Latest Update On Honduras Crisis

U.N. says deposed Honduran leader should be restored

CNN) -- The United Nations unanimously adopted a resolution Tuesday saying that deposed Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya should be restored to power.

Zelaya, speaking to the U.N. General Assembly, called it a historic resolution.
"Your servant has several accusations against him in Honduras," Zelaya said. "But nobody has given me a trial. Nobody has convened a tribunal."
Even as Zelaya spoke, his opponents held a large and noisy rally in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. Crowd members waved blue and white Honduran flags and signs denouncing Zelaya.
Zelaya was overthrown in a coup early Sunday when the Honduran military arrested him and flew him to Costa Rica. Roberto Micheletti, president of the Congress, was sworn in as provisional president later Sunday.

Micheletti has vowed to arrest Zelaya if he returns to Honduras, as he has said he will.
The United Nations, Organization of American States and most nations in the Western Hemisphere, including the United States, have condemned the coup and demanded that Zelaya be restored to power.

The United States joined many other nations in co-sponsoring the U.N. resolution.
In a radio address Tuesday, Micheletti said Zelaya would be arrested if he came back.
Micheletti also told Honduras' representatives at the United Nations and OAS to quit speaking against the new government or they immediately will be removed from their posts. They are not authorized, he said, to speak for the Honduran government.

The World Bank said Tuesday it would freeze funds to Honduras until the crisis is resolved, and the United States said it is reviewing its aid to the Central American nation.

Zelaya had been at odds with the other branches of government over a referendum he wanted to hold Sunday. The Honduran Supreme Court had ruled that the referendum was illegal, and Congress had voted not to hold it.

The high court also had overturned Zelaya's dismissal of Honduras' top general, who said the military would not participate in the referendum. The court ordered that the general be reinstated immediately.

Zelaya disregarded those actions and vowed to hold the vote anyway.
Honduran authorities on Monday clashed with Zelaya supporters, who took to the streets and threw rocks at authorities, burned tires and set up roadblocks.
Three major public-sector labor unions planned to begin a general strike Tuesday in support of Zelaya, a union official said.

"It will be an indefinite strike," said Oscar Garcia, vice president of the Honduran water workers union SANAA. "We don't recognize this new government imposed by the oligarchy, and we will mount our campaign of resistance until President Manuel Zelaya is restored to power."

In another development, two U.S. military officials in Washington confirmed to CNN that American helicopters will fly over southern Honduras on a humanitarian relief mission Tuesday.
The officials said there is great sensitivity to any public appearance by the U.S. military in the country.

Three Black Hawk helicopters are scheduled to leave an air base at Soto Cano in Honduras and fly south to Nicaragua. They will be used to support the USNS Comfort, which is conducting a medical relief mission.