Zelaya supporters protest one year after Honduras coup

TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS: Supporters of former Honduran President Manuel Zelaya on Thursday demonstrated in the main cities of Central American nation, exactly one year after the coup.

Demonstrators called on the government to stop the rising prices of fuel, utilities and food as well as removing the charges against Zelaya to allow his return without having to appear before the courts.

In Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras, members of the National Front of Popular Resistance People caused traffic problems. Teachers' organizations and peasants, who demanded land titling in northern Honduras, joined the protests.

From the early hours, police were deployed nationwide, especially in Tegucigalpa, to prevent clashes.

Meanwhile, Zelaya said Thursday from the Dominican Republic that President Porfirio Lobo Sosa has worsened the socioeconomic and political situation in the country in his first year in office.

The ousted president, who was forced to go into exile, qualified the performance of the current government as negative. As a result, Zelaya added, food, fuel and electricity prices have increased while crime has placed Honduras among the three most violent countries in the world.

The former Honduran president has refused to return to the country despite recent legal actions from Lobo that allow him to return without being incarcerated, as requested by the international community.

In June 2009, President Manuel Zelaya was ousted from Honduras after a military coup that prompted mass mobilizations across the country. Protesters who demanded the return of Zelaya were silenced by military forces who arrested, hit, and even killed demonstrators.

(BNO NEWS )