Honduran coup leader to AP: Zelaya won't return

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduras' interim leader warned that the only way his predecessor will return to office is through a foreign invasion, even as the hemisphere's leaders gave him 72 hours to hand over the presidency.

One potential confrontation was postponed Wednesday when the ousted president delayed plans to return — to a threat of arrest. Another loomed as hundreds of Manuel Zelaya's supporters, some armed with baseball bats and bottles of gasoline, blocked the street before the country's presidential palace.

Roberto Micheletti said in an interview with The Associated Press late Tuesday that "no one can make me resign," defying the United Nations, the OAS, the Obama administration and other leaders that have condemned the military coup that overthrew Zelaya.

Pressure continued to grow Wednesday as Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman announced that joint U.S.-Honduran military operations are on hold "as we assess that situation."

The U.S. has close relations with Honduras' military and it has some 800 personnel at a Honduran air base used for anti-drug and other operations.

The U.N. General Assembly Tuesday to demand Zelaya's immediate restoration, and the Organization of American States said Wednesday that coup leaders have three days to restore Zelaya to power or Honduras risks being suspended from the group.

That period for negotiation prompted Zelaya to announce he was putting off his plans to return home on Thursday until the weekend.

Micheletti vowed 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 U.N. General Assembly.

Micheletti's foreign minister, Enrique Ortez, said Wednesday that while Zelaya would be detained, "we will let his companions enter if they represent friendly countries. If not, no."

Micheletti, a member of Zelaya's Liberal Party who was named interim leader by Congress following the coup, said 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 Micheletti, who shrugged off intense international pressure.