After earlier vowing to return to Honduras on Thursday, Zelaya told reporters that because of the 72-hour time frame in the resolution, he did not now expect to go back before the weekend.
"Basically, the decision is to condemn, very clearly, the military coup," OAS chief Jose Miguel Insulza earlier told reporters during the meeting of the region's top diplomatic body over the crisis in Honduras.
The resolution instructed Insulza to undertake "diplomatic initiatives aimed at restoring democracy and the rule of law and the reinstatement" of Zelaya."Should these prove unsuccessful within 72 hours, the Special General Assembly shall forthwith ... suspend Honduras' membership," it said.
Zelaya had said on Tuesday the Argentine and Ecuadorean presidents and the U.N. General Assembly and OAS chiefs would accompany him back to Honduras.The U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday called on its 192 member states to recognize only Zelaya's government, calling in a resolution for "the immediate and unconditional restoration of the legitimate and constitutional government."But the interim government, established after Zelaya was forced out by troops, said the leftist would be detained if he returned home.
"As soon as he enters he will be captured. We have the warrants ready so that he stays in jail in Honduras and is judged according to the country's laws," Enrique Ortez, the interim government's foreign minister, told CNN. He said Zelaya faced charges ranging from violating the constitution to drug trafficking.
Several thousand demonstrators on Tuesday rallied to applaud Zelaya's ouster in the capital Tegucigalpa, after a day of clashes between riot police and the toppled leader's supporters broke out near the presidential palace.
Of course Chavez has managed to be the big winner so far as our hapless government fumbles the issue.
It's unfortunate and dangerous for the United States to fail to openly recognize the growing number of Latin America countries that are unfriendly to the US. Hugo Chavez attempted a coup in 1992 & now he is critical of Zelaya being removed from power. He manipulated the spirit of the law to create his autocratic state. Now Zelaya wants to do the same. No one openly debates Zelaya's unconsitutional behavior that lead up to his removal from power. Somewhere in the near future the United States will wonder how did our southern neighbors become such a dangerous to us. It is because we did not act on all the signals we received (a controversial election in Mexico (fortunately the anti-american opponent was defeated), leftist elected Presentent in El Salvador, Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil, Nicaragua).... All support Hugo Chavez exporting this form of democracy (and narco-terrorism). Ask Colombia and look closely at north east coast of Honduras.
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