Supporters of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya clashed with soldiers and police in the capital Tegucigalpa in two days of unrest throughout the city Aug. 11 and 12. Security forces fired tear gas to disperse a crowd of thousands and protesters responded by throwing stones in a confrontation near the congress building on the 12th. Zelaya's wife attended another protest that day in the industrial city of San Pedro Sula, which was also broken up by police firing gas canisters. (Reuters, Honduras Resists, Aug. 12)

Our July issue featured the story "Honduras: the Resistance So Far" from Weekly News Update on the Americas, on the popular mobilization against the first post-Cold War coup d'etat in Central America. Our multiple-choice July Extra Extra Credit Exit Poll was: "Was Obama in on the Honduran coup?" We received 16 votes. The results follow:

On Aug. 6 the three main Honduran labor federations held a march in Tegucigalpa marking the start of an open-ended general strike against the de facto government formed when a June 28 coup removed president José Manuel Zelaya Rosales from office. The strike was timed to coincide with eight coordinated marches by grassroots organizations that began on Aug. 5 with the goal of bringing tens of thousands of coup opponents from around the country to Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula, the second largest city, on Aug. 11. A delegation from the Organization of American States (OAS) is scheduled to visit Honduras that day for discussions with de facto officials and others.

The five generals who lead the Honduran armed forces made a rare appearance on national television Aug. 4 to explain their role in the ouster of President Manuel Zelaya. They repeated that they did not act to take sides in the political fight that has polarized the country, but out of obedience to the law, and that history would judge them as patriots. They denied that they acted in the interests of an "oligarchy." They said that Zelaya was acting on behalf of Venezuela's Hugo Chávez, and had become a threat to democracy throughout the hemisphere. Said Gen. Miguel Ángel Garcia Padget: "Central America was not the objective of this communism disguised as democracy. This socialism, communism, chávismo, we could call it, was headed to the heart of the United States."

Several were wounded and more than 250 arrested July 30 in clashes between protesters and security forces at several locations around Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital. Police and army troops used both rubber bullets and live rounds, and fired tear gas from helicopter. The worst violence occurred at El Durazno, on the northern outskirts, where protesters took over the highway and one was shot in the head. Demonstration leaders accused police of firing on peaceful protesters. TV footage showed some protesters armed with sticks and pick-axes. (NYT, Comun-Noticias, Honduras Resists, July 30)

Honduran authorities claimed July 27 that Colombia's FARC guerilla organization has financed supporters of ousted President Manuel Zelaya. The National Police say they seized a book and receipts that show payments between $2,500 and $100,000 for officials of the Zelaya government to "spend in El Paraiso," the region on the Nicaraguan border where followers of Zelaya wait for the ousted president's return.

Hundreds of orteguistas—followers of President Daniel Ortega—armed with rocks, sticks and metal barricades blocked roads around the northern Nicaraguan town of Ocotal to bar the advance of a congressional delegation from the Nicaraguan Democratic Bloque (Bancada Democrática Nicaragüense—BDN), which was seeking to deliver a letter to ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya Rosales, protesting his use of the country's territory as a staging ground for his bid to return to power. Among those turned back when the orteguistas seized the bridge over the Rio Coco leading to Ocotal was opposition leader Eduardo Montealegre. Three legislators were forcibly held while their vehicles were set upon with clubs. (Nuevo Diario, Managua, July 28)

Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, hosting the 11th regional Tuxtla Group Summit in the Pacific coast resort of Tamarindo, called for "absolute ostracism" of the de facto government in Honduras until it accepts his proposed "San José Accord"—a compromise plan that entails returning the ousted president to power. Arias said the de facto regime "isn't convinced" and "hasn't yet recognized that President Zelaya should be reinstated." He said that "sanctions should continue to be applied."