OAS Issues Ultimatum to Honduras

If its deposed president isn’t reinstated within 72 hours, Honduras will be kicked out of the Organization of American States, the group’s secretary-general said today, in the latest sign of Manuel Zelaya’s overwhelming international support. Zelaya spoke before the UN yesterday, and the General Assembly voted by acclamation to demand his restoration. But his newly installed replacement, Roberto Micheletti, says only an invasion will unseat him.

Zelaya said he plans to return accompanied by the head of the General Assembly, the OAS secretary-general, and the presidents of Argentina and Ecuador. “When I'm back, people are going to say, 'Commander, we're at your service' and the army will have to correct itself,” he told the UN. But Micheletti warns that Zelaya will be arrested if he attempts to return. (More Honduras stories.)