TEGUCIGALPA: By Andrew McLeod

IT was to have been an old-fashioned Central American coup. Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, a rancher and logging magnate and self-styled champion of the poor, was dragged out of bed last week by soldiers and placed on a plane to Costa Rica.

Roberto Micheletti, a caretaker president appointed by congress ostensibly to defend Honduran democracy, demonstrated his true credentials by sending troops onto the streets, slapping a news blackout on coverage of any unrest and imposing a nighttime curfew across the country.

In the past that might have been the end of the story. Instead, Micheletti, a supermarket tycoon and leader of congress, found himself shunned by his Latin American neighbours, the European Union, and crucially, the US.

As Latin American and EU nations condemned the coup and withdrew their ambassadors from Tegucigalpa, president Barak Obama made it clear that he saw Zelaya as the "democratically elected president It would be a terrible precedent if we start moving backwards into an era in which we are seeing military coups as a means of political transition, rather than democratic elections".

While the US suspended military co-operation with Honduras, it did not break off ties and granted Zelaya's wife and son refuge at the US embassy.

Obama said his administration would work closely with the Organisation of American States. The OAS secretary general, Jose Miguel Insulza, was in Tegucigalpa at the weekend with an ultimatum for the coup leaders: reinstate Zelaya or face suspension from the regional body. "We need to show clearly that military coups will not be accepted," said Insulza.

Pre-empting its almost certain expulsion, the Honduras foreign ministry said it would withdraw from the OAS.

Micheletti said he was prepared to accept a proposal to bring forward presidential elections scheduled for November 29, and a referendum on reinstating Zelaya to serve the rest of his term, but "for the peace and calm of the country, I would prefer he Zelaya does not come in. I do not want even one drop of blood spilled in this country".

Hondurans are divided over the coup, with its supporters staging rallies and pro-Zelaya demonstrators burning tyres and setting up barricades.

Micheletti accused Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez of meddling in Honduran affairs. Critics claim Zelaya tried to push through a referendum on constitutional reform that would have enabled him to seek re-election after his four-year term expires in 2010. After sacking the army commander for refusing to guarantee security for a referendum, Zelaya had polling booths flown in from Venezuela, Micheletti says.

Several Latin American presidents, including Chavez and his allies the presidents of Ecuador and Bolivia, have extended their presidential terms.

Zelaya lost much of his own Liberal party's support when Honduras joined Chavez's Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas, which includes Nicaragua, Ecuador, Bolivia, Cuba and others. Chavez, who though democratically elected was the leader of a failed coup in Venezuela in 1992, has branded Micheletti a "gorilla" and warned: We are going to make your Micheletti's life impossible."

Latin America has seen progress in consolidating democratic traditions over the past 20 years, and there were fears that a successful coup in Tegucigalpa might have a ripple effect.

The US is Honduras' main trade partner. In not supporting the coup, Obama was breaking with a US tradition. Most coups in Latin America were met with support of the US administration of the time. When Chavez was briefly toppled in 2002, the then Bush administration was quick to recognise the new regime, then backtracked when the coup failed.

Obama's stance in the crisis is likely to be seen in Latin America as a manifestation of "change", as promised by the US president.