The rest of the world are having so much fun, and we are still not invited....
Troops oust Honduran president in feared coup
Ana Fernandez
June 29, 2009 - 4:49AM
Honduran troops arrested President Manuel Zelaya in a dawn raid on his home Sunday and flew him out of the country in an apparent military coup just hours before a controversial referendum.
"Troops have taken the president from his home to the air force," the president's personal secretary, Enrique Reina, told reporters, just hours before Zelaya had sought to hold a referendum on extending his four-term term.
The first such major political unrest in several decades in the impoverished Central American nation came amid a bitter power struggle between Zelaya, elected to a non-renewal term in 2005, and the country's military and legal institutions.
Zelaya was swiftly flown to neighbouring Costa Rica as the Honduran Supreme Court said it had in fact ordered his ouster to preserve law and order.
"I am the victim of a kidnapping by Honduran soldiers... I was deceived by the military elite," Zelaya told Venezuelan-based Telesur television.
A neighbour told Radiocadena Voces television about 200 troops swooped on Zelaya's home just as dawn was breaking around 6:00 am and his house remained surrounded by heavily armed troops, an AFP photographer saw.
A leading government official, Armando Sarmiento, told AFP that at least eight cabinet members were also detained including Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas who had urged Zelaya's supporters to protest his ouster.
"Our president has been kidnapped. It is by taking to the streets that we can succeed in obtaining his release," she told Telesur earlier.
As planes and helicopters overflew the capital, several hundred Zelaya supporters ignored warnings to stay home and flooded onto the streets of Tegucigalpa shouting out, "We want Mel," the president's nickname.
The protestors were members of groups which had backed Zelaya's moves to revise the constitution to allow him to stand for a second term.
But the demonstration was halted in front of the presidential palace when the way was barred by a cordon of troops and armored vehicles.
"One officer threatened to throw grenades," said protestor Isidro Portillo."
Other protesters, some with their faces covered, lay down in the streets to prevent the passage of military vehicles.
Zelaya, who took up office in 2006, had planned a vote Sunday asking Hondurans to sanction a future referendum to allow him to run for reelection after his term ends in January.
The planned referendum had been ruled illegal by the country's top court and was opposed by the military, but the president said he planned to press ahead with it anyway and ballot boxes had already been distributed.
US President Barack Obama said he was deeply concerned about the unfolding events in Honduras, as the European Union also called for Zelaya's release.
"I call on all political and social actors in Honduras to respect democratic norms, the rule of law and the tenets of the Inter-American Democratic Charter," Obama said in a statement.
"Any existing tensions and disputes must be resolved peacefully through dialogue free from any outside interference."
The apparent coup is the latest dramatic event in a tense political standoff over the past several days.
Last week Zelaya sacked the country's top military chief, General Romeo Vasquez and also accepted the resignation of Defense Minister Edmundo Orellana, after military commanders refused to distribute ballot boxes for Sunday's vote.
The heads of the army, marines and air force also resigned.
The Honduran Supreme Court then unanimously voted Thursday to reinstate Vasquez and hundreds of troops massed late last week in the capital Tegucigalpa.
Zelaya, who was elected as a conservative, has shifted dramatically to the left during his presidency.
He is the latest in a long list of Latin American leaders, including Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, to seek constitutional changes to expand presidential powers and also ease term limits.
Chavez also denounced Sunday's arrest as a "coup d'etat" and alleged that the United States had a hand in Zelaya's overthrow.
And he warned that if Venezuela's envoys to Honduras were harmed he would be prepared to intervene militarily.
Troops oust Honduran president in feared coup
Ana Fernandez
June 29, 2009 - 4:49AM
Honduran troops arrested President Manuel Zelaya in a dawn raid on his home Sunday and flew him out of the country in an apparent military coup just hours before a controversial referendum.
"Troops have taken the president from his home to the air force," the president's personal secretary, Enrique Reina, told reporters, just hours before Zelaya had sought to hold a referendum on extending his four-term term.
The first such major political unrest in several decades in the impoverished Central American nation came amid a bitter power struggle between Zelaya, elected to a non-renewal term in 2005, and the country's military and legal institutions.
Zelaya was swiftly flown to neighbouring Costa Rica as the Honduran Supreme Court said it had in fact ordered his ouster to preserve law and order.
"I am the victim of a kidnapping by Honduran soldiers... I was deceived by the military elite," Zelaya told Venezuelan-based Telesur television.
A neighbour told Radiocadena Voces television about 200 troops swooped on Zelaya's home just as dawn was breaking around 6:00 am and his house remained surrounded by heavily armed troops, an AFP photographer saw.
A leading government official, Armando Sarmiento, told AFP that at least eight cabinet members were also detained including Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas who had urged Zelaya's supporters to protest his ouster.
"Our president has been kidnapped. It is by taking to the streets that we can succeed in obtaining his release," she told Telesur earlier.
As planes and helicopters overflew the capital, several hundred Zelaya supporters ignored warnings to stay home and flooded onto the streets of Tegucigalpa shouting out, "We want Mel," the president's nickname.
The protestors were members of groups which had backed Zelaya's moves to revise the constitution to allow him to stand for a second term.
But the demonstration was halted in front of the presidential palace when the way was barred by a cordon of troops and armored vehicles.
"One officer threatened to throw grenades," said protestor Isidro Portillo."
Other protesters, some with their faces covered, lay down in the streets to prevent the passage of military vehicles.
Zelaya, who took up office in 2006, had planned a vote Sunday asking Hondurans to sanction a future referendum to allow him to run for reelection after his term ends in January.
The planned referendum had been ruled illegal by the country's top court and was opposed by the military, but the president said he planned to press ahead with it anyway and ballot boxes had already been distributed.
US President Barack Obama said he was deeply concerned about the unfolding events in Honduras, as the European Union also called for Zelaya's release.
"I call on all political and social actors in Honduras to respect democratic norms, the rule of law and the tenets of the Inter-American Democratic Charter," Obama said in a statement.
"Any existing tensions and disputes must be resolved peacefully through dialogue free from any outside interference."
The apparent coup is the latest dramatic event in a tense political standoff over the past several days.
Last week Zelaya sacked the country's top military chief, General Romeo Vasquez and also accepted the resignation of Defense Minister Edmundo Orellana, after military commanders refused to distribute ballot boxes for Sunday's vote.
The heads of the army, marines and air force also resigned.
The Honduran Supreme Court then unanimously voted Thursday to reinstate Vasquez and hundreds of troops massed late last week in the capital Tegucigalpa.
Zelaya, who was elected as a conservative, has shifted dramatically to the left during his presidency.
He is the latest in a long list of Latin American leaders, including Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, to seek constitutional changes to expand presidential powers and also ease term limits.
Chavez also denounced Sunday's arrest as a "coup d'etat" and alleged that the United States had a hand in Zelaya's overthrow.
And he warned that if Venezuela's envoys to Honduras were harmed he would be prepared to intervene militarily.
:p
