Zelaya returns to Honduras

HONDURAS: Ousted President Manuel Zelaya returned to sneaked back into Honduras on Monday almost three months after he was toppled in a coup, and took refuge in the Brazilian embassy to avoid arrest by the de facto government.

Zelaya’s ouster on June 28 in a dispute over presidential term limits plunged Honduras into its worst political conflict in decades, and was condemned by U.S. President Barack Obama, the European Union and Latin American governments.

Zelaya had been in exile mostly in Nicaragua while a de facto government that backed the coup against him became more entrenched in office, defying international calls to allow the leftist president to return.

But his sudden appearance in Honduras on Monday increased pressure on the country’s ruler Roberto Micheletti to cede power and increased the chance of violent protests or a standoff at the embassy.

“I am the legitimate president chosen by the people and that is why I came here,” Zelaya told Reuters by telephone from inside the Brazilian embassy. Several thousand Zelaya supporters gathered outside while a military helicopter clattered overhead and a small group of police stood some 100 yards (meters) away. The United States called for restraint in Honduras, one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere.

Tegucigalpa, Tuesday, Reuters