On Oct. 23 the Washington, DC-based polling firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner released the results of a survey involving face-to-face interviews held Oct. 9-13 with 621 randomly selected Hondurans; the firm didn't give the margin of error. According to the survey, 60% of Hondurans disapproved of the June 28 removal of President Manuel Zelaya from office, while only 38% approved. Some 19% rated Zelaya's performance in office as "excellent" and another 48% as "good"; the poll showed 57% personally disapproving of Roberto Micheletti, de facto president since Zelaya's overthrow, while 28% approved.

A number of legal experts are challenging an August report by the US Law Library of Congress claiming the June overthrow of Honduran president Manuel Zelaya was in accordance with Honduras' 1982 Constitution. Rep. Aaron Schock (R-IL) requested the report from the library and released it Sept. 24, incorrectly attributing it to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. It has been cited regularly since then by US supporters of the de facto Honduran government.

The Guatemalan coast guard, with assistance from the US Navy, seized a small submarine carrying 10 tons of cocaine Oct. 22. Officials say the sub was operated by three Colombian and one Mexican citizens. A statement from the Guatemalan interior ministry said the sub was detained some 180 nautical miles off Puerto Quetzal in the south of Escuintla. It marks the first time a submarine filled with drugs has been apprehended by law enforcement in Guatemala, and may be the largest drug bust the country has seen.

Demonstrator Imer Boror, 19, was killed by police gunfire and two were wounded as indigenous protesters blocked entry points into Guatemala's capital on Oct. 12, Dia de La Raza. Roads were also blocked at several other points around the country. Juana Mulul, leader of the "Day of Dignity and Resistance" protests, told AFP the direct action campaign "is purely in defense of Mother Earth and our territory." After the violence, President Alvaro Colom agreed to appoint a special panel to meet with indigenous leaders to discuss their demands. Aparicio Pérez of the Campesino Unity Committee (CUC) said representatives would ask the government to cancel mining, hydroelectric and industrial concessions because "multinational companies are taking over natural resources, which have long been the source of life for rural families." (AFP, Oct. 13)

The seventh summit of the Latin American anti-imperialist bloc ALBA concluded Oct. 17 in Cochabamba, Bolivia, with resolute support for ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya, strong opposition to planned US military bases in Colombia—and an agreement to form a new international currency to make the region less dependent on the dollar. The new currency, named the sucre after José Antonio de Sucre, who fought for South America's independence alongside Simon Bolívar, is slated to be issued in coin form in 2010.

The number of planes smuggling cocaine through Honduras has surged since the US suspended drug cooperation after the June coup d'etat, the de facto government's drug policy chief Julián Arístides González said Oct. 13. Honduras lost $16.5 million of US military aid after the coup. In the last month alone, de facto authorities say they have found 10 planes abandoned on runways and remote highways, compared with just four last year. "These are the facts, the flights have intensified," said Arístides, head of the National Directorate for the Struggle Against Narco-traffic (DNLN).

A group of independent UN experts expressed concern Oct. 9 over the increased use of mercenaries in Honduras since the June coup d'etat. The panel said it received reports that 40 former Colombian paramilitary veterans had been hired to protect properties and individuals in Honduras since the June 28 ouster of President Jose Manuel Zelaya. The panel also heard reports that 120 mercenaries from various Latin American countries had been contracted to support the de facto regime.

Supporters of deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya warned the de facto government that a crackdown on opposition media could derail talks scheduled to resume this week aimed at resolving the country's political crisis. "It is a really appalling issue, something right out of a dictatorship," said Rafael Alegria, a leader of protests against the coup-installed regime.