Ousted Hunduran President Manuel Zelaya’s plan to return to the nation on Thursday could be stopped short, as the new junta’s foreign minister declared that Zelaya would face arrest on charges of violating the constitution if he returned.

On Sunday morning elements of the Honduran military stormed into Zelaya’s bed chamber, capturing him and claiming control over the country in what it said was a measure ordered by that nation’s Supreme Court.

Though two of the leaders of the coup had undergone training at the Pentagon’s controversial School of Americas, the United States has denied any role in the coup, and indeed has publicly opposed it. The day before the coup, Zelaya had credited the US with foiling a previous coup plot earlier in the week.

But while the US has criticized the move, it has stopped short of using the term “coup” to describe what was a textbook case of a military coup d’etat, because that acknowledgment would require halting US aid to the nation. Analysts say the situation underscores the inability of the US to dictate policy in Latin America as it did in years past.

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