TEGUCIGALPA (Honduras) - HONDURAS' interim rulers spurned a demand from the Organization of American States (OAS) on Friday to restore leftist President Manuel Zelaya to power and said they would no longer recognise the OAS charter, deepening Central America's worst political crisis in decades.

ANTI-ZELAYA PROTEST THOUSANDS of Hondurans waving the blue and white national flag staged a boisterous anti-Zelaya demonstration near the presidential palace. Mr Insulza met politicians, church leaders and judicial figures but did not talk directly to Mr Roberto Micheletti, named by Congress as caretaker president, as the OAS wanted to avoid giving his government legitimacy. ... more

The OAS, the Western Hemisphere's top diplomatic body, was expected to suspend Honduras's membership, and the interim government's latest action could be a preemptive move to distance itself from the organisation or even a step towards quitting it.

'The OAS is a political organisation, it is not a court of justice,' said deputy foreign minister Martha Alvarado, announcing Honduras would renounce the OAS charter.

OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza said in Tegucigalpa that he found no willingness by the caretaker government to reinstate Mr Zelaya despite broad international condemnation of the coup.

'I'm afraid to say my efforts were unable to achieve this,' Mr Insulza said after talks with interim government officials.

Mr Zelaya was ousted on Sunday in a dispute over extending presidential power and term limits. He is an ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez but leaders from across Latin America, as well as US President Barack Obama, have demanded he be reinstated.

The bloodless overthrow in the impoverished coffee and textile exporting country of 7 million people has created a test of Washington's commitment to defending democracy in Latin America.

Mr Insulza held talks with members of Honduras's ruling Liberal Party and the Supreme Court, which ordered the coup, to try to convince them to reverse Mr Zelaya's overthrow.

'The clear result is that there is a clear rupture of constitutional order and those who did this have no intention for the moment of changing this situation,' Mr Insulza told reporters.

Mr Zelaya upset the wealthy elite who have ruled Honduras for decades with his alliance with socialist Chavez and an attempt to change rules to let presidents run for a second term. His popularity rating had fallen to about 30 per cent in recent months. -- REUTERS