Honduras ? Washington has revoked the visas of Honduras’ interim president and 17 other top officials to pressure the Central American nation to reinstate ousted leader Manuel Zelaya, Honduras’ government said Saturday.

The interim government expects the United States to revoke the visas of at least 1,000 more public officials “in the coming days,” Information Minister Rene Zepeda told The Associated Press.

Interim President Roberto Micheletti said losing his diplomatic and tourist visas would not weaken his rejection of the return of Zelaya, who was toppled in a June 28 military-backed coup and flown into exile.

Micheletti said he was expecting the action and called it “a sign of the pressure that the U.S. government is exerting on our country.”

The move “changes nothing because I am not willing to take back what has happened in Honduras,” he said on Radio station HRN.