Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya departed on a flight for his country tonight, but the interim government that has defied international pressure over last week's coup said it would not let his plane land.
The aviation authority in Honduras, which has been slapped with suspension from the Organisation of American States over its refusal to reinstate Mr Zelaya, said Mr Zelaya's plane had been directed to go to El Salvador.
Mr Zelaya had left Washington on a chartered plane, accompanied by UN General Assembly President Miguel D'Escoto, according to Venezuela's foreign minister and Caracas-based Telesur regional television, which showed images of the ousted president boarding an aircraft.
"I am sure that in the next few hours we will be telling you about our arrival in this plane in the capital of Honduras, Tegucigalpa," Mr Zelaya said.
Mr Zelaya, a leftist who had been due to leave power in 2010, was bundled out of office by troops and into exile a week ago in a military coup that has been widely condemned abroad.
"There is a great mobilisation of people in Tegucigalpa and we don't know if the interim government or the top brass of the military will dare repress those people. So we decided that the most prudent thing to do was that the president of the UN General Assembly Miguel D'Escoto accompanies President Zelaya back to Tegucigalpa," Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa told a news conference in Washington.
OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza, Argentine President Cristina Fernandez and Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo and Correa will travel to El Salvador to monitor Mr Zelaya's return, Mr Correa said.
Mr Zelaya's plan to try to go home followed the strongest move yet by foreign governments to isolate the caretaker government since last Sunday's coup - which was the first in Central America since the Cold War era and was triggered by a dispute over presidential term limits.
The OAS met into the early hours of today in Washington and took the rare step to suspend Honduras after the interim authorities ignored an ultimatum by the 34-member body to reinstate Mr Zelaya. Honduras, a coffee and textile exporter with a population of around 7 million, is the third poorest country in the hemisphere after Haiti and Nicaragua. The OAS slap could hamper its ability to obtain loans.
In Honduras, Enrique Ortez, foreign minister of the caretaker government, said any aircraft carrying Mr Zelaya would not be allowed to land. The interim government has already said Mr Zelaya will be arrested if he enters Honduras. "I have given orders that he not be allowed back. We cannot allow recklessness," he told local radio.
Several thousand Zelaya supporters, some carrying sticks, rallied to back his return in Honduran the capital Tegucigalpa, where troops and police tightened security and roadblocks around with main airport.