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PrintJuly 6, 2009
Dramatic day in Honduras as Zelaya is prevented from returning
Thousands of Honduran soldiers and vehicles blocked the Venezuelan military plane carrying former president Mel Zelaya who was trying to land in Honduras despite warnings from the government that he would be turned away.
Clashes at the airport with Zelaya supporters resulted in one death and 8 injured according to Marc Lacey and Ginger Thompson of the New York Times:
As the plane carrying the ousted president, Manuel Zelaya, swept in low and made two passes over the city, cheers erupted from the crowds below. An air force jet then streaked across the sky and Mr. Zelaya's plane flew off to Nicaragua, where he made a brief stopover before heading to El Salvador. "The runway is blocked," Mr. Zelaya said in an interview from the sky that was broadcast over loudspeakers to his supporters on the ground. "There is no way I can land."
He vowed to make another attempt soon.
Despite the anticlimax of the landing efforts, diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis seemed to move forward.
Earlier in the day, the interim president in Honduras, Roberto Micheletti, said he was willing to negotiate with the Organization of American States, the group that suspended Honduras on Saturday night for ousting the president. It remained unclear whether Mr. Micheletti's proposal represented a breakthrough, as some Obama administration officials said might be the case.
The government is still insisting that there is no chance that Zelaya will return. Even if he does, the Chavez stooge is facing an 18 count indictment for treason and exceeding his constitutional authority.
And the Honduran air force was none too thrilled with the idea of Zelaya flying in a Venezuela military plane and trying to land on Honduran territory:
The flyover infuriated some members of Honduras's air force. "That was a flagrant violation of our sovereignty by a Venezuelan aircraft," said an air force officer who spoke on the condition that he not be identified. "They entered our airspace without permission and they were flying lower than allowed. It was an act of provocation."
There is late word that Nicaraguan troops are massing on the Honduran border. Word from the White House is "they lacked any information of Nicaraguan troop movements." Read between the lines there and you may have the Obama administration ready to turn a blind eye to an invasion by Nicaragua. The idea that the White House couldn't find out if Danny Ortega's military was massing on the border with Honduras is ridiculous. We don't spend $70 billion on surveillance satellites to miss something like that. Either they are or they aren't massing and we know damn well which it is.
It's hard to know exactly what the OAS and the Honduran government are negotiating. It may be the return of Zelaya and a reduction in the charges against him. But given Zelaya's coziness with the thugs of Latin America, it would be like letting the wolf lay down with the sheep. I doubt whether the government of President Micheletti will agree to any deal that brings Zelaya back.
