Honduran forces tightened the border with Nicaragua today against an attempt by deposed president Manuel Zelaya to enter the country after he was removed in a military coup and sent into exile.
Soldiers and police in riot gear stopped about 500 pro-Zelaya protesters in the town of El Paraiso from heading to the border 10 km away to greet Mr Zelaya.
The leftist president, toppled on June 28th, has sworn to return to Honduras from northern Nicaragua this weekend but the de facto government that replaced him says he will be arrested if he steps on Honduran soil.
Troops killed a Zelaya supporter at the Tegucigalpa airport in a previous bid by the president to return to the country earlier this month.
A few hundred pro-Zelaya demonstrators hiked up steep, mountainous dirt paths to skirt army roadblocks near the coffee-growing town of El Paraiso.
"We don't have weapons but we are ready to grab rocks or sticks to pass through (the border) and receive Zelaya," said Merlin Roberto Rivera, 24, a ranch worker from the deposed leader's hometown of Olancho.
The United States and Latin American governments have demanded Mr Zelaya's reinstatement but Honduran interim leader Roberto Micheletti insists he will be detained for violating the constitution and other charges if he returns.
Talks this week in Costa Rica to end the crisis -- Central America's worst in 20 years -- appear to have fallen apart, raising the threat of violence inside Honduras.
Mr Zelaya left the Nicaraguan town of Esteli for the border driving a jeep but it was not clear when his convoy would try to enter Honduras.
Mr Micheletti, appointed president by Congress hours after the army exiled Mr Zelaya, said the ousted leader would be arrested for violating the constitution and other charges.
"The return of ex-president Zelaya isn't possible because it would be illegal and we have to respect the law," he told the Chilean newspaper La Tercera.
The Honduran Congress will meet on Monday to discuss a proposal by Costa Rican president Oscar Arias to end the crisis. It is likely to reject a demand to reinstate Mr Zelaya, mistrusted by the ruling elite which accuses him of trying to extend presidential term limits.
US president Obama has condemned the coup, cut $16.5 million in military aid and threatened to slash economic aid. Honduras, one of the poorest countries in Latin America and a coffee exporter, could be hard hit by any further sanctions.
Mr Zelaya's approval rating had fallen to about 30 per cent but many in the poor countryside still support him.
Reuters