Skip to main content

Honduras Pulls Out of OAS


04 July 2009

People against ousted Honduras President Manuel Zelaya gather outside of presidential residence in support of interim government in Tegucigalpa, 03 Jul 2009
People against ousted Honduras President Manuel Zelaya gather outside of presidential residence in support of interim government in Tegucigalpa, 03 Jul 2009
The new government of Honduras says it no longer recognizes the charter of the Organization of American States and is withdrawing its membership from the group.

Honduras made the announcement late Friday, a day before the OAS was due to vote on suspending the Central American country, following its refusal to adhere to demands by OAS to return toppled President Manuel Zelaya to office. The OAS has called an emergency meeting in Washington on Saturday.

The Supreme Court of Honduras told OAS chief Jose Miguel Insulza Friday that its decision to oust Mr. Zelaya is irreversible, and that the leftist leader would be arrested if he returned home.

Mr. Zelaya has said he will attempt to return to Honduras on Sunday, and expects to be joined by Insulza, as well as Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa and others.





Thousands of Hondurans staged an anti-Zelaya demonstration Friday. Acting President Roberto Micheletti told the crowd he is the "president of all Honduras." Zelaya supporters have also continued to hold protests against the coup.

Coup leaders accuse Mr. Zelaya of treason and abuse of power. Soldiers forcibly expelled Mr. Zelaya from Honduras June 28, the day he planned to hold a referendum on a constitutional change that would allow him to seek another term. The Supreme Court ruled the referendum was illegal.

Ousted Honduran Pres. Manuel Zelaya speaks at an Organization of American States meeting in Washington 01 Jul 2009
Ousted Honduran Pres. Manuel Zelaya speaks at an Organization of American States meeting in Washington 01 Jul 2009
The coup has been widely condemned by the international community. Several countries, including Spain, Italy and France, have withdrawn their ambassadors from Honduras.

The World Bank also has announced it is suspending loans to Honduras. The U.S. State Department is considering freezing aid to the Central American country.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Iranian Clerics Protest Election Results

By VOA News 05 July 2009 A group of leading Iranian clerics has criticized the results of the country's disputed presidential election. In a statement released Sunday, clerics from the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qom said Iran's official electoral watchdog, the Guardian Council, failed to adequately investigate claims of vote rigging by the opposition. The pro-reform group questioned whether the Council's validation is enough to legitimize the vote. Last week, the 12-member Council upheld the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. I ranian reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi during a press conference after polls closed in Tehran, 12 June 2009 Defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi has criticized the outcome. In a 24-page report posted to his Web site Saturday, Mr. Mousavi accuses supporters of Mr. Ahmadinejad of handing out cash to voters in the run-up to...

Military chief promotes 35 generals

Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Djoko Santoso has promoted 35 generals, consisting of 16 army generals, 11 navy admirals and 8 air force marshals. “It is expected that this time promotion will further enhance and improve the military performance so that we could give out the best output,” he said on Friday. Among those generals who receive the promotion is Rear Adm. Gunadi who is now posted as inspector general at the Defense Ministry, Maj. Gen. Langgeng Sulistyono, who is now posted as Diponegoro Military Commander and Rear Marshal Agus Dwi Putranto, who is installed as Abdulrahman Saleh Air Force Base Commander.

Chinese

Identifying someone in Indonesia as a member of the Chinese ( orang Tionghoa ) ethnic group is not an easy matter, because physical characteristics, language, name, geographical location, and life-style of Chinese Indonesians are not always distinct from those of the rest of the population. Census figures do not record Chinese as a special group, and there are no simple racial criteria for membership in this group. There are some people who are considered Chinese by themselves and others, despite generations of intermarriage with the local population, resulting in offspring who are less than one-quarter Chinese in ancestry. On the other hand, there are some people who by ancestry could be considered halfChinese or more, but who regard themselves as fully Indonesian. Furthermore, many people who identify themselves as Chinese Indonesians cannot read or write the Chinese language. Alth...