HONDURAS' interim leader yesterday warned the international community the only way his predecessor will return to office is through a foreign invasion – setting up a showdown in the next few days.
Roberto Micheletti said "no-one can make me resign," defying the United Nations, the Organisation of American States, the Obama administration and other leaders that have condemned the military coup that overthrew President Manuel Zelaya.
Early ye
sterday, the OAS set a 72-hour deadline to reinstate him and reverse the coup.
Soldiers stormed Mr Zelaya's residence and flew him into exile early on Sunday after he insisted on trying to hold a referendum asking Hondurans if they wanted to reform the constitution to allow him to stand for another term as president. The Supreme Court, Congress and the military all deemed his planned ballot illegal.
Mr Zelaya backed down from the referendum on Tuesday, saying at the United Nations that he would no longer push for the constitutional changes.
Mr Micheletti vowed Mr Zelaya would be arrested if he returns, even though the presidents of Argentina and Ecuador have agreed to accompany him, along with the heads of the OAS and the UN General Assembly.
Mr Micheletti's foreign minister Enrique Ortez said while Mr Zelaya would be detained, "we will let his companions enter if they represent friendly countries. If not, no."
Mr Ortez accused the deposed president of allowing tons of cocaine to be flown into the Central American country on its way to the US.
"Every night, three or four Venezuelan-registered planes land without the permission of appropriate authorities and bring thousands of pounds ... and packages of money that are the fruit of drug trafficking," said Mr Ortez.
Mr Micheletti, a member of Mr Zelaya's Liberal Party who was named interim leader by Congress following the coup, said Mr Zelaya "has already committed crimes against the constitution and the law."
"He can no longer return to the presidency of the republic unless a president from another Latin American country comes and imposes him using guns," said Mr Micheletti, who shrugged off intense international pressure.
He added: "No-one can make me resign if I do not violate the laws of the country. If there is any invasion against our country, 7.5 million Hondurans will be ready to defend our territory and our laws and our homeland and our government."
He did not name any country, but Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday that he had put his military on alert. Mr Chavez said his country's ambassador had been briefly detained and roughed up and warned that if the Venezuelan Embassy was attacked, Honduras "would be entering in a state of war".
Mr Zelaya is a divisive figure in Honduras, an impoverished coffee, textile and banana-exporter with a population of seven million, especially after he allied himself with Mr Chavez, who is a fierce US critic.
His derision towards the wealthy and policies such as raising the minimum wage have earned him the loyalty of many poor Hondurans.
