Economy
The Honduran Congress approved on Tuesday night Honduras' withdrawal from the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA). The Central American country had joined ALBA in August 2008, under ousted President Manuel Zelaya.

"Honduras no longer belongs to ALBA," said deputy Toribio Aguilera, a leader of opposition Partido Innovación, AP reported.

He added that 123 out of the 128 lawmakers, members of five different political parties, adopted the decision. Only the five legislators of Partido Unificación Democrática, a left-leaning party, did not endorse the decision.

The Honduran Congress supported a proposal submitted on December 16 by de facto President Roberto Micheletti, who gave his consent to Honduras' withdrawal from ALBA.

"With this decision, we close a major financial source for our country," Aguilera admitted.

However, deputy Valentín Suárez, the leader of the ruling Liberal Party lawmakers, told AP that "Venezuela had broken relations with Honduras and denounced the ALBA treaty. Therefore, it was not necessary that we denounced this integration system."

On the eve, Rafael Pineda, the de facto Minister of the Presidency, said that the withdrawal from ALBA "does not mean that we suspend trade relations with the countries that are part of the alliance... We withdrew from ALBA's accession treaty, because some countries of that organization have shown no respect for Honduras."

Meanwhile, hundreds of members of the Resistance Front Against the Coup, which supports Zelaya, demonstrated in the streets of the Honduran capital to protest against the legislative initiative to withdraw from ALBA.

Translated by Gerardo Cárdenas