TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Thousands of Hondurans demonstrated Wednesday for the return of ousted President Manuel Zelaya, who vowed to fly home this weekend despite a warrant for his arrest. Thousands more rallied in favor of the military-backed government.
Newly appointed President Roberto Micheletti said it would take a foreign invasion to put Zelaya back in power, and said he was sending a delegation to Washington in an attempt to reverse the country’s increasing international isolation, though his own foreign minister later denied that.
France, Spain, Italy, Chile and Colombia joined other nations Wednesday in recalling their ambassadors. The Pentagon suspended joint U.S.-Honduran military operations and the World Bank said it was freezing loans. Honduras’ three neighbors have suspended cross-border trade.
Soldiers stormed Zelaya’s residence and flew him into exile Sunday after he insisted on trying to hold a referendum asking Hondurans if they want to change the constitution. The Supreme Court, Congress and the military all deemed his planned ballot illegal. Zelaya backed down Tuesday, saying he will no longer push for constitutional changes.
Seeking to stem internal unrest, Congress approved a bill Wednesday that toughens a curfew in place since the coup. The law gives authorities the power to conduct warrantless searches and removes constitutional rights to assembly and movement during the 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew.
Both sides of the dispute mobilized supporters in the streets Wednesday, with a pro-Zelaya march in the capital and pro-Micheletti demonstrations in other cities. No violence was reported.
“We want Mel!” 30-year-old farm hand Javier Santos yelled over a megaphone, using Zelaya’s nickname, as marchers walked to the local offices of the Organization of American States and sang the national anthem, fists thrust skyward. No violence was reported, though businesses quickly lowered their shutters as marchers approached.
The largest pro-Micheletti rally was in Choluteca, 75 miles south of the capital, where demonstrators wore the blue and white of the Honduran flag.
Those demonstrations received heavy coverage on Honduran television stations, which all but ignored the pro-Zelaya protests. Leftist broadcasters say they have been forced off the air or had signals interrupted by soldiers under orders of the new government. Micheletti said he would look into the allegations.
The OAS gave Micheletti until Saturday to step aside before Honduras is suspended from the group, an ultimatum Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza said was meant “to show clearly that military coups will not be accepted. We thought we were in an era when military coups were no longer possible in this hemisphere.”
Zelaya delayed plans to return Thursday to let that deadline play out.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Micheletti vowed Zelaya would be arrested if he returns, even though the presidents of Argentina and Ecuador have agreed to accompany him, along with the heads of the OAS and the U.N. General Assembly.
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