Ousted President Zelaya Claims He Has Returned to Honduras
By VOA News
21 September 2009
Deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya says he has returned to Honduras to reclaim his presidency.
In an interview carried on the country's Channel 36 television network, Mr. Zelaya said he is in Honduras. However, the interim government has denied the claim.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez -- a close ally of the ousted president -- also said Mr. Zelaya is in Honduras.
However, Mr. Zelaya's exact location is not clear.
A United Nations spokesman in New York City says earlier reports that Mr. Zelaya was at the U.N. office in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, are "incorrect."
U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly says U.S. officials have confirmed Mr. Zelaya has returned but do not have details about his location. Kelly added the U.S. still considers Mr. Zeyala Honduras's democratically elected and constitutional leader.
Mr. Zelaya was forced out of the country at gunpoint on June 28. Leaders of the interim government that ousted him in the military coup have said he would be arrested if he returns.
The United States has refused to recognize the caretaker Honduran government of President Roberto Micheletti despite its assertion Mr. Zelaya was legally removed. The interim leaders say Mr. Zelaya violated a Supreme Court order to drop efforts to change the constitution.
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