By: Sophie Nicholson

TEGUCIGALPA - Pressure mounted Tuesday on leaders of the coup-backed regime in Honduras to revoke a decree curbing civil rights, as ousted President Manuel Zelaya called for protests against the clampdown.

Brazil defended its hosting of the ousted leader in its embassy in Honduras, where Zelaya is surrounded by security forces, and insisted it had not helped him to return home secretly last week.

A Honduran army chief, meanwhile, suggested that efforts to resolve the deep crisis sparked by the June 28 coup were advancing.

"I see that we're quickly approaching a solution, which is what we're all waiting for," General Romeo Vasquez said.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned Tuesday that the new clampdown had heightened tensions and said that threats on the embassy were "unacceptable," after the regime had threatened to close it.

A cordon of anti-riot police blocked hundreds of Zelaya supporters in a university in the capital from marching to the Brazilian embassy.

"I call the resistance on the streets to demand that the closed media outlets go back on air," Zelaya told a news conference, after security forces stormed the two main opposition media outlets Monday.

Union leaders said they would protest outside a closed radio station Wednesday and work on a new strategy, as Zelaya once again called them to demonstrate.

Aside from international criticism, the country's Congress, which supported the coup, also rejected the new curbs on civil liberties.

De facto leader Roberto Micheletti said late Monday he was prepared to rescind the decree so that November presidential polls could still go ahead.

"Without opposition media, the government can't have elections," Zelaya said.

Costa Rican President Oscar Arias appealed to the international community to help the elections to take place to avoid isolating Honduras.

Arias brokered a first, failed round of talks and put the San Jose accord -- which includes Zelaya's return ahead of the elections -- on the negotiation table.

The US ambassador to Honduras, Hugo Llorens, said Tuesday the Arias plan was the "key" to overcoming the crisis, in comments on Honduran radio.

While Latin American countries have repeated calls to restore Zelaya to the presidency, a senior US representative to the Organization of American States criticized Zelaya's return as "irresponsible."

The US ambassador to Honduras underlined Tuesday that top US officials had condemned the June 28 coup.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, meanwhile, defended Zelaya's presence in his country's embassy as a positive move to help resolve the crisis, in comments to his country's Senate.

Amorim also said that Brazil had refused to supply an airplane to Zelaya, as he had requested, for his surprise return.

The Brazilian senators approved a document rejecting the police presence around their embassy but questionning Zelaya's political actions from the building.

Honduran general Vasquez defended the security forces as necessary to protect both Zelaya and people outside, in comments on regional Telesur channel.

The OAS -- which suspended Honduras after the coup -- failed Monday to reach consensus on the crisis after more than 10 hours of debate.

The wavering de facto regime, meanwhile, invited back for Friday the members of an OAS mission it had expelled, ahead of a mission of top officials and regional foreign ministers next week.

The de facto leaders are seeking to arrest Zelaya on charges of treason and abuse of authority.

They allege the ousted leader, who veered to the left after his election and forged an alliance with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, ignored court orders to drop plans for a constitutional referendum that could have given him another term.

--AFP