El PARAISO, Honduras, July 25 (Xinhua) -- The dead body of a Honduran young man, a supporter of the ousted President Manuel Zelaya, was found on Saturday near the border with apparent knife wounds, one day after Zelaya's symbolic return to his country.
Xinhua reporters witnessed the victim, the 24-year-old Pedro Magdiel Martinez lying in a corn field, some 500 meters away from the highway in El Paraiso town bordering Nicaragua, where anti-riot police used tear gas to stop hundreds of Zelaya's supporters from marching towards the frontier on Friday.
In Pedro's twisted dead body were knife wounds and signs of his being tortured.
The dead's acquaintances told Xinhua that he was arrested by the police on Friday and disappeared ever since.
He and many other "Zelayistas" gathered on Friday in El Paraiso, some 10 kilometers from the border line with Nicaragua, in an attempt to give the ousted state chief a "welcome-home," yet suffered a clash with the police who fired tear gas towards the pro-Zelaya demonstrators.
Two have been confirmed injured in the clash by late Friday.
Zelaya on Friday made what he called "symbolic entry" into Honduras after a nearly month-long exile since June 28 when he was forced out of the country by militaries and later replaced by former Congress Speaker Roberto Micheletti.
Surrounded by a caravan of international media, Zelaya crossed the border into Honduras from Nicaragua's Las Manos and stayed for about an hour and half in neutral areas, trying to make a dialogue with Romeo Vasquez, head of Honduras' Armed Forces.
Receiving no response from the militaries, Zelaya returned to Nicaragua "for prudence's sake" and his wife, Xiomara Castro, told Xinhua on Saturday that Zelaya who spent Friday night in Nicaragua's Ocotal, is now studying alternative routes to come back to his country.
Meanwhile reports from Honduras said Zelaya has returned to the Honduran border on Saturday and announced he would set up camp there.
His return on Friday was criticized by many foreign leaders to be imprudent and even "reckless" as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had commented.
Ousted President makes brief entry into Honduras
TEGUCIGALPA, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya on Friday returned to Nicaragua after making brief entry into Honduras at the border town of Las Manos.
Zelaya stayed on Friday in a neutral area between Honduras and Nicaragua for about one and half hour in what he called a "symbolic entry". Full story
Ousted Honduran president Zelaya returns to Nicaragua
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Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya (R) points at a board reading "Welcome to Honduras!" at the border between Honduras and Nicaragua of Las Manos in Honduras, on July 24, 2009. Zelaya returned Friday to Nicaragua after staying two hours in Honduras at the border point of Las Manos. (Xinhua/David De La Paz)
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MANAGUA, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya returned on Friday to Nicaragua after staying two hours in Honduras at the border point of Las Manos.
Zelaya, in exile since June 28, returned to Nicaragua to wait for the answer from the Honduran Staff of the Army, to whom Zelaya proposed to talk to find a solution to the political crisis in country. Full story
Honduran interim government orders border curfew, conflicts erupt in some areas
TEGUCIGALPA, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Honduras' post-coup interim government on Friday imposed an emergency curfew on the country's southern border with Nicaragua and western border with EL Salvador, apparently aimed at blocking any possible attempt to return by ousted President Manuel Zelaya.
The curfew at the bordering areas will be from 12:00 a.m. on Friday (1800 GMT) to 06:00 a.m. local time of Saturday (1200 GMT).For the rest of the country the coup will be from 00:00 a.m. (0600GMT) to 06:00 a.m. local time (1200 GMT). Full story
Zelaya urges soldiers to defend democracy in Honduras
MANAGUA, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya urged on Friday the Honduran soldiers to defend the democracy in the country by rejecting the coup made against him onJune 28.
"I want to tell the soldiers from Honduras that the future of our country is on risk. Soldiers from my homeland: defend your democracy, reject this coup," Zelaya said on Friday in Nicaragua before starting his return back home. Full story
Honduran soldiers use tear gas against Zelaya's supporters
TEGUCIGALPA, July 24 (Xinhua) -- The Honduran soldiers and policemen guarding the country's border with Nicaragua on Friday used tear gas against the supporters of ousted President Manuel Zelaya, to stop them from crossing the border in Las Manos sector.
"The repression from these policemen began, the people begin to run from one side to another, the violence has been untied, we try to protect ourselves," said Gustavo Ramos, a reporter for the local "Radio Globo", while reporting on the scene from La Manos, some 125 km east of the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa. Full story
