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Tense Honduras moves to block ousted leader's return
2009-07-06
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AFP) - Ousted President Manuel Zelaya headed back to crisis-gripped Honduras on Sunday, one week after he was kicked out of power and as interim leaders threatened to block his arrival. The decision by Zelaya -- ousted by the military one week ago -- to return brought the political dispute over his plans to change the constitution to a dramatic climax, amid fears of bloodshed. Soldiers meanwhile fired tear gas to break up tens of thousands of Zelaya supporters trying to enter the main airport in Tegucigalpa, where airlines had suspended flights, before his expected return, an AFP journalist witnessed. After Zelaya set off from Washington with a top UN official, Honduran aviation officials said they had ordered his plane to divert to neighboring El Salvador. Zelaya ordered Honduran armed forces to open the capital's airport, he told Venezuela's Telesur television. In Washington, senior US officials said they had urged Zelaya not to return to his home country. "A variety of countries spoke out in quite forceful fashion... against the wisdom of president Zelaya's effort to return to Honduras," an official said, commenting on a meeting of American nations that included the United States. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Zelaya would travel to El Salvador and return to Washington if his arrival was blocked. Meanwhile, interim leader Roberto Micheletti ramped up tensions by claiming that Nicaraguan troops were moving toward the countries' joint border, a claim Nicaraguan military immediately denied. "We have been informed that in the sector of Nicaragua, some troops are moving toward the border," Micheletti said in a televised news conference. In Managua, Nicaraguan general Adolfo Zepeda shot back that the information was "totally false." A defiant Zelaya left Washington in a Venezuelan plane accompanied by UN General Assembly President Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann, said Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro. The plane was due to land in Tegucigalpa at around 2300 GMT, Maduro said. At the same time, another plane traveled to El Salvador carrying Miguel Insulza, the secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS), which suspended Honduras in an emergency session late Saturday. The presidents of Argentina, Ecuador and Paraguay were traveling with the OAS chief. Interim leaders said they had put forward an offer for dialogue in "good faith" with the OAS, after they previously said they were pulling out of the body ahead of the suspension. The interim government has proposed to the OAS "the start of a dialogue in good faith," interim deputy foreign minister Martha Lorena Alvarado said. Interim leader Roberto Micheletti also said that no one would pressure him, and still insisted he had taken power in a "constitutional succession." The OAS suspended Honduras late Saturday for failing to reinstate Zelaya, in the first such move since the exclusion of Cuba in 1962. Members of the pan-American body slammed the leaders of the coup which saw the army remove Zelaya in his pajamas last Sunday at the height of a dispute with the courts, politicians and the army over his plans to change the constitution. After a week of mostly peaceful protests by Zelaya's supporters and detractors, thousands of Zelaya backers -- many from labor unions and indigenous groups -- gathered in the capital. Many said they were prepared for violence on Zelaya's return. "I imagine there'll be blood and I'm ready for it. We're not afraid," said Marisol Velasquez, who said she was roughed up by soldiers at road blocks on her three-day journey to reach the capital. It was unclear exactly how many people had been injured and detained in last week's clashes, amid growing indignation from international rights groups. The country's human rights commissioner on Sunday said there were no political prisoners in the country. Night time curfews -- which suspend some freedoms guaranteed by the constitution -- and media blackouts have increased tension in one of Latin America's poorest countries. A freezing of millions of dollars of international aid, regional trade blockades and recalls of foreign ambassadors have hit the country in the past week. Chavez, Zelaya's main backer, has said that Venezuela would suspend key shipments of oil to Honduras, which he said would drive up gasoline prices.
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