Honduran coup stuns friends and neighbors

Ousted president tells of "brutal kidnapping" by army, as regional leaders lend support.

Alex LeffJune 30, 2009 06:01Updated May 30, 2010 11:59

Honduras' President Manuel Zelaya speaks during a news conference at a hotel in Heredia, Costa Rica, June 28, 2009. (Juan Carlos Ulate/Reuters)

SAN JOSE — Before news of the coup had begun to settle in the streets of the Honduran capital, the nation’s president in exile Manuel “Mel” Zelaya sat in his pyjamas Sunday at Costa Rica’s Juan Santamaria International Airport, where he landed after soldiers had ousted him from power.

The sight was a far cry from the president's usual demeanor and attire: head held high, wearing a cowboy hat and boots.

On this day, the bewildered-looking Zelaya sat at the news conference along with his host and Costa Rican counterpart, Oscar Arias, and proceeded to tell the story of what he described as his “brutal kidnapping” — which sparked Central America’s biggest political crisis in decades.

Zelaya was awoken before dawn by the sound of gunshots at “the house I live in with my family, with my children,” he said. “There was strong resistance by my guards for at least 10 minutes ... When (the soldiers) came in, they pointed their guns at me and told me they would shoot if I didn't put down my cell phone.”

The troops forced him onto a plane to San Jose. Welcoming Zelaya here, Arias threw his support behind the ousted president, calling on the world to condemn the coup, which he criticized as an “unfortunate setback” for the region.

“We thought democracy in Central America had been consolidated sufficiently enough so that this would not occur again,” said Arias, whose hand in negotiating peace after the region's 1980s contra wars earned him a Nobel Peace Prize.

“I regret there are civilians, political leaders and part of the population in Honduras who applaud a coup d’etat, just because they disagree with the government in office,” the Costa Rican president said.

Zelaya had angered his country's legislature and courts by pushing for presidential reelection after his four-year term ends in 2010, following a trend that has already spread through other members aligned with Venezuela’s left-wing bloc, the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), which includes Ecuador, Bolivia, Nicaragua and Cuba.

In spite of a Honduras Supreme Court ruling, Zelaya called a nationwide public consultation to be held Sunday, in an attempt to poll Hondurans on the question of whether they’d allow him to seek reelection. Zelaya's effort to seek reelection would require constitutional reform.