Ousted Honduran leader makes brief return home

He stepped back into Nicaragua 30 minutes later.

Cheers had come from the crowd that surrounded Zelaya as he breached the border, and among other supporters who braved police tear gas, military roadblocks, and a rare daytime curfew in a bid to reach the area and receive the leftist leader.

But opposition to Zelaya and his often provocative rule runs deep in Honduras, and the de facto government that replaced him and installed Roberto Micheletti as president vowed to arrest him if he entered the country. Army and police forces were deployed along the border to block Zelaya’s return.

In the end, authorities said they didn’t bother to arrest Zelaya because he “barely’’ entered the country, staying in the no-man’s land that characterizes many borders. Zelaya said he was withdrawing to avoid becoming the cause of violence.

“I am not afraid, but I also am not stupid,’’ he said.

It was a day of high theatrics staged, apparently, for multiple audiences, including the press abroad and Zelaya’s increasingly dispirited followers at home.

US officials had urged him not to attempt to cross into Honduras because of the possible bloodshed. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said it was a “reckless’’ action. And a State Department spokesman said yesterday that Zelaya was expected in Washington on Tuesday for further consultations.

Zelaya decided to go to the border after negotiations led by President Oscar Arias of Costa Rica broke down. Honduras’s de facto rulers said they will not accept the key point of Arias’s plan - that Zelaya be allowed to finish his term ending in January - while Zelaya said yesterday that he could not accept a plan that gave “pardon and prizes’’ to those who plotted the coup. Among other points, the plan called for amnesty for coup-related crimes.

In his trademark white cowboy hat and a black leather vest, Zelaya drove a white Jeep ahead of a long motorcade from the northern Nicaraguan city of Esteli to the border.

At Las Manos crossing point, he waded through a phalanx of television cameras and loudly chanting supporters, giving one press interview after another on his cellphone.

He then approached Honduran Army Lieutenant Colonel Luis Recarte, dispatched to meet him. The two men shook hands.

“I come in peace,’’ he told the officer. Zelaya said Recarte told him he could not enter the country, but Zelaya had insisted and asked to speak to his commanders.

As Recarte scurried off to receive orders, Zelaya stepped several feet into Honduran territory. He walked up to a metal sign that said Bienvenidos a Honduras - Welcome to Honduras - and caressed it to more cheers.

Zelaya returned to the Nicaraguan side of the border and sat in his Jeep to take more calls. He said he would await the arrival of his wife and children who were attempting to make their way from inside Honduras.

Earlier, on the Honduran side of the border, security forces clashed with Zelaya supporters. The army set up a checkpoint about 6 miles from the border and was stopping all traffic.

Zelaya supporters surged toward the blockade. Troops opened fire with tear gas in an effort to disperse the crowd. No serious injuries were reported.

A curfew beginning midday was imposed on the border region. The rest of the country is under a less restrictive curfew, first levied the day after the coup.

In this deeply polarized country, another of the huge demonstrations staged to show support for Micheletti took place yesterday in the northern city of San Pedro Sula.

Zelaya was toppled June 28. The Honduran Army took him from his home and deported him to Costa Rica after the Supreme Court ordered his arrest. The courts and Congress had declared Zelaya’s efforts to alter the constitution illegal and suspected he would use the changes to extend his time in office, which Zelaya denies.