On the evening of July 11 a group of men entered the home of Honduran activist Roger Bados in the 6 de Mayo neighborhood of the northern city of San Pedro Sula and shot him dead. Bados was the former president of the union at a local cement factory and a member of the leftist Democratic Unification Party (UD) and of the Popular Bloc, a coalition of grassroots organizations active in the struggle against the military coup that overthrew President José Manuel Zelaya Rosales on June 28. Erasto Reyes, another grassroots leader, told the Venezula-based television network TeleSUR that the murder came at "a moment in which the political crisis is aggravating the security situation for leaders." But he said the organizations will continue to carry out "peaceful, nonviolent" mobilizations. "We're not letting down our guard; we're continuing in the struggle."

The appearance of unity within the Honduran military and the de facto government is deceptive, according to statements by Argentine deputy defense minister Alfredo Forti published in the Buenos Aires daily Clarín on July 11. "People with the rank of colonel have been sending messages to the outside saying that they're at the limit of their ability to withstand the pressure and that they think a moment is coming when they'll have to separate themselves from the current position because otherwise there might be a bloodbath," said Forti, who was ambassador to Honduras from 2004 to 2007. "These are expressions of fractures within the armed forces. We don't know if it's because there are military people who support the Constitution or because they see it's a situation that's lost and they're trying to find a way out."

On July 10 the de facto government in Honduras received support from a city council member in Santiago, Chile. "It appeared to be a common, ordinary coup" at first, Lucía Pinochet Hiriart said, according to the satirical and investigative Chilean weekly The Clinic, but later it turned out that "the one who wanted to carry out the coup d'état was Zelaya." He "makes himself out to be the victim," she said, but his own allegedly unconstitutional acts left the military no choice but to do "something unconstitutional." Pinochet Hiriart, who represents the exclusive Vitacura neighborhood in eastern Santiago, is a daughter of late Chilean dictator Gen. Augusto Pinochet Ugarte, who seized power from elected president Salvador Allende Gossens in a bloody 1973 coup. (Qué, Spain, July 10 from EFE)

On July 11 seven US trade associations—including the American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA), the US Association of Importers of Textiles and Apparel (USA-ITA) and the US Chamber of Commerce—sent a letter to US president Barack Obama on the situation in Honduras. The letter stressed the "particular importance" Honduras has "for the US textile and apparel supply chain" and called it "the linchpin to the Western Hemisphere supply chain for this sector. Honduras is the third largest market for US textile mill products (US exports were $1.4 billion in 2008), the fourth largest supplier of apparel to the US market and the largest DR-CAFTA [Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement] supplier to the United States."

The Los Angeles Times runs an op-ed July 10 entitled "Honduras' non-coup," by Miguel A. Estrada, identified as a partner at the Washington office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, a native of Honduras, and a member of the official US delegation to President Zelaya's 2006 inauguration. The kicker reads "Under the country's Constitution, the ouster of President Manuel Zelaya was legal." His argument is the same one we've heard over and over:

Some 4,000 supporters of ousted President Manuel Zelaya blocked the main road linking Tegucigalpa with San Pedro Sula and the north of Honduras for two hours July 10. Juan Barahona, leader of the Popular Bloc that organized the action, pledged to keep up the protests until Zelaya is returned to power. Campesino leader Rafael Alegría said "we will maintain these actions as long as the dialogue in San José continues." Pro-Zelaya protests were also held in San Pedro Sula, Choluteca and Puerto Cortés. A teachers' strike in protest of the coup has closed pubic schools and universities. Supporters of de facto President Roberto Micheletti in the Civil Democratic Union also announced rallies the be held over the weekend against the return of Zelaya. (AFP, July 10)

Both ousted President Manuel Zelaya and de facto President Roberto Micheletti, arriving in Costa Rica July 9 for talks on the Honduran impasse, denied that there is anything to discuss. "I am not here to negotiate," Zelaya said at a press conference upon his arrival in San José. "Not to advocate the return of a democratically elected president would be ridiculous." Saying that international opinion is behind him, he added: "We hope during the next 24 hours, tomorrow that is, we have a clear response by the golpistas who broke the democratic process in the country." (Inside Costa Rica, July 9)

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced July 7 that Costa Rican President Oscar Arias will serve as international mediator in the Honduran crisis. Clinton made the announcement at the State Department after meeting privately with ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya. She said Zelaya as well as the Honduras' de facto president, Roberto Micheletti, agreed to recognize Arias as mediator. Clinton also said she had spoken to Arias that day, and noted that he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987 for helping broker an end to Central America's civil wars. "He is the natural person to assume this role," she told reporters.