President of Honduras Arrested

BBC News is reporting that Honduran President, Jose Manuel Zelaya, was arrested early Sunday morning by military troops thereby thwarting the Honduran President's plans to follow through with a constitutional referendum seeking a vote that would allow him to run for another presidential term.

According to a reporter from the Associated Press, dozens of soldiers surrounded Honduran President Zayala's residence this morning with about 60 police guarding the house as Zayala was removed from the home and taken to an airbase outside the capital, Tegucigalpa.

President Zelaya was elected for a non-renewable four-year term in January 2006 and was seeking a vote that would enable him to run for a second term.

Last week, the Honduran President fired military chief, Gen. Romeo Vasquez Velasquez, for not supporting the referendum.

However, the Honduran Supreme Court ruled, and Congress and the military agreed, that the referendum vote was unlawful and further determined that President Zayala overstepped his bounds in firing his military chief, setting the stage for the Honduran president's arrest early this morning.

Honduran President Zayala, as told to Spain's El Pais newspaper published on Sunday, that a planned coup attempt against him had been thwarted after the US refused to back it.

"Everything was in place for the coup and if the US embassy had approved it, it would have happened. But they did not," Mr Zeleya said.

"I'm only still here in office thanks to the United States."

The Honduran President's arrest took place just an hour before polls were due to open.

Written by Gabriel Dorman
gabedorman@gmail.com
www.criminaldefenseduilawyer.com/blog/