Ousted Zelaya on Honduras border to pressure rivals
LAS MANOS, Honduras (Reuters) - Defying U.S. criticism, ousted President Manuel Zelaya returned for a second day to Honduras' land border to put pressure on the coup leaders who threw him out of the country last month.
Zelaya took a few steps on Honduran soil on Friday in a move described as "reckless" by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and dismissed as an "ill conceived and not very serious" publicity stunt by Honduras' de facto president, Roberto Micheletti.
Despite vowing to return by whatever means, Zelaya showed little appetite to force a confrontation with Honduran security forces. Addressing supporters through a megaphone at the border on Saturday, he said he would keep coming back for the next few days until he is allowed to be reunited with his family.
The United States, the United Nations and Latin American presidents have roundly condemned Zelaya's forced removal from power on June 28 and are demanding he be reinstated.
Micheletti's interim government insists Zelaya was acting illegally in trying to extend presidential term limits and that his removal was authorized by Honduran laws.
Talks to end Central America's worst crisis in two decades collapsed this week over the issue of whether Zelaya will be allowed to return as president.
"The Honduran people are not prepared to accept dictators of any kind," Zelaya told supporters on the Nicaraguan side of the border, as Honduran security forces waited on their side.
"We are going to set up camps here, with water and food, and we're going to be here this afternoon, tonight, tomorrow morning, waiting for our friends and compatriots who are coming, and I am waiting for my family," Zelaya said.
CURFEW IN THE BORDER AREA
Authorities ordered a daytime curfew in the border region and traffic was curtailed by multiple checkpoints but pedestrians were still out and about.
In the town of Danli, around 20 miles (35 km) from the border, a small group of Zelaya supporters including Zelaya's wife were blocked from proceeding to the border.
"We will stay as long as it takes, they can't keep repressing the people," his wife Xiomara Castro told Reuters.
Armando Flores, 46, who worked in construction in New York before employment dried up and he returned home, sounded more resigned: "We are realistic. They have the weapons and they have the power, what can we do?"
Security forces used tear gas on Friday to disperse several hundred Zelaya supporters who tried to reach the border.
The corpse of a young man was found on Saturday in El Paraiso, near the border with Nicaragua, but it was not immediately clear how he died or if there was any connection to protests in the area on Friday, police and the Red Cross said.
A timber magnate known for his trademark cowboy hat, Zelaya had angered the conservative ruling elite by allying himself with Venezuela's socialist President Hugo Chavez. The Supreme Court ordered his arrest and Congress backed his ouster.
Micheletti said on Friday that if Zelaya tried to return to Honduras, he would be arrested to face multiple charges.
Washington has condemned the coup and called for Zelaya's reinstatement. U.S. President Barack Obama cut $16.5 million (10 million pounds) in military aid and threatened to slash economic aid, but has yet to take measures directly against the coup leaders.
The Micheletti government appears to be gambling it can resist international pressure until elections in November, on the assumption that when a new president takes office in January, the world will accept the new order.
Whether it is right will depend largely on Washington, which as the biggest trading partner could cripple the economy of one of Latin America's poorest nations if it were to impose trade sanctions on the coffee and textile exporter.
Zelaya is expected in Washington on Tuesday.
A U.S. Congressional delegation led by Republican Congressman Connie Mack, who has said Zelaya's ouster was not a military coup, was due to meet Micheletti in the capital Tegucigalpa on Saturday.
(Additional reporting by Marco Aquino, Edgar Garrido and Ivan Castro; Writing by Claudia Parsons; Editing by Kieran Murray)