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Honduras/OAS
Zelaya set to return after OAS suspension
Article published on the 2009-07-05 Latest update 2009-07-05 12:51 TU
Soldiers stand guard as supporters of Honduras' ousted President Manuel Zelaya arrive after a march at Toncontin international airport Saturday 4 July
(Photo: Reuters)
Honduras's ousted President Manuel Zelayahas has sworn to return to his country Sunday, despite threats of arrest and warnings of a bloodbath. A week after Zelaya was thrown out by the military, the Organisation of American States (OAS) suspended the country from membership.
Speaking on Venezuelan television Saturday, Zelaya said he will go back and that he will be accompanied "several presidents" from other countries. He has called on his supporters to meet him at the airport.
Thousands demonstrated in support of Zelaya on Saturday but officials have said he will be arrested if he returns. And Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez, the Catholic Archbishop of the capital, Tegucigalpa, claimed that the move could "provoke a bloodbath".
"To this day no Honduran has died," he said on national television and radio. Please think, because afterwards it will be too late."
Zelaya was boosted by the OAS's decision to suspend Honduras, the first such suspension since Cuba was kicked out in 1962.
The OAS assembly in Washington acted on the basis of Article 21 of its charter that gives member-nations the right to suspend membership of a country in case of an "unconstitutional interruption of democratic order" and when "efforts to address the situation through diplomatic means have failed."
The vote was 34-33, with only Honduras, which had earlier said that it would pull out anyway, voting against.
"I am very optimistic because everyone has repudiated and rejected these acts" Zelaya said, adding that the country is living "under a regime of terror."
But, despite saying that "no other alternative existed" to suspension, OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza declared Zelaya's plan to return dangerous.
"I think there are risks, of course," he told reporters. "If you ask if it is a safe return, of course not."
 Zelaya optimistic ahead of return |
