Chaos erupts as protesters rise against Honduran coup

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President Manuel Zelaya - ABI photo

New York (ABI).- The countries that make up the Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) on Sunday demanded the immediate return to the rule of law in Honduras and the return of President Manuel Zelaya to power.

At the same time, reports as well as videos posted on YouTube show hundreds of protesters set up barricades, downed bill-boards and put up chain link fences on roads leading to the presidential palace. (See video at bottom of page.)

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez put his troops on alert warning Honduras not to harm his representative in the country.

The United States slammed the ouster of President Zelaya.

“We demand the immediate return to the rule of law in the Republic of Honduras and return to his duties of Manuel Zelaya, the legitimate President of Honduras,” says the document signed by Bolivia, Cuba, Dominica, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Venezuela.

The countries of ALBA rejected and condemned “the coup against José Manuel Zelaya, President of the Republic of Honduras, perpetrated by the Honduran Armed Forces, in collusion with the oligarchy and the reactionary forces of this country”

The group, in a late night meeting Sunday demanded other nations not recognize the leadership installed by the armed forces which ousted Zelaya and put him aboard a plane to Costa Rica.

“We urge the Honduran armed forces to withdraw to their barracks immediately to prevent incidents that could lead to bloodshed,” called the countries of ALBA.

The document calls for freedom “immediate and respect for life and dignity” of the Chancellor Patricia Rhodes, “kidnapped by the Honduran Armed Forces.”

It also asked the president of the General Assembly of the United Nations, Miguel D’SCOT to immediately convene a session of the general assembly to discuss the breakdown of law and order.