A Major showdown looms in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa
CSMS Magazine Staff Writers
CSMS Magazine has learned that ousted president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, made true to his promise to return to his country this Sunday. According to AP, he is currently in the air in a Venezuelan jet in a high-stakes attempt to return to power, and he vows to do so no matter what happens. Also today, in a nearly unanimous vote 33-1, the OAS expelled Honduras from the organization. With Zelaya in the plane are close advisers and staff, two journalists from the Venezuela-based network Telesur, and U.N. General Assembly President Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann, a leftist Nicaraguan priest and former foreign minister who personally condemned Zelaya’s ouster as a coup d’etat.
Also, following Zelaya’s plane are several other planes carrying Jose Miguel Insulza, the secretary-general of the Organization of American States, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa and the presidents of Paraguay and Argentina. It has been reported that a sea of journalists are also in the air with them. Their planes are trailing Zelaya to see what happens in the skies over Honduras before deciding where to land. If Zelaya’s plane is allowed to land, the others will land as well, Correa said. If not, Correa, the presidents of Paraguay and Argentina and Jose Miguel Insulza, the secretary-general of the Organization of American States, planned to land in El Salvador.
Meanwhile, thousands of Zelaya supporters descended on the airport in the Honduran capital in anticipation of the showdown. They plan to force a human shield to protect Zelaya in the event the military tries to arrest him. Police helicopters hovered overhead. Commercial flights were canceled, and outside the airport about 200 soldiers with riot shields formed a line in front of the protesters.
This is historic, and the Hondurans coup plotters are clearly shaking. CSMS Magazine intends to bring more info on this historic development as they become available.
Also see Tension flares in Latin America following the military coup in Tegucigalpa
