TEGUCIGALPA, July 10 (Xinhua) -- The Honduran interim government on Friday removed its Foreign Minister Enrique Ortez Colindres from office, and reappointed him as Interior Minister.

    Honduras' post-coup leader Roberto Micheletti said that Colindres' removal was not related to the racist comments he had made against U.S. President Barack Obama.

    On Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador to Honduras Hugo Llorens condemned in a statement the disrespectful comments made by Colindres about Obama.

    Colindres had referred to Obama as a "black man who does not know where Tegucigalpa is."

    Micheletti said that "Colindres has given the necessary excuses and they were presented to President Obama." "It was an incident with the qualification of a scandal, however it was not more than the opinion from a citizen, we must believe in the behavior and experience of Ortez Colindres," he added.

    The interim government did not announce the name of the person to replace Colindres as the foreign minister, but the strongest candidate is Roberto Flores Bermudez, who recently left his post as Honduran ambassador to the United States.

    This is the second time for Colindres to serve as Honduras' Interior Minister. He took the office once in the government of Jose Azcona Hoyo from 1986 to 1990.

    Colindres was appointed Foreign Minister of the interim government on June 28, the same day when Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was ousted in a military coup and forced into exile in Costa Rica.