TEGUCIGALPA, (Reuters) – Honduras’ coup leaders  came under new pressure yesterday to allow ousted President  Manuel Zelaya’s return to power as the United States revoked  visas for four members of the de facto government.

Washington has refused to recognize the government led by  Roberto Micheletti, who took over when Zelaya was toppled in a  June 28 coup, and it already had cut $16.5 million in U.S.  military aid to the Central American country.

Zelaya had asked President Barack Obama to revoke U.S.  visas for the coup leaders and he quickly welcomed the move.

“They are isolated, they are surrounded, they are alone,”  the deposed leftist said of the coup leaders.
“This is a coup that has been dead from the start, so they  will have to abandon their position of intransigence in the  coming hours,” he said in Nicaragua, where he is camped out  near the border with Honduras.

Micheletti’s government, backed by the Supreme Court and  Congress, has refused to bend to international condemnation of  the coup. It insists that Zelaya cannot come back and serve his  remaining six months in office.
Zelaya, an ally of Venezuela’s socialist President Hugo  Chavez, was ousted as he sought a referendum to change the  constitution, a move the Supreme Court ruled illegal. Zelaya’s  critics say he was trying to extend presidential term limits so  he could be re-elected, but he denies the claims.

Costa Rican President Oscar Arias has mediated talks  between both sides, but the negotiations so far have failed.

Arias, who will host a regional heads of state meeting in  northern Costa Rica on Wednesday, said he supported the U.S.  move to strip some Micheletti officials of their visas as a way  to pressure those holding power to reopen dialogue.

“If the pressure keeps rising with drastic measures, the de  facto government in Honduras will possibly be more compelled to  sit down at the table again,” Arias told reporters. U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said official  diplomatic visas had been revoked for four individuals. “We  don’t recognize Roberto Micheletti as the president of  Honduras, we recognize Manuel Zelaya,” he said.