Washington  - Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said Wednesday in Washington that he expects a "convincing and evident" statement from the United States regarding human rights violations in Honduras.

Zelaya said he would likely discuss the matter with US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton when they meet Thursday in Washington.

The State Department is currently weighing whether to use the term "military coup" to refer to Zelaya's ouster, a decision that would force Washington to cut off all aid to the Central American country.

"We hope that in the coming hours the State Department will not only issue the (military) coup declaration, but also that its statements on human rights are totally convincing and evident," Zelaya said in a lecture given in Spanish at George Washington University in the US capital.

"The State Department has not yet commented on human rights violations in Honduras, when all international organizations have already commented," the ousted leader said.

Zelaya denounced the "very strong repression" that he says is taking place in Honduras since he was ousted by the military and expelled to Costa Rica on June 28. Zelaya was replaced by Roberto Micheletti, the next in-line in presidential sucession, who has refused to allow the ousted leader back into the country.

He stressed that Washington's "prestige" is at stake in the Honduran conflict.

"The United States got involved in the solution to the coup when it proposed a mediation (by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias) that produced an agreement that the coup perpetrators now do not accept," Zelaya said.

The United States - like most of the international community led by the Organization of American States - has refused to recognize Michelletti's government and has temporarily suspended aid to Honduras pending a review of the country's political impasse.

Clinton has yet to reach a decision on whether more than 100 million dollars in assistance to the Central American nation should be cut off, so far Washington has only cut off direct assistance to the military and government. The US embassy in Tegucigalpa has stopped processing visas and revoked visas for Honduran officials. dpa