Pido rezos por Honduras

Will Weissert and Freddy Cuevas, Associate Press (via WaPo):

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras -- Soldiers seized the national palace and flew President Manuel Zelaya into exile Sunday, hours before a disputed constitutional referendum. Congress appointed a successor, but Zelaya, a leftist ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, said he was the victim of an illegal coup.

Hours later, Congress voted to accept what it said was Zelaya's letter of resignation and by a show of hands, voted to appoint congressional President Roberto Micheletti as the new chief executive.

But Zelaya said the letter wasn't his and vowed to remain in power.

The Supreme Court said it was supporting the military in what it called a defense of democracy.

The President of the Central American Parliament says they reject the coup and will only recognize the results of ballots.

La presidenta del Parlamento Centroamericano (Parlacen) Gloria Oquelí, dijo desde Managua, Nicaragua que el organismo regional "condena" el golpe de Estado contra el ex presidente Manuel Zelaya, y "no reconocerá" otro mandatario que el electo en las urnas.

I was not tracking events in Honduras so this caught me off guard. I do not know the background of this.

David Morgan at Reuters reports:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Obama administration recognizes ousted President Manuel Zelaya as the only constitutional president of Honduras, a senior administration official said on Sunday.

"We recognize Zelaya as the duly elected and constitutional president of Honduras. We see no other," the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters in a conference call organized by the U.S. State Department.

A second official on the same conference call stressed that the United States strongly backed efforts by the Organization of American States to forge a resolution condemning a coup d'etat ousting Zelaya on Sunday and calling for him to be reinstated.

"This is not a process that should be interfered with bilaterally by any country in the Americas," said the second official.

Pray for the People of Honduras.

--the BB