the armed forces of both countries.

At the same time, the U.S. has delayed any decision to cut aid to Honduras until Monday in order to give diplomatic moves time to return ousted President Manuel Zelaya to power, a US official said Wednesday.

“We’re evaluating the impact of these actions (that ousted Zelaya) on our assistance programs,” a senior official in President Barack Obama’s administration told reporters on the condition of anonymity.

“The focus of our assistance programs is the well-being of the Honduran people,” the official said on a conference call. “That remains our focus as we conduct this evaluation.”

But he added it “is important to note” that the US government is currently working with its partners in the 34-member Organization of American States (OAS) to try to restore “democratic and constitutional order” to Honduras following Sunday’s coup.

ZELAYA DELAYS RETURN

Ousted President Manuel Zelaya on Wednesday postponed his return to Honduras to coincide with the end of a regional ultimatum to restore him to power, as the nation’s interim leader sought to drum up support.

Foreign pressure mounted on the increasingly isolated nation as the Organization of American States threatened Honduras with suspension from the regional body if it did not return Zelaya to power.

Roberto Micheletti, who took over hours after Zelaya was bundled away to Costa Rica on Sunday, meanwhile denied that foreign funding had been cut and vowed to present the case against Zelaya to the international community.

“We’ll manage to explain to them what’s really happening here. There was no coup. It was a constitutional succession,” Micheletti told foreign journalists in a half-empty presidential palace, blaming Zelaya for breaking the law by trying to hold a referendum on a vote to change the constitution on Sunday.

As rows of soldiers blocked the road outside in the blazing sun, thousands took to the streets across the capital, with an apparently stronger showing of pro-Zelaya supporters than the previous day.

Italy was the latest European country to recall its ambassador to Honduras, following France and Spain, while the 27 nations of the European Union agreed to have no contact with the leadership of Sunday’s coup.

The World Bank said it was halting all loans and grants to the Central American nation, valued at some 400 million dollars “until there is a resolution of the present crisis.”

NEW LEADERS DEFIANT

Leaders who took over in Honduras after President Manuel Zelaya was ousted in a coup will not negotiate despite an ultimatum from the Organization of American States to hand back power within 72 hours, interim president Roberto Micheletti told AFP on Wednesday.

Foreign pressure mounted on the increasingly isolated nation as the OAS threatened Honduras with suspension from the regional body if it did not return Zelaya to power.

Micheletti, who took over hours after Zelaya was bundled away to Costa Rica on Sunday, took a firm stance as he huddled with members of his new government in the heavily-guarded presidential palace.

“We can’t negotiate anything,” Micheletti said. “We can’t reach an agreement because there are orders to capture the ex-president Zelaya here for crimes he committed when he was an official.”

The country’s attorney general has ordered the arrest of Zelaya, who is now expected to return to the country at the weekend, at the end of the OAS deadline.

“He’ll never return to power,” Micheletti said. “He could return after resolving his (legal) problems… he could aspire to be a lawmaker at the national Congress, or a mayor of his town.”

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