"The security services believed it would be dangerous to imprison him," Vasquez said, adding such a move "could have caused deaths and injuries" if his supporters had tried to free him.

"The consequences for the country would have been serious," he said.

Zelaya, who was elected to a single four-year term in November 2005, was bundled from his bed by troops on June 28 and put on a plane to Costa Rica as he tried to hold a referendum on whether he should be allowed to run for a second term.

The referendum had been declared illegal by the Supreme Court and fiercely opposed by the military. Zelaya had sacked Vasquez amid the turmoil.

Just hours after Zelaya's ouster, Congress swore in speaker Roberto Micheletti to replace him.

"We had a constitutional mission to accomplish and we could not renege on it, given this historic responsibility. History will be our judge," said Vasquez, who was reinstated after the coup.

The new Honduran leaders, who have not been recognized by the international community, refuse to describe their move as a "coup d'etat" saying the army was only carrying out the orders of the court.

Elected as a conservative, Zelaya had increasingly moved to the left since taking up the reins of office in January 2006.

Since his ouster, Zelaya has travelled around Latin America seeking to drum up support for his bid to return to power. Honduras has become increasingly isolated by its neighbors, and the coup was roundly condemned by the United States.

But two days of talks mediated by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias last week ended without any resolution to the stalemate, as the coup leaders insisted they would remain in power.

Ousted Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas Tuesday cast doubts on the mediation by Arias saying it had given the interim leaders "breathing space."

She said the mediation efforts had reached "a zero point," even though it is expected that delegations from the two sides will meet again in San Jose on Saturday.

Zelaya on Monday warned that the interim government must relinquish power within the week or face unspecified repercussions.

"We are giving an ultimatum to the coup regime that by our next meeting at the latest, to be held this week in San Jose, Costa Rica, they comply with the mandates expressed by international organizations and the constitution of Honduras" demanding his immediate restitution, Zelaya told reporters at the Honduran embassy in Managua.

earlier related report
Zelaya issues ultimatum to interim Honduran leaders
Ousted Honduran leader Manuel Zelaya has warned the interim government that deposed him in a coup it must relinquish power within the week or face unspecified repercussions.

"We are giving an ultimatum to the coup regime that by our next meeting at the latest, to be held this week in San Jose, Costa Rica, they comply with the mandates expressed by international organizations and the constitution of Honduras" demanding his immediate restitution, Zelaya told reporters Monday at the Honduran embassy in Nicaragua's capital Managua.

Mediation efforts initiated last week in San Jose "will be considered a failure" and "we will proceed with other measures," he added, if interim leader Roberto Micheletti and his two-week-old administration continue to delay Zelaya's return to the helm of the Honduran government.

Zelaya was in Nicaragua on his most recent stop as he travels throughout the region to drum up support for his presidency, after being sent into exile in a military-backed coup on June 28.

The deposed Honduran leader's tough words came after Micheletti set Saturday as a possible date for talks to resume in Costa Rica.

The ousted Honduran president held weekend talks in Washington with State Department officials and the head of the Organization of American States (OAS), Jose Miguel Insulza.

Washington reiterated its support for Zelaya, calling for a return to democratic order in his country and backing the dialogue between representatives dispatched by the rival Honduran leaders.

Bolivian President Evo Morales, who has often had tense ties with the United States, meanwhile accused the US military of being behind the coup in Honduras.

"I have first-hand information that the empire, through the US Southern Command, made the coup d'etat in Honduras," Morales said during a visit to the Uruguayan capital Montevideo.

The coup that saw Zelaya swept up by the military in his pajamas and expelled from Honduras "is an aggression, a provocation of the empire," he added.

Negotiations between Micheletti's and Zelaya's camps began last week over two days in San Jose, brokered by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, who won the 1987 Nobel Peace Prize for helping resolve civil wars in Central America.

Zelaya has proposed that the next negotiations be held in Honduras, even though the interim government has refused to allow him to return and did not allow his plane to land in Tegucigalpa last week.

The ousted leader's supporters have vowed to continue protest marches and road blockades demanding that their leader be reinstated.

"We are going to continue the protests," said Luis Sosa, a leader of the anti-government Popular Bloc. "Our commitment is to maintain them permanently until the democratic process is restored," Sosa told AFP.

Meanwhile, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega condemned on Monday the violence against Zelaya supporters and reiterated his call for an early solution to the political crisis gripping the country in order to "stop shedding the blood of our brothers."

Ortega, who was playing host to Zelaya in Managua, denounced the killing of two of the beleaguered leader's supporters, without naming them. One was taken from his home and another fell from a bus before being killed, he said.

"These crimes remind us of the death squads," Ortega said.

The leftist president also condemned actions taken against two news channels whose reporters were arrested and expelled from Honduras by the de facto authorities.

Zelaya, a wealthy rancher who moved sharply left after taking office in January 2006, rattled his country's ruling elite by trying to bypass Congress to hold a referendum on rewriting the constitution.

He has denied charges that the move was a bid to lift the one-term presidential limit so he could seek re-election this year.

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