Tegucigalpa, July 05: Honduras headed toward international isolation on Saturday after the country’s coup leaders said they would pull out of the Organisation of American States, amid fears of a violent showdown here.
OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza – who warned of increasing tension and polarisation during a brief visit to Tegucigalpa – dismissed the threat to withdraw from the body, underlining the interim government was not recognised internationally.
“It’s a government which for the 34 member countries and for the international community does not legally exist,” Insulza told Chilean radio on Saturday.
The OAS was due to vote on whether to suspend Honduras – which would be the first such move since the exclusion of Cuba in 1962 – in Washington on Saturday.
Amid the political and diplomatic deadlock, thousands of frustrated Hondurans prepared to protest again, and Catholic leaders warned of a potential bloodbath if ousted President Manuel Zelaya returned to the country.
Thousands on both sides have demonstrated daily since Zelaya was sent away in his pajamas last Sunday, and sporadic clashes have broken out between the army and protesters. An unidentified number of people have been injured and detained.
The archbishop of the Honduran capital read out a message from the Honduras Bishop’s Conference calling for Zelaya to stay away, on national radio and television.
—Agencies