July 5 (Bloomberg) -- The Organization of American States suspended Honduras’s membership, opening the way for sanctions, as the Central American nation’s new government vowed to block attempts by Manuel Zelaya to return today after he was ousted as president on June 28.

In a vote minutes before midnight, diplomats and heads of state, including Argentina’s Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and Paraguay’s Fernando Lugo, voted 33-0 to suspend Honduras. The new Honduran government earlier said it was withdrawing from the regional group.

Zelaya, 56, who originally planned to return to Honduras on July 2, delayed his trip until the OAS decision. While thousands have pledged to meet him at the airport today to support him, he may find little other backing after the armed forces, lawmakers and courts rallied behind interim President Roberto Micheletti. The new government says Zelaya will be arrested when he lands.

“I’m going to go back to my country because it’s important that peace is restored,” Zelaya, wearing a red tie over a white shirt, said after the vote.

Diplomats from Costa Rica, Jamaica and Canada tried to dissuade Zelaya from attempting an immediate return, citing safety concerns. Peter Kent, Canada’s minister of state of foreign affairs in charge of the Americas, said the “time is not right” yet.

Presidential Trip

Any plane carrying Zelaya will be blocked from landing in Honduras, Reuters reported, citing the interim government. Calls and a voice-mail message to interim government spokesman Mario Saldana weren’t immediately returned.

“The OAS is a political organization, not a court, and it can’t judge us,” Micheletti’s government wrote in a public letter to OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza. “We repudiate the OAS’s attempt to impose measures unilaterally.”

The OAS’s reprimand further isolates the transitional government, which has yet to be recognized by any country. Zelaya, who is commonly called “Mel” by Hondurans, earlier said that in returning, he will be accompanied by the presidents of Argentina and Ecuador among leaders of allied countries.

“We will arrive at the international airport in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, with several presidents and members of international organizations,” Zelaya said yesterday in remarks broadcast on Telesur, a Venezuelan government-owned network.

Though the UN, European Union and OAS have condemned the coup, in Honduras, the courts, Congress and business groups have defended the ouster, saying it was necessary to avoid a shift toward a government similar to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

‘With Our Lives’

“I was expecting protests, but not at the airport,” said Elena Soto, a 30-year-old banker who landed at Tegucigalpa’s airport yesterday as police and military shut it down. “I hope Mel never comes back. People don’t understand how he was mismanaging the government.”

More than 10,000 people rallied in support of the transitional government July 2, the largest demonstration so far for the new government.

Thousands of Zelaya supporters, meanwhile, some of them carrying metal bars and wearing bandanas over their faces, marched to the airport to await his return yesterday, where they briefly confronted police before moving on peacefully.

“We are ready to defend Mel with our lives,” said Francisco Rivera, 38, who planned to sleep near the airport to wait Zelaya’s return. “If he landed right now, we’d guard him.”

Facing Charges

Micheletti’s government says the overthrow was necessary and legal because Zelaya violated the constitution by organizing a referendum on convening a constituent assembly. He then fired the head of the military, against the Supreme Court’s order, for refusing to oversee the vote. Zelaya faces at least 18 charges.

The decision by the OAS opens the way for sanctions against the Central American nation, Insulza said. He didn’t elaborate on possible measures. The Washington-based OAS is a forum for countries of the Western Hemisphere that discusses issues of democracy, human rights and poverty, according to the organization’s Web site.

Honduras won’t drop the charges against Zelaya detailed in a June 26 arrest order, even in the face of international censure, Supreme Court Justice Rosalinda Cruz said July 3.

Insulza “didn’t take into account the laws of the Republic,” Cruz said in a telephone interview. “He came to tell us the only way we wouldn’t be sanctioned by the OAS is if we accept the return of ex-President Zelaya as the president of the Republic.”

Approval Waned

Opposition to Zelaya grew over the past year as he joined an alliance of socialist countries led by Chavez.

Approval for the Zelaya government fell to 30 percent in February from a high of 57 percent in January 2007, according to a nationwide poll by CID-Gallup.

U.S. President Barack Obama has also called for Zelaya’s reinstatement, and the deposed president’s wife and youngest son are being protected at the residence of the U.S. ambassador in Tegucigalpa.

World Bank President Robert Zoellick said June 30 it would put aid to Honduras on hold during its political crisis.

Honduras, with a population of about 7.8 million, is the world’s ninth-biggest grower of coffee, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

“Hondurans have lived under six days of repression,” Zelaya said after the vote. “The military has been out on the street stomping, hitting, shedding the blood of innocents. We ask all nations to take measures to never let his happen again.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Andres R. Martinez in Tegucigalpa at amartinez28@bloomberg.net; Joshua Goodman in Rio de Janeiro jgoodman19@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: July 5, 2009 11:19 EDT