The United States has announced it would temporarily restrict the issuing of US visas in Honduras, raising pressure on the government that took power after a June 28th coup to step down.
The State Department, which has repeatedly condemned the military coup that ousted President Manuel Zelaya, said that from Wednesday it would only provide visa services to potential immigrants and emergency cases at its embassy in Tegucigalpa.
The Obama administration has urged Honduran authorities to accept proposals put forward by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, whose efforts to end the crisis have stalled over the de facto government's refusal to allow Mr Zelaya to return to power.
The San Jose accord proposed last month by the Nobel Peace Prize winner would have allowed Mr Zelaya to return to office until elections are held by the end of November.
A US State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said the visa decision was intended to reinforce an Organization of American States' (OAS) delegation that landed in Honduras on Monday to try to persuade the de facto government to accept the Mr Arias's plan.
The OAS later conceded that the delegation visiting Honduras had not been successful.
"The Mission regrets that it was not possible on this occasion to obtain the backing of the San Jose Accord," the OAS said in a statement reiterating its call for Honduran authorities to accept the proposal before the country's presidential campaign opens next week.
The de facto government, which has resisted pressure from Western hemisphere governments and international bodies to reinstate Mr Zelaya, vowed yesterday to stick to a plan to hold a presidential election in November, even if other countries don't recognise the result.
"There will be elections whether they are recognized or not," the country's caretaker leader Roberto Micheletti told foreign ministers from the region on a visit with OAS chief Jose Miguel Insulza.
The United States, a long-time ally of Honduras and the country's top trading partner, has suspended some military aid, but the Obama administration has resisted imposing more far-reaching sanctions, citing the detrimental impact they could have on the country's struggling economy.
Reuters