Coup leaders in Honduras have announced they are pulling out of the Organization of American States.

The body was widely expected to suspend the new government in a vote today.

OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza said in Tegucigalpa late last night that those who ousted President Manuel Zelaya last weekend did not plan to reverse the situation.

Deputy foreign minister Marta Lorena Alvarado said on national television last night 'There is not an institutional crisis in Honduras. It has applied its own law to solve its problems.'

Soldiers bundled Mr Zelaya into a plane at dawn last Sunday and sent him to Costa Rica after a dispute with the country's courts, politicians and army over his attempts to change the constitution.

A spokesman for the Supreme Court said it had told Mr Insulza that the removal of Presidewnt Zelaya was 'irreversible.'

All EU countries with embassies in Honduras have withdrawn their ambassadors and Central American countries and Latin American leftists have announced similar measures, as has Colombia.