Zelaya on Flight to Honduras: Trip Aborted, Heads for El Salvador

Zeleya Brought it on Himself

7:00 PM
UPDATE: Zeleya Backs off and Heads for El Salvador:

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — The ousted Honduran president, Manuel Zelaya, swept over Honduras Sunday evening as crowds of his supporters clashed with soldiers and riot police at the airport.But after his plane swooped in low over the airport and cheers erupted from the crowds below, it veered away and headed to El Salvador.

“The runway’s blocked,” he said in an interview from sky that was broadcast over loudspeakers at the airport. “There’s no way I can land.”

At least one person was killed in clashes between the Ex-Presidents supporters and the military, a clash which was avoidable except for the grandstanding of Zeleya who flew safely away abandoning his supporters.



6:00 PM
If he lands it could be a serious clash or perhaps Civil War. maybe he will be arrested or perhaps he will take power. we will know in a couple hours. For now the Honduran government has closed the airport.

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) -- Honduras' exiled president flew toward home in a Venezuelan jet in a high-stakes attempt to return to power on Sunday, even as the interim government ordered the military to turn away the plane.

''I am the commander of the armed forces, elected by the people, and I ask the armed forces to comply with the order to open the airport so that there is no problem in landing and embracing with my people,'' Zelaya said while en route. ''Today I feel like I have sufficient spiritual strength, blessed with the blood of Christ, to be able to arrive there and raise the crucifix.''

Interim President Roberto Micheletti refused to withdraw his order to prevent the plane from landing, and said he would not negotiate with anyone until ''things return to normal.''

''We will be here until the country calms down,'' Micheletti told a news conference. ''We are the authentic representatives of the people.''

Thousands of protesters descended on the airport in the Honduran capital in anticipation of the showdown, vastly outnumbering about 250 officers. The officers fell back to form a line at a ramp leading to the facility, and some protesters pressed against their riot shields as others waved Honduran flags and posters of Zelaya, chanting ''Honduras! Honduras!''

There was no immediate violence. Police helicopters hovered overhead, and commercial flights were canceled.

The fact that he is on Venezuelan jet should illuminate how much this thug is allied with Chavez. Anyway he is not alone:

At least three other planes left the Washington area separately, carrying Latin American presidents, the secretary-general of the Organization of American States and journalists. They were trailing Zelaya to see what happens in the skies over Honduras before deciding where to land.

Flying with Zelaya were 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.

The Telesur crew enabled Zelaya to speak in a live interview from the air. ''No one can obligate me to turn around,'' Zelaya declared.But with their safety not guaranteed, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa pleaded with the Honduran military forces to avoid bloodshed. ''If there is violence the whole world must clearly know who is responsible,'' he said.

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.

Honduras' new government has vowed to arrest Zelaya for 18 alleged criminal acts including treason and failing to implement more than 80 laws approved by Congress since taking office in 2006.

Despite a Supreme Court ruling, Zelaya had also pressed ahead with a referendum on whether to hold an assembly to consider changing the constitution, and critics feared he would press to extend his rule. But instead of prosecuting him or trying to defeat his referendum idea at the ballot box, other Honduran leaders sent masked soldiers to fly Zelaya out of the country at gunpoint.

I hope they turn him back or arrest him on the spot.