President Oscar Arias is calling for more political and economic sanctions against the recently installed Honduran government and a stronger stance by the United States in order return ousted leader Manuel Zelaya back to power.

As the newly appointed president of the Central American Integration System (SICA), Arias' words carried a little more weight this week as he assumed leadership duties of the organization. It was good timing for the Nobel Peace Prize recipient, whose own country had outlawed its military 60 years prior (in part, to avoid similar events) and who has long preached a message of demilitarization.

“What happened in Honduras is a setback for democracy in Central America and Latin America,” Arias said in a statement released Monday night. “We thought we had turned the page on coups in the last century. But (it is evident) that we did not.”

In response to the evolving situation in Honduras, Arias urged the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) to suspend loan disbursements and to postpone all cultural, political, financial and sporting events in the country.

He didn't go as far as to cut off Costa Rica's trade to Honduras, an action that Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador pursued following the coup.

"For an economy as weak as the Honduran one and a country so poor, the people are going to be harmed,” Arias told a Costa Rican radio station, Radio Monumental, on Tuesday. “I hope that the measures take effect very quickly, so that people do not continue to suffer."

He was quick to add that such sanctions are necessary: “We should not let it pass without punishment….”

Arias expressed confidence in the leadership of the United States in responding to the situation in Honduras.

He called Barack Obama "a president who is different" and said this is a “great opportunity to (shift foreign policy) away from that of the Republicans who were previously in the White House.”

Zelaya has plans to return to Tegucigalpa on Thursday, accompanied by the José Miguel Insulza, secretary general of the Organization of American States.