The Obama administration has formally cut more than $30 million in aid to Honduras. Thursday’s announcement came shortly after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met with ousted Honduran leader Manuel Zelaya in Washington. Zelaya praised the move as a step forward in pressuring the coup regime.

Honduran President Manuel Zelaya: “I think with this American decision, although we have not heard from Canada yet, a single bloc of all thirty-four countries of the Americas has formed which condemns the coup and doesn’t recognize its authorities and fraudulent elections, which are a result of the lack of liberty and the repression against the Honduran people.”

The State Department also acknowledged Zelaya’s ouster was a coup, but refused to formally designate it as such. Under US law, a coup designation would force the Obama administration to cut off up to $150 million in funding to Honduras.