TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduras is now torn between two presidents: one legally recognized by world bodies after he was deposed and forced from the country by his own soldiers, and another supported by the Central American nation’s congress, courts and military.
Presidents from around Latin America were gathering in Nicaragua for meetings Monday to resolve the first military overthrow of a Central American government in 16 years, and once again Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez took center stage, casting the dispute as a rebellion by the region’s poor.
“If the oligarchies break the rules of the game as they have done, the people have the right to resistance and combat, and we are with them,” Chavez said in the Nicaraguan capital, Managua.
There is a deep rift between the outside world — which is clamoring for the return of democratically elected, but largely unpopular and soon-to-leave-office President Manuel Zelaya — and congressionally designated successor Roberto Micheletti.
Micheletti rejected any outside interference and declared a two-night curfew, while Chavez vowed that “we will overthrow (Micheletti).”
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Updates:
6:34 am EDT, June 29th, 2009 — Honduras Defends Its Democracy
3:38 pm EDT, June 29th, 2009 — Clinton: Unrest in Honduras Has ‘Evolved Into a Coup’
3:52 pm EDT, June 29th, 2009 — Ousted Honduran president invited to address UN
5:22 pm EDT, June 29th, 2009 — Obama says Honduran ouster was ‘not legal’