Soldiers detained the president of Honduras, Jose Manuel Zelaya, and sent him to Costa Rica on Sunday - the day he set for a referendum on changing the constitution to allow him to run for another term.

Honduras' President Manuel Zelaya salutes during a news conference at the presidential house in Tegucigalpa, Friday, 26 June 2009Mr. Zelaya says he is a "victim of kidnapping" and a "coup d'etat."  Speaking to reporters from San Jose, Mr. Zelaya said he would not recognize any government replacement and pledged to serve out his term as president.  

Aides to Mr. Zelaya say troops took him from his residence Sunday morning to an air force base on the outskirts of the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa.

Shortly after the his arrest, protesters calling the action a coup d'etat flocked to the presidential palace.  Honduran troops surrounded the palace and blocked the entrances.  

President Zelaya was going ahead with the referendum in defiance of the Honduran Supreme Court, which declared the vote illegal.  The Honduran military had refused to help organize the balloting.  The president fired the armed forces chief of staff, General Romeo Vasquez, last week for failing to support him.

President Zelaya was elected in 2006 to a four-year term.  The 1982 constitution bans re-election.

The Honduran president enjoys the support of leftist Latin American leaders, including Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Cuba's Fidel Castro.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.