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Honduran post-coup gov't claims no negotiations with OAS

Other News Materials 4 July 2009 07:18 (UTC +04:00)

Enrique Ortez Colindres, the foreign minister of Honduras' post-coup government, told media on Friday that the government will not negotiate with the Organization of American States (OAS), Xinhua reported.
  

"We have a very firm position that we do not negotiate Honduras' sovereignty," Ortez said.
  

OAS secretary-general Jose Miguel Insulza arrived here on Friday to mediate for the reinstatement of ousted President Manuel Zelaya. But there are reports quoting him Friday evening as saying that Honduras' interim government does not want to restore the ousted president.
  

Ortez said Insulza had implicitly recognized the government by visiting the nation.
  

"From the moment he arrived in Honduras, he is already speaking to the Honduras government and this servant of the government, who is opening doors," said Ortez.
  

"The world knows Insulza is in Honduras and under the protection of Roberto Micheletti's government," he added.
  

Micheletti took power on Sunday just hours after Zelaya was seized from his bed by hundreds of heavily armed soldiers and forced to board a plane to Costa Rica.
  

The OAS does not officially recognize the Micheletti government and has given Honduras until Saturday noon to reinstate Zelaya or face expulsion. Ortez on Friday repeated that Micheletti would not be willing to step down. 
  

Ortez said that "soon all the international community will understand we have respected the rule of law."
  

On Wednesday, the Micheletti government said that Italy had recognized its legitimacy, just after Italy announced it had withdrawn its ambassador in protest.
  

The Micheletti government has also said that previously scheduled elections will go ahead on Nov. 29 and that Micheletti will hand power to a new president on Jan. 27.

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