The Final Call

Honduras government says it doesn't fear sanctions

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Mr. Micheletti acknowledged Aug. 25 the country will suffer consequences for refusing to reinstate Mr. Zelaya, but he suggested that nothing short of armed intervention could change the situation.

“We are not afraid of an embargo by anybody,” he said after meeting with a delegation of foreign ministers from the Organization of American States pressing for Mr. Zelaya's return. “We have already analyzed this and the country can carry on firmly and calmly without your support and that of other nations.”

“Nobody is coming here to impose anything on us, unless troops come from somewhere else and force us,” Mr. Micheletti said.

He said he places his trust in a large voter turnout for the Nov. 29 presidential election to pick Mr. Zelaya's successor, a ballot scheduled before the leader was ousted June 28 amid suspicions among his opponents that he wanted to overturn the constitutional provision limiting Honduran presidents to a single term. He denies that was his goal.

In a public letter published Aug. 24, Honduran Foreign Minister Carlos Lopez rejected Mr. Zelaya's reinstatement and an amnesty for his alleged offenses, both part of the San Jose Accord—a compromise proposed by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, who has acted as a mediator in the dispute.

The seven foreign ministers from OAS member states were in Tegucigalpa with OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza to cajole the government into accepting the Arias plan, which also calls for forming a unity government of all Honduras' political parties.

Mr. Zelaya's wife, Xiomara Castro, has said the exiled president has accepted all of the Arias plan's 12 points, including abandoning his efforts to change the constitution, the action that prompted the coup.

The OAS wants Mr. Zelaya reinstated, and the U.S. government announced the visa measure because of the Micheletti government's refusal to accept Arias' proposal.

The decision to suspend the issuance of all non-emergency and nonimmigrant visa services at the U.S. Embassy in Tegucigalpa, effective Wednesday, is part of a review of U.S. visa policies in Honduras, State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said.

(Associated Press Writer William C. Mann in Washington contributed to this report.)

Related links:

Honduras coup made in Washington? (FCN, 08-16-2009)

Social unrest, tensions build days after Honduras coup (FCN, 07-07-2009)

Honduras President overthown in military coup (FCN, 06-29-2009)