Father José Andrés Tamayo, an activist Honduran priest who was the Central American recipient of the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize for 2005, went into hiding shortly after the June 28 military coup that removed President José Manuel Zelaya Rosales from power, according to phone calls he made on July 1 to New York's Spanish-language daily El Diario-La Prensa and the US-based Catholic News Service.

Deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, barred by the military from landing at the airport in Tegucigalpa on July 5, has been shuttling between Managua and San Salvador, and plans to fly to Washington July 7 to meet with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In Nicaragua, he insisted to reporters: "I am going to return to Honduras, of this there can be no doubt. I'm not going to tell them how, because then they will be prepared, but they can wait for me in any municipality or any department" of Honduras. (AFP, July 7)

The Cuban newspaper Periodico 26 July 3 notes claims by the Honduran Black Fraternal Organization (OFRANEH) of the "undeniable involvement" of former US under-secretary of state Otto Reich and the DC-based Arcadia Foundation in the coup d'etat in the Central American country. The account says OFRANEH accuses Reich of "heading misinformation and sabotage operations, with close ties to international terrorist Luis Posada Carriles and the Cuban-American mafia in Miami." The account also names an anti-Zelaya civil coalition, the Movimiento Paz y Democracia, which was apparently funded by USAID and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).

Ousted President Manuel Zelaya attempted to return to Honduras July 5, but was denied permission to land the jet in Tegucigalpa, where military vehicles were arrayed on the runway. Soldiers lined barricades surrounding the airport, and police fired warning shots and tear gas at several thousand protesters who had vowed to protect the ousted president with a human cordon. Organizers said several people were wounded in the clashes.

The Latin American business blog Inka Kola News is running a translation of an interview with the new Honduran chancellor (foreign minister) Enrique Ortez, recently appointed by de facto president Roberto Micheletti, in which he disses world and regional leaders who reject his coup-installed government in contemptuously condescending terms—and refers to Barack Obama as a "little black man who knows nothing."

The de facto regime in Honduras announced plans late July 3 to withdraw from the Organization of American States following a visit from OAS secretary general José Miguel Insulza, who demanded the return of ousted President Manuel Zelaya. But the OAS—meeting in emergency session in Washington the next evening to consider suspending Honduras' membership—maintains that the coup-installed government of Roberto Micheletti isn't recognized by the body and therefore has no legal power to withdraw from it. OAS assistant secretary general Albert Ramdin told reporters that "only a legitimate government" can move to leave the OAS. (McClatchy Newspapers, July 4)

Social organizations in El Salvador have denounced the disappearance of Gustavo Marcelo Rivera, a well-known anti-mining leader from the town of San Isidro, Cabañas department. Rivera is a local leader of the FMLN, the director of the San Isidro Community Center, and the legal representative of Amigos de San Isidro Cabañas (ASIC). He is a vocal opponent of El Dorado gold mine, a project of the Pacific Rim mining company that has been stalled due to disputes over permits. Pacific Rim recently sued El Salvador for $77 million under the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) after the government refused to grant a permit to open the mine.

José Miguel Insulza, secretary general of the Organization of American States (OAS), gave a grim assessment July 2 of diplomatic efforts to restore the ousted president of Honduras, warning that it would be "very hard" to head off a more severe break with the nation and that he is prepared to call for sanctions. At a news conference in Panama, the ousted Manuel Zelaya insisted that he remains the legitimate president of Honduras, and called on his supporters to keep up their protests. "We may not have the institutions, but the street is ours," he said. "That's the people's place." He added that a "dictatorship has been established" in Honduras.