THE ORGANISATION of American States voted on Saturday night unanimously to suspend Honduras -- Honduras did not vote, but stopped short of calling on member countries to impose sanctions on the interim government responsible for ousting President Manuel Zelaya. This was the first time the OAS has taken such a stand since Cuba was suspended in 1962. The group said that Honduras would be held accountable for violations of human rights, and it called on Secretary-General José Miguel Insulza to continue diplomatic efforts aimed at peacefully returning President Zelaya to power. The resolution encouraged countries to "review their relations" with Honduras while diplomatic efforts continued, a more moderate stance that had been pressed by Canada and the US. Insulza, along with the presidents of Argentina, Ecuador and Paraguay flew in a convoy, accompanying Zelaya to Honduras on Sunday; however, their planes were refused permission to land in Honduras and instead landed in El Salvador. Zelaya vows to return on Wednesday. So far Hillary Clinton has refused to acknowledge the coup as a "coup", as this would trigger a cut off of US aid; however, a senior Obama administration official said the US would "probably" move to suspend economic development and military assistance. The coup was set off by Zelaya's turn to the left since he took office, aligning himself with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, increasing pensions and aid to students and the poor. The trigger was Zelaya's proposed nonbinding referendum on changing the constitution to allow the president to serve two terms. This set off alarm bells among the complaisant elite, who saw Zelaya as a potential Chavez, and the coup was the result. More than 10,000 people answered Zelaya's videotaped call to turn out at the airport, vowing to guard him upon his return. A man with a megaphone shouted at the soldiers: "Are you the armed forces of the people or the armed forces of the bourgeois?" Coup ringleader Romeo Vàsquez Velàsquez appeared on stage this week with the coupmakers' president, Roberto Michiletti. It was Velàsquez who ordered the kidnapping and forced deportation of Zelaya. In 1993, Velàsquez was charged with grand auto theft. He also completed two courses at the School of the Americas, the US Department of Defence training facility infamous for teaching torture and coup techniques to Latin American military and police.
