Economy
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said his country is suspending oil supply to Honduras, which benefited from energy cooperation agreement Petrocaribe. The ruler announced his decision late Thursday during his weekly radio and TV program Aló, Presidente Teórico (Theoretical Hello President).

"We have suspended shipments of oil," Chávez stated. He reported that Petrocaribe energy supplies to Honduras were scheduled for next week.

"One of the effects of this measure is that gasoline prices in the Central American country are going to soar," Chávez said as reported by AFP.

The measure seeks to put pressure on the Honduras government to reinstate Manuel Zelaya, an ally of Chávez, as Honduras President. Zelaya was ousted in an army coup on June 28.

Honduras joined Petrocaribe energy alliance in December 2007, under Zelaya.

Petrocaribe is a cooperation agreement established in 2005, under which about 20 Caribbean and Central American countries receive some 200,000 barrels per day of oil from Venezuela with long-term credit facilities.

Weak US reaction
Chávez said that the US was responsible of the coup d'état that deposed the President of Honduras Manuel Zelaya. However, Chávez was careful to exclude Barack Obama from the conspiracy.

"Obama may have not known, but I am sure that the US ambassador to Honduras, which is the same envoy appointed by George W. Bush, knew details of the coup."

"At first, the United States had a moderate, lukewarm reaction. Later, the reaction of the Latin American countries and especially of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) made the US to take a stronger stance on Honduras," Chávez said.

"The response of the US government has been weak... They are obliged to have a definite and clear position," Chávez stressed during his radio and TV program.

Chávez warned that "a bloodbath is about to happen in Honduras" due to the "popular" reaction after President Zelaya was overthrown by a group of Honduran fascist military.

Actions for Zelaya's return
Hugo Chávez said that he supports the return of deposed President Zelaya to Honduras by means of "a set of actions," including contacts with military officers. Zelaya could return home "by land, air or water," said Chávez in an address on Thursday in a state-run TV station, AFP reported.

"Zelaya will return to Honduras. It may be by land air or water. Nobody knows," Chávez said, while he talked by phone with Venezuela's Minister of Foreign Affairs Nicolás Maduro, who is accompanying the ousted Honduras president.

"We are supporting his return to Honduras and we are planning several actions. (We are) contacting social leaders that are heading the resistance movements. We have contacted military leaders who disagree with what is happening in their country," Chávez said.

The Venezuelan ruler said that he would not recognize a new government in Honduras, in case that Roberto Micheletti, the interim president elected by Congress, calls early elections.

Translated by Gerardo Cárdenas