Honduran military ousts president

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — President Manuel Zelaya was asleep when the sound of gunshots and shouting abruptly roused him from his bed before dawn Sunday.

The Honduran chief executive, still in his pajamas, ducked behind an air conditioner to avoid the bullets as his bodyguards tried to fight off the raiding soldiers.

But within a half-hour, armed troops wearing helmets and face masks were dragging him out of his house.

“They started hitting me in the chest and on the head, pointing rifles in my face, and telling me to walk, to get outside,” Zelaya told reporters after the military flew him to a forced exile in Costa Rica. “I left with the clothes I had on. Here I am in Costa Rica in my pajamas.”

Soldiers ousted Zelaya, and Congress named its leader as his successor after the leftist ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez refused to cancel an unpopular constitutional referendum that some saw as an attempt by him to stay in power beyond the one-term limit. The Supreme Court had deemed the referendum illegal.

The first military takeover of a Central American government in 16 years drew widespread condemnation from governments in Latin America and the world, and Chavez pledged to overthrow the country’s apparent new leader.

An air force plane flew Zelaya to Costa Rica as armored military vehicles with machine guns rolled through the streets of the Honduran capital and soldiers seized the national palace.

“I want to return to my country,” Zelaya said. “I am president of Honduras.”

Congress voted to accept what it said was Zelaya’s letter of resignation, with even his former allies turning against him. Congressional leader Roberto Micheletti was sworn in to serve until Jan. 27, when Zelaya’s term ends. Micheletti belongs to Zelaya’s Liberal Party but opposed the president in the referendum.

Zelaya denied resigning and insisted he would serve out his term, even as the Supreme Court backed the military takeover and said it was a defense of democracy.

Micheletti was sworn in at a ceremony inside the Congress building with cheers and chants from fellow legislators of “Honduras! Honduras!”

Outside Congress, a group of about 150 people opposed to Zelaya’s ouster stood well back from police lines and shook their fists, chanting “Out with the bourgeoisie!” and “Traitors!”

Micheletti insisted that he did not arrive at his new post “under the aegis of a coup d’etat.”

“I have reached the presidency as the result of an absolutely legal transition process,” he said.

He reached out to Zelaya’s supporters, saying, “Today in Honduras, there are neither victors nor defeated. The motherland is for all.”

He also defended the army, saying “the armed forces have complied with the constitution and the laws.”

But he warned against outside interference, after Chavez said that if Micheletti was appointed president “We will overthrow him.”

Zelaya’s overthrow came hours before polls were to open on a constitutional referendum that Zelaya was pushing ahead even after the Supreme Court and the attorney general said it was illegal. The constitution bars changes to some of its clauses, such as the ban on a president’s serving more than one term, they said.

President Barack Obama said he was “deeply concerned,” and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Zelaya’s arrest should be condemned.

The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.