Honduran leader says U.S. voids visa because of coup

A supporter of Honduras' ousted president Manuel Zelaya writes on an electoral propoganda of interim President Roberto Micheletti in Tegucigalpa, September 10, 2009.

TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) - Honduran de facto ruler Roberto Micheletti said on Saturday the United States has revoked his visa to pressure him to step down and reinstate exiled President Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted in a June military coup.

Micheletti, however, was defiant of the latest move by Washington, which said earlier this month it was cutting more than $30 million in aid to the poor Central American country.

"We will not back down. Dignity does not have a price in our country," Micheletti told Honduran radio.

Asked if he his visa had been canceled, Micheletti said: "Yes."

"We received letters from the U.S. Consulate in Honduras which say that because of the what happened on June 28, our visas have been suspended," Micheletti said.

Micheletti has not visited the United States since the June 28 coup. A month after the coup, the U.S. State Department said it had revoked the diplomatic visas of four members of Honduras' de facto government, but did not name them.

Zelaya was ousted after he angered the judiciary, Congress and the army by seeking constitutional changes that would allow presidents to seek re-election beyond a four-year term.

The Honduran Congress named Micheletti to be interim president, and the country's Supreme Court said it had ordered the army to remove Zelaya.

The State Department said last week that it could not, for now, regard as legitimate Honduran elections scheduled for November because of Zelaya's overthrow.

Marcia Villa, a Honduran lawmaker and ally of Micheletti, said several top members of Micheletti's government, Honduran Supreme Court justices and a group of Honduran businessmen had also lost their U.S. visas.

Some Latin American leaders have suggested Washington apply more pressure, but some U.S. Republican lawmakers believe it has already done too much for Zelaya, an ally of Venezuela's socialist and anti-U.S. president, Hugo Chavez.

(Reporting by Gustavo Palencia; editing by Mohammad Zargham)