*Sources: DTN News / Int'l Media
(NSI News Source Info) MANAGUA, Nicaragua - July 1, 2009: Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said he will visit Washington on July 1 before returning to his country after the coup that ousted him from power. 
Honduras' President Manuel Zelaya talks to his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez during the Central American integration meeting in Managua June 29, 2009. Honduras came under pressure on Monday to reinstate ousted President Zelaya as many Latin American leaders agreed to withdraw envoys, Washington called his overthrow illegal and street protests turned violent.
"I will return to Washington and then go to Tegucigalpa, where the people and the military await the arrival of the president elected by the people," Zelaya said June 29 at an emergency meeting of Latin American and Caribbean leaders gathered in the Nicaraguan capital.
Zelaya, snatched from the presidential palace by Honduran troops early June 28 and sent into exile in the first Central American coup in years, said he would address the United Nations in New York to protest his ouster before heading to Washington on July 1 and then home.
"I go to Tegucigalpa on Thursday," Zelaya said in a speech before leaders of the Rio Group of 23 regional nations, which strongly condemned the coup in fellow group member Honduras.
"I'm the elected president, I will fulfill my four-year term," he vowed.
Zelaya, 57, did not reveal what his schedule would entail in the U.S. capital, or whether he would meet any officials in President Barack Obama's administration.
Soldiers stand guard as one reads a local newspaper outside a hotel near the presidential palace in Tegucigalpa June 30, 2009. Honduras' interim government battled on Tuesday against a tide of international support for ousted President Manuel Zelaya who vowed to return home after troops toppled and exiled him in a coup.
In Managua, Zelaya welcomed the unanimous support he has received from around the world, notably from the U.S.
Obama himself has spoken out strongly against his Honduran counterpart's ouster, saying: "We believe that the coup was not legal and that President Zelaya remains the president of Honduras."
The White House was unable to provide any initial comment on Zelaya's intent to visit Washington.
In Managua, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has pitted himself as an Obama adversary and earlier said U.S. fingerprints were all over the Honduran coup, urged Zelaya to meet with Obama, saying the U.S. president's attention to the matter could "deliver a major blow" to those who ousted Zelaya.
Honduras' President Manuel Zelaya talks to his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez during the Central American integration meeting in Managua June 29, 2009. Honduras came under pressure on Monday to reinstate ousted President Zelaya as many Latin American leaders agreed to withdraw envoys, Washington called his overthrow illegal and street protests turned violent.
"I will return to Washington and then go to Tegucigalpa, where the people and the military await the arrival of the president elected by the people," Zelaya said June 29 at an emergency meeting of Latin American and Caribbean leaders gathered in the Nicaraguan capital.
Zelaya, snatched from the presidential palace by Honduran troops early June 28 and sent into exile in the first Central American coup in years, said he would address the United Nations in New York to protest his ouster before heading to Washington on July 1 and then home.
"I go to Tegucigalpa on Thursday," Zelaya said in a speech before leaders of the Rio Group of 23 regional nations, which strongly condemned the coup in fellow group member Honduras.
"I'm the elected president, I will fulfill my four-year term," he vowed.
Zelaya, 57, did not reveal what his schedule would entail in the U.S. capital, or whether he would meet any officials in President Barack Obama's administration. Soldiers stand guard as one reads a local newspaper outside a hotel near the presidential palace in Tegucigalpa June 30, 2009. Honduras' interim government battled on Tuesday against a tide of international support for ousted President Manuel Zelaya who vowed to return home after troops toppled and exiled him in a coup.
In Managua, Zelaya welcomed the unanimous support he has received from around the world, notably from the U.S.
Obama himself has spoken out strongly against his Honduran counterpart's ouster, saying: "We believe that the coup was not legal and that President Zelaya remains the president of Honduras."
The White House was unable to provide any initial comment on Zelaya's intent to visit Washington.
In Managua, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has pitted himself as an Obama adversary and earlier said U.S. fingerprints were all over the Honduran coup, urged Zelaya to meet with Obama, saying the U.S. president's attention to the matter could "deliver a major blow" to those who ousted Zelaya.
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