Triumphal return of Honduran ex-leader Zelaya

TEGUCIGALPA — Former president Manuel Zelaya made a triumphal return Saturday as tens of thousands of people cheered and wave banners to welcome him home nearly two years after his ouster from power in a coup.Zelaya, wearing his trademark cowboy hat, landed in Tegucigalpa with his wife and aides aboard a Venezuelan passenger plane on a flight from Managua, where he spent the night.In an interview broadcast from Managua by Telesur television network, Zelaya hailed his return from exile as "the result of an effort of all the countries of Latin America.""Today we begin the true reconciliation in Honduras," Zelaya's wife Xiomara Castro said, adding that they were committed "to continue the struggle to transform" the country.The end of the former cattle rancher's 16-month exile was part of a deal brokered by several Latin American governments that will end Honduras diplomatic isolation and give the government of President Porfirio Lobo access to foreign investment and aid.The ousted former president is returning to lead the National Popular Resistance Front (FNRP), a movement formed after the June 2009 coup to challenge a two party system that has dominated Honduran politics since the early 20th century.Cheers went up from the crowd when Zelaya's plane landed. An even larger crowd packed a city plaza where the 58-year-old ex-leader was to hold a rally. Several people fainted in the heat waiting for the former president, who was several hours behind schedule.Event organizer Rafael Alegria said they were expecting a million people at the rally, though local authorities did not give a crowd estimate."He was the only president that remembered us, the poor," said Maria Elisa Ferrufino, a 75 year-old farmer who got up at dawn Friday to catch a bus to Tegucigalpa for the rally.Zelaya "helped the poor people -- no president had done that before," said Arnulfo Mendez, 62, who traveled from a town 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of the capital for the rally. "There is hope that with his leadership we can do something wi

Add comment

Nick
Content

Submit