Honduras Defies International Community: Loses Membership In OAS And Keeps Zelaya From Landing In Honduran Airport

The AP reports that "ousted President Manuel Zelaya insisted on coming home to reclaim his post, urging his supporters to mass at the airport for a showdown with the interim government in power" since the army sent him into exile under order of the Honduran Supreme Court a week ago. The AP reports that "the interim government said it ordered the military to prevent the landing of a plane carrying Zelaya or any unidentified plane... In Washington, the Organization of American States suspended Honduras as a member late Saturday. Micheletti preemptively pulled out of the OAS hours earlier rather than comply with an ultimatum that Zelaya be restored." Reuters reports that this "was the strongest move yet by foreign governments to isolate the caretaker government."

The Wall Street Journal's reporting is one of the most clear on this story. It does not mindlessly declare the events in Honduras "Central America's first coup since the Cold War era," as does Reuters. Rather it explains in its news article that "Mr. Zelaya wanted to hold a referendum on whether voters wanted to change the constitution. The vote was declared illegal by Honduras' Supreme Court, but the president vowed to press on. Last Sunday, the day the referendum was set to take place, soldiers stormed the presidential residence and seized the leader at gunpoint. Congress later swore in Roberto Micheletti, the president of Congress."

"The government of President (Roberto) Micheletti has order the armed forces and the police not to allow the entrance of any plane bringing the former leader," the foreign minister of the interim government, Enrique Ortez, told The Associated Press on Sunday. "I have given orders that he not be allowed back. We cannot allow recklessness," he told local radio.