Exiled Honduran leader does border ‘Hokey Pokey’
Posted: Monday, July 27, 2009 2:09 PM
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On Assignment
By Kerry Sanders, NBC News Correspondent
JACALEAPA, Honduras – Exiled Honduran President Manuel Zelaya has been hanging out in Ocotal, a Nicaraguan mountain town near the Honduras border, for the last four days as he tries to launch his return to power after a coup last month.
It's been a little bit like the childhood song and dance, "The Hokey Pokey." On Friday, Zelaya took a few steps into the no-man’s-land between the countries. When he arrived at a sign that said "Welcome to Honduras," Zelaya claimed he was home. But he didn’t stay long, returning quickly to the Nicaraguan side of the border.
As the song says, "You put your right foot in, you put our right foot out, and shake it all about."
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| Mayerling Garcia / AFP - Getty Images |
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Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya (in white hat) greets supporters at an improvised camp site in Ocotal, Nicaragua on Monday. |
It's unclear, though, what Zelaya thinks his border dance will achieve.
I asked him if his camping stunt was costing him in the court of world opinion. He said it was "a just action" and that the world should not support "a tyrant." He was referring to de facto President Roberto Micheletti.
A little tear gas in the eyes
Even if Zelaya does get across the border, he faces considerable obstacles. In my own effort to get to Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital city, from Nicaragua, I've crossed seven police and army road blocks.
At one road block, I got tear gassed. Without warning, my eyes were burning and tearing up. My throat was on fire.
I stumbled from behind police lines to a spot where I could get fresh air. Thankfully, I knew from past experience not to rub my eyes.
But as I coughed and my eyes teared-up, a Honduran national police officer just laughed. He said that the tear gas came from a young soldier who didn't know what he was doing and accidentally released the toxic cloud.
Most of the soldiers and police officers were standing with riot shields, helmets and M-16 rifles. But upon closer inspection, most weapons were not loaded.
My gut tells me that while there are divisions over who is the legitimate leader of Honduras, no one wants to end up shooting a fellow citizen. The violence that followed the initial June 28 coup was short-lived.
Rain – dampening political spirits
Mother Nature is also putting a lid on any potential violence. It's the rainy season here and my still damp shirt is a reminder of how miserable it can be to be soaking wet.
Zelaya’s supporters may be committed to his cause, but who wants to stand around soaking wet to cheer?
Adding to the discomfort, Zelaya has not done a good job of communicating his arrivals at the border.
His own supporters, as well as a throng of reporters from the international media, waited hours for him to show up on Saturday and Sunday. Word was he'd be there at the border by 11 a.m. But at 11 a.m. on Saturday, we heard that he had just woken up and was having breakfast at his hotel.
A passionate cause, for sure, but on "la hora latina" (latin time.)
Still, both sides continue to trade barbs. Zelaya's camp says the exiled president’s wife, daughter, son, and mother-in-law, are being forcibly detained by the Honduran army.
A Honduran Army lieutenant colonel, however, said the claim was false. "A lie," he said, adding that the military even offered them a helicopter ride out.
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| Dwaine Scott/ NBC News |
| NBC News' Kerry Sanders gasping for air after being mistakenly tear-gassed by a Honduran soldier. |
And a meeting in Washington scheduled this week by the U.S. State Department in an attempt to restart negotiations appears to have taken a back seat as Zelaya has vowed not to leave the border region for at least a week. "This week of my life is for me to occupy myself with the Honduran people," Zelaya told reporters.
The U.S. has two worries: What does the political upheaval mean for Soto Cano Air Base, a joint Honduras and U.S. military base here, and is there an important democratic principal at stake? When a democratically elected president is forcibly removed (in his pajamas. no less), does the U.S. have an obligation to help keep them in power?
So stay tuned. This will likely drag on for a long time.
