'I am planning my return to Honduras... we will arrive at the international airport in Tegucigalpa, Honduras with several presidents, (and) members of international organizations,' Mr Zelaya said. -- PHOTO: AFP
TEGUCIGALPA - OUSTED President Manuel Zelaya has vowed to return to Honduras on Sunday accompanied by a handful of Latin American leaders, stirring up fears of a violent showdown in the polarised nation.
Thousands demonstrated daily
Thousands of Mr Zelaya's supporters and opponents have demonstrated daily since the president was bundled away to Costa Rica last Sunday, and brief clashes have broken out between the army and protesters.
It was unclear exactly how many people had been injured and detained, amid growing protests from international rights groups.
The Central American nation headed toward increasing isolation on Saturday as the Organisation of American States met in Washington to decide whether to suspend its membership for its refusal to reinstate the ousted president.
OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza - who warned of increasing tension and polarisation during a brief visit to Tegucigalpa - meanwhile dismissed an announcement from the interim leaders in which they anticipated the suspension by pulling out of the regional body.
The decision meant nothing because 'it's a government which for the 34 member countries and for the international community does not legally exist,' Insulza told Chilean radio on Saturday.
Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya meanwhile confirmed to a television news station in Venezuela that he would return to his country on Sunday, and do so with 'several presidents' of allied countries.
'I am planning my return to Honduras... we will arrive at the international airport in Tegucigalpa, Honduras with several presidents, (and) members of international organizations,' Mr Zelaya told Caracas-based station Telesur.
'This Sunday we will be in Tegucigalpa,' he confirmed.
Shortly beforehand, Catholic leaders warned of a potential bloodbath if Mr Zelaya returned to the country.
'We think that a return to the country at the moment could provoke a bloodbath,' Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez - the capital's archbishop - said on national radio and television, reading a message from the country's Bishop's Conference.
'To this day no Honduran has died. Please think, because afterwards it will be too late,' Mr Rodriguez added. -- AFP
