CRISIS IN HONDURAS
Honduran
Interim Government Facing Domestic Protests,
International Pressure
Tegucigalpa - The interim Honduran
government rising from a military coup has
been caught in fierce protests at home and
mounting international pressure.
On Monday, at least two people died and 60
others were injured as protesters clashed
with military troops outside the Palace of
Government in Tegucigalpa.
VIOLENCE AT HOME
Soldiers used tear gas and opened gun fire
to disperse demonstrators who were in
defiance of a martial law imposed by Roberto
Micheletti, the interim president appointed
by the Congress after President Manuel
Zelaya was toppled.
A man died from his injuries in protest
against the change of leadership at the
state-run Honduras Telecommunications Corp,
ordered by Micheletti on Monday.
This has been the second death arising from
the protests against the coup-installed new
government led by Micheletti, who was
appointed president hours after Zelaya was
seized at his residence by hooded and
heavily armed troops and whisked to Costa
Rica.
Sixty people were injured and one died in
clashes between Honduran troops and Zelaya's
supporters outside the Palace of Government,
local television channel Canal 51 reported
earlier.
Hundreds of protesters, their faces covered
in red masks, blocked the roads around the
presidential residency with iron boards and
stones. They waved the national flag,
chanting slogans calling the army "betrayers
that have toppled the nation."
A Union leader told Xinhua by telephone that
he saw several people with bullet wounds,
adding that two ambulances have been sent
around.
The interim government has tightened control
over foreign reporters, and several of them
have been arrested.
MOUNTING PRESSURES
The coup was widely condemned by Honduras'
neighbors and regional groups in Latin
America.
El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua have
decided to halt cross-border trade with the
country for 48 hours as part of a broader
effort by the Central American Integration
System (SICA) to help Zelaya return to
office.
The SICA also suspended financing to
Honduras by the Central American Bank for
Economic Integration.
SICA leaders were joined by their
counterparts from the Group of Rio on Monday
in a meeting held to discuss the Honduran
coup. They urged Honduras' Supreme Court to
restore Zelaya to power immediately, saying
that they would not recognize anyone or any
government rising from the coup.
Meanwhile, the Bolivarian Alliance for the
Americas (ALBA), a trade group led by
Venezuela that Honduras joined last month,
issued the strongest statement defending
Zelaya.
Ecuador, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba
formally withdrew their ambassadors and
issued a statement saying "the only
diplomatic representation in our nations is
staff appointed by Zelaya."
Mexico used its consular services in
Honduras to provide safe passage for
Zelaya's Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas to
travel to Managua where she represented her
nation at the regional summits.
Meanwhile, the United Nations invited Zelaya
to address its General Assembly and U.S.
President Barack Obama called the coup "not
legal" at a press conference.
Micheletti was appointed president in a
legislative session that began with the
reading of a resignation letter, which was
alleged to be from Zelaya but denounced as
fake by the president himself.
Micheletti said the country will go ahead
with plans for November presidential
elections.
Sunday's coup began just hours before
Honduras was set to start a non-binding
referendum on whether to appoint a
constituent assembly to write a new
constitution promoted by Zelaya.
Zelaya said a new constitution was essential
to mend some "historical wrongs" in the
nation, but opponents said he was only using
the process to seek a second term which is
not allowed under the current constitution.
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