Ousted president Zelaya briefly steps into Honduras

Ousted Honduras President Manuel Zelaya briefly stepped a few feet inside Honduran territory for the first time in a month Friday and demanded that he be allowed to return to power.

Driving a white Jeep Wrangler north from Nicaragua, Zelaya arrived at Las Manos, a remote border post, where he was greeted by throngs of supporters and a couple of dozen soldiers and police officers who threatened to arrest him if he tried to enter the country.

Zelaya approached the commanding officer, who stood on the Honduran side of a chain-link fence, shook the officer's hand and then crossed into Honduras. The crowds cheered, and the officers backed away.

Zelaya labeled the move a triumphant return. The police, however, said he had not officially entered Honduran territory.

"I am exercising my right as the president and as commander in chief of the armed forces," Zelaya said. "The people will no longer permit a president imposed by force."

Zelaya's excursion — which, with its caravan of reporters, continual interviews and symbolic steps over the line, seemed aimed more at media attention than political restoration — was condemned as "reckless" by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

At a news conference in Washington, D.C., she said the United States had urged Zelaya and the de facto government that replaced him to avoid "any provocative action that could lead to violence."

The two sides had held several days of talks in Costa Rica that ended in stalemate.

The mediator of the talks, President Oscar Arias of Costa Rica, urged the international community Friday to maintain pressure on the government led by Roberto Micheletti.

Tensions flared throughout the day Friday after Micheletti ordered tighter security along the border and imposed an 18-hour curfew beginning at noon. Moments after the curfew began, Honduran police officers fired tear gas at Zelaya's supporters in El Paraiso, a town near the border, according to The Associated Press.

Witnesses told a Honduran radio station that officers also fired live ammunition at the crowd, wounding an unspecified number of people.

In Las Manos, Zelaya stood for only a few moments inside Honduran territory before retreating to Nicaragua. But he proclaimed those steps a giant leap in his efforts to return to office.

He was ousted and exiled by the Honduran army on June 28. His opponents accused him of violating the constitution in an attempt to extend his time in office.

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Copyright © 2008 THE TIMES OF EARTH (TOE).

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