By Paul Kiernan
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -(Dow Jones)- The Organization of American States reiterated Friday its refusal to recognize the government that took over Honduras this week in a coup d'etat, solidifying the deadlock between the country's acting leaders and the international community.
After meeting with Honduran officials and civil-society leaders, OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza said the organization still considers the ouster of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya last Sunday to have been "a flagrant violation" of the Inter-American Democratic Charter.
"There has been a grave rupture in Honduras" institutional order due to the expulsion of the president, Insulza said at a press conference.
Insulza said the OAS's threat to suspend Honduras unless it restores Zelaya to the presidency remains valid and added that a number of consequences, including the freezing of international credits to Honduras, could result from a suspension.
"Naturally, you're not going to loan to a government you don't recognize," he said.
Zelaya, who was exiled to Costa Rica and remains abroad, has said he plans to return to Honduras in coming days.
The country's acting leaders this week have accused him of multiple crimes, from treason to drug trafficking, and say he will be arrested on arrival if he enters the country.
Insulza said that officials on Friday presented him with a large quantity of charges against Zelaya but that he wasn't convinced they took the right course of action.
"If someone has an accusation against a president, they make them," Insulza said. "There are mechanisms to force him out of office. They have to do it in a legal way."
On Friday, thousands of people take to the streets in different parts of the capital for the fifth straight day, some protesting Zelaya's removal from office and others supporting the acting government of Roberto Micheletti, who previously served as president of Congress.
When Insulza's motorcade squeezed through a street occupied a large pro-Zelaya rally, the crowd cheered.
By Paul Kiernan, Dow Jones Newswires, 52-55-5001-5726, paul.kiernan@dowjones.com
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Publié le 04 Juillet 2009 Copyright © 2009 Dowjones