Zelaya pleased with US move to cut aid to Honduras (Extra)

Sep 3, 2009, 21:31 GMT

   Washington - Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya on Thursday praised the US State Department decision to cut off aid to Honduras in the wake of the June 28 coup.

After meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Zelaya said in Washington that the US move was 'coherent' with views expressed by Latin American governments and shows the value 'of unified positions.'

He said that the government set up after the coup and led by former Congress Speaker Roberto Micheletti 'is increasingly alone.' Zelaya called on the current authorities in Honduras to change course.

'Let them rectify, let them realize that they are wrong, that the whole world is strongly calling their attention on the mistake that they have made,' the exiled Honduran leader said.

'Let them stop affecting the Honduran people and making them suffer so much with repression.'

Zelaya vowed to return to Honduras 'sooner or later.'

'My return is not negotiable, I am going to return to Honduras for good or ill, but I am going to return,' he said.

Micheletti has refused to accept a compromise proposed by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, who has mediated in the Honduran dispute. Among other provisions, the so-called San Jose accord calls for Zelaya's immediate return to power while new elections are moved up to October, one month earlier than scheduled.

Zelaya has accepted the San Jose accord.