Monday, 6 July 2009
Coup leaders poured rain on ousted Honduran President's Jose Manuel Zelaya's highly-publicized return to the country, blocking the airport runway and forcing the deposed leader to fly onto Nicaragua.
Zelaya, who was ousted in a military coup on June 28, flew from Washington to Tegucigalpa airport on Sunday on a plane provided by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, an ally.
Thousands of Zelaya supporters were waiting at the airport to greet Zelaya, but as his plane came into land its path was blocked by police and vehicles. One person was reported killed and several injured in the ensuing clashes between supporters and security forces.
At a meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Washington on Saturday 33 of the 34 members voted to suspend Honduras, the first time the alliance has taken such a measure since Cuba was suspended in 1962.
The OAS had set Saturday as a deadline for Honduras to reinstate Zelaya.
Zelaya's arrest by the Honduran military came hours before polls were due to open for a non-binding referendum on ending the restriction on presidents serving one four-year term.
Parliamentary speaker Roberto Micheletti was sworn in as president of the Central American state shortly after Zelaya, who was bundled off by plane to Costa Rica, was ousted, the first coup in the region since the end of the Cold War.
