TEGUCIGALPA, (Reuters) – The Organization of  American States tried to convince Honduras yesterday to restore  ousted President Manuel Zelaya, but it hit a wall as the  country’s Supreme Court warned the leftist would be arrested if  he came home.

OAS head Jose Miguel Insulza met judicial officials and  clergy in Honduras to try to reverse a military coup last  weekend that drove Zelaya from office. He warned the Central  American country faces diplomatic sanction from the Western  Hemisphere.

Backed by U.S. President Barack Obama and Latin American  leaders, the Washington-based OAS has given the interim rulers  of Honduras until today to bring back Zelaya or be suspended  from the 34-member group.
The new Honduran administration has so far opposed any  attempt to bring back Zelaya, who was ousted in a dispute over  presidential term limits, sparking Central America’s biggest  political crisis since the U.S. invasion of Panama in 1989.

Zelaya has said he will try to return to Honduras tomorrow. In Buenos Aires, an Argentine government source said that President Cristina Fernandez would travel with  him, along with Insulza, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa and  Miguel D’Escoto, president of the U.N. General Assembly. The group had originally planned the return trip on  Thursday, but that was put off to allow the OAS time to work on  a solution. The OAS is due to meet again in Washington today.

World bodies and governments from Washington and Brussels  to Zelaya’s left-wing allies in the region have condemned his  ouster and demanded he be restored to power. Zelaya, who took  office in 2006, had been due to leave power in early 2010.

Insulza, the former Chilean foreign minister, was told  firmly by the head of the Honduran Supreme Court that Zelaya  would be arrested if he returns home.

“The president of the court told him the decision had been  taken and they was no going back. If the president returns he  will be arrested,” a court spokesman said after the meeting.  The Supreme Court said after Sunday’s coup that it told the  army to remove Zelaya.

The crisis has split Hondurans, with supporters of the coup  holding rallies and pro-Zelaya demonstrators mounting rowdy  protests, burning tires and building barricades, in recent  days. Several dozen pro-Zelaya activists have been arrested.

Thousands of Hondurans waving the blue and white national  flag staged a boisterous anti-Zelaya demonstration near the  presidential palace yesterday.
The army ousted Zelaya and flew him to Costa Rica,  accusing him of trying to expand presidential powers and being  a puppet of Venezuela’s firebrand socialist President Hugo  Chavez. Zelaya had riled traditional political parties and  business leaders with his growing alliance with Chavez.

Insulza was due to meet politicians, church leaders and  judicial figures but did not plan to talk directly to Roberto  Micheletti, named by Congress as caretaker president, as the  OAS wants to avoid giving his government legitimacy.
The OAS head was cautious before his trip, telling  reporters late on Thursday he doubted he could defuse the  crisis in one visit. “I cannot say I am confident,” he told  reporters in Guyana. “I will do everything I can but I think it  is very hard to turn things around in a couple of days.”

The bloodless overthrow in the impoverished coffee and  textile exporting country of 7 million people has created a  test for regional diplomacy and for U.S. commitment to  defending democracy in Latin America.

Micheletti says he does not want Zelaya to return. On  Friday he called on Insulza to “be just, fair and realize that  (the Honduran) people want peace, democracy and tranquillity.”

However, he has also said he would be open to bringing  forward a Nov. 29 presidential election to resolve the crisis.
The United States has criticized the coup and will decide  next week whether to cut economic aid to Honduras, one of the  poorest countries in the Americas, but the Obama administration  has let the OAS take the lead in trying to solve the crisis.

The OAS, which groups most countries in the Americas  including the United States, is a mostly symbolic organization  that promotes democracy but has limited powers.