[6] In 1973 he moved to the United States, living in Tampa, Florida, then in New Orleans, Louisiana, for two years before returning to Honduras in 1976.

[7] Micheletti won a Congressional seat in 1982 which he has held till June 2009, except for a brief period when he ran Hondutel, Honduras' state-owned national telephone company.

A Venezuelan government webpage claims that the proposal was aimed at enabling then-President Roberto Suazo to run for re-election in the 1985 Honduras presidential election.

Congress, under Articles 1, 2, 3, 4, 205, 220, subsections 20, 218, 242, 321, 322 and 323 of the Constitution of the Republic, unanimously agreed to:[17] The Honduran constitution mandated that the head of Congress, Roberto Micheletti, act as the provisional head of state since Vice President Elvin Ernesto Santos had resigned in December 2008 to run for president.

[21] Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez stated that he had put his nation's armed forces on alert,[22] and vowed to take military action if Venezuela's embassy or envoy to Honduras were harmed.

[25][26] Deaths that have been allegedly linked to the violence in the aftermath of the coup include 19-year-old Isis Obed Murillo Mencías, shot in the head on 5 July when Zelaya's plane was trying to land at Toncontin Airport;[27][28] 40-year-old campesino leader and Democratic Unification Party member Ramón García on 12 July, after he was forced by unknown people to get off a bus;[27] 23-year-old Pedro Magdiel Muñoz Salvador, allegedly detained by police during anti-coup protests and taken to an El Paraíso police station on 24 July, allegedly found at 6:30 am the following morning with 42 stab wounds[29][30][31] and 38-year-old high school teacher Roger Abraham Vallejo Soriano, shot in the head allegedly by security forces during protests on 31 July, dying on 1 August.

[32][33][34] Costa Rican President Óscar Arias acted as a mediator in the talks between the Honduran government and Manuel Zelaya to try to find a political solution.

[35] In an open letter to the Wall Street Journal published on 27 July 2009, Roberto Micheletti listed the Honduran government's reasons and justification for ousting Zelaya.

In it, Micheletti claimed Zelaya's removal from office was supported by the Supreme Court (15-0), an overwhelming majority of Congress, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal, the Administrative Law Tribunal, the independent Human Rights Ombudsman, the two major presidential candidates of the Liberal and National Parties and Honduras’ Catholic Cardinal.

Based on the statements it received, the delegation concluded that there was "an atmosphere of intimidation that inhibits the free exercise of freedom of expression".

[37] On March 11, 2010, the US Department of State released their annual report on Human Rights, in which they stated "On June 28, the military forcibly removed and sent into exile President Jose Manuel Zelaya, and Congress President Roberto Micheletti Bain became the leader of a de facto regime.

[38] In an official press release published in their website, the US Embassy in Tegucigalpa stated that "Before the June 28, 2009 coup d'état, Honduras faced substantial challenges in the protection of human rights, had one of the Western Hemisphere's highest homicide rates, and some killings appearing to be politically motivated.

[40] According to the latest Greenberg Quinlar Rosler Research opinion poll during October 9–13, 48% of Hondurans regarded Micheletti's performance as good or excellent.