De facto leader says there was no coup in Honduras

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Honduras' de facto leader tried to persuade world leaders on Monday that he was not brought to power by a coup amid signs that U.S. backing for ousted President Manuel Zelaya may be waning.

The international response to the June 28 ouster of the leftist Zelaya has been one of almost unanimous condemnation, and the demands that he be returned to power baffles the de facto government and its supporters.

Seeking to shift the balance of world opinion and perhaps avert harsher U.S. sanctions, interim President Roberto Micheletti wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal on Monday arguing Zelaya's removal was legal and was not a coup.

"The truth is that he was removed by a democratically elected civilian government because the independent judicial and legislative branches of our government found that he had violated our laws and constitution," said Micheletti, chosen by Congress to lead the country hours after Zelaya was ousted.

The deposed president is in exile in neighbouring Nicaragua and took a few steps on Honduran soil at the border on Friday, a gesture criticized by the U.S. government as "reckless".

Zelaya has asked President Barack Obama to impose more aggressive sanctions against Micheletti's government, but he also says he plans to return even without a negotiated deal.

"International diplomacy has its limits. It works up to a certain point. We Hondurans are going to resolve the problems of Honduras," he told reporters in the town of Ocotal, in northern Nicaragua.

His supporters in the capital Tegucigalpa said they planned "acts of resistance" on Monday when Congress is due to examine and debate a proposal for a negotiated solution to the crisis.

Congress is unlikely to support the plan as is, since it includes Zelaya's return as president.

The United States and Latin American governments have demanded Zelaya be returned to power and Obama has cut $16.5 million in military aid to Honduras, but Zelaya says Washington is not doing enough to condemn those responsible for the coup.

REASONABLE PEOPLE CAN DISAGREE

Micheletti said in the Wall Street Journal editorial that Zelaya had violated the constitution in seeking to hold an unofficial "referendum" on extending presidential term limits.

"The constitution expressly states in Article 239 that any president who seeks to amend the constitution and extend his term is automatically disqualified and is no longer president," Micheletti wrote in the article, rejecting the term "coup."

Zelaya was seized from his home before dawn by soldiers and later put on a plane and flown out of the country. The Supreme Court ordered his arrest and Congress backed his removal, appointing Micheletti as president.

Micheletti said he understood criticism of the abrupt way that Zelaya was ousted.

"Regarding the decision to expel Mr. Zelaya from the country the evening of June 28 without a trial, reasonable people can believe the situation could have been handled differently," Micheletti wrote.

"But it is also necessary to understand the decision in the context of genuine fear of Mr. Zelaya's proven willingness to violate the law and to engage in mob-led violence."

Micheletti said the way forward now was to work with Costa Rican President Oscar Arias who drew up a proposal last week that included the return of Zelaya as president -- a condition rejected by Micheletti as illegal and impossible.

"If all parties reach agreement to allow Mr. Zelaya to return to Honduras -- a big 'if' -- we believe that he cannot be trusted to comply with the law and therefore it is our position that he must be prosecuted with full due process."

(Additional reporting by Marco Aquino, Esteban Israel, Gustavo Palencia and Claudia Parsons in Honduras, Ivan Castro in Nicaragua, Tim Gaynor in Washington; writing by Claudia Parsons; editing by Kieran Murray)

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