Honduras: The shadow of curfew

As the countdown to the 9 p.m. curfew approaches, the rush begins in this sweltering Central American city.

People scurry down the sidewalks and speed in their cars to make sure they get indoors before the streets belong to the soldiers.

All the journalists are especially vigilant, especially after exchanging stories of being pushed around and threatened by the troops at the protests against Sunday’s coup.

I had to make a 10 p.m. live broadcast in a TV studio Monday night. It was only two blocks from the hotel, but why take the risk, so it was sleeping in the studio all night.

For some of the older Tegucigalpa residents all this brings back bad memories. The last curfew was 22 years ago, said a middle-aged storeowner.

That was back in the 1980s, in the bad old days of military dictators and civil wars tearing Central America apart.

But things have changed since then. Now leftist governments control most of South America and a liberal African American sits in the White House.

Surely, people can’t get away with a coup in this day and age, sighed the store owner. Or can they?

Click here to read about the view of the coup from Cuba.

http://www.globalpost.com/notebook/the-americas/090630/honduras-the-shadow-curfew