Aide: Zelaya plane stopped at base wih US troops

The U.S. military said Sunday its troops in Honduras did not know of and played no role in a flight that took ousted President Manuel Zelaya to exile during a military coup. Zelaya says the Honduran military plane that flew him to Costa Rica on June 28 stopped to refuel at Soto Cano, a Honduran air base that is home to 600 U.S. soldiers, sailors and airmen engaged in counter-narcotics operations and other missions in Central America. U.S. forces at Soto Cano "were not involved in the flight that carried President Zelaya to Costa Rica on June 28," Southern Command spokesman Robert Appin said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. The American troops "had no knowledge or part in the decisions made for the plane to land, refuel and take off." Appin said the U.S. troops at Soto Cano have stopped conducting exercises with the Honduran military since the coup. "The U.S. military recognizes that the situation must be resolved by Hondurans and their democratic institutions in accordance with the rule of law," he said. The administration of President Barack Obama has cut off millions of dollars in military and development aid to Honduras in an effort to pressure for Zelaya's reinstatement. It has stopped short of imposing trade sanctions that could cripple the Honduran economy, which is highly dependent on exports to the United States.