Disheartened supporters of deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya trickled home from the Nicaraguan border on Sunday, weakening protests backing his bid to return to power after a coup last month, according to Reuters. Honduran troops manning checkpoints have prevented several thousand demonstrators from staging a show of support at the border for the leftist leader, now exiled in Nicaragua. Six miles (10 km) from the border, 100 weary protesters milled around the coffee town of El Paraiso, a far cry from the massive outpouring of public backing Zelaya had called for. Lilian Ordonez, a 29-year-old teacher, came with a convoy of some 100 cars to try to reach the border, but only six made it through the checkpoints. "We're going to head back to Tegucigalpa where most of the people are," she said, wiping off tears. "We have to change our strategy ... People are angry but we don't have weapons and against a rifle, we can't do anything." Demonstrations planned on the Nicaraguan side of the border were also muted. Zelaya was accused by Honduran Congress and Supreme Court of trying to extend presidential term limits. Soldiers arrested him and sent him into exile on June 28. The United States, Latin American governments and the United Nations want Zelaya returned to power, but Secretary of State Hillary Clinton criticized him as "reckless" when he took a few steps onto Honduran soil on Friday in a symbolic gesture in front of international media. Zelaya, who was holed up in the Nicaraguan town of Ocotal near the border on Sunday, hit back at the U.S. secretary of state for the second time in two days. Clinton should "stop avoiding the issue" that the Honduran government is a dictatorship, he told journalists. "Secretary Clinton should confront the dictatorship with force," he said. Roberto Micheletti, who was appointed interim president by Congress the day after the coup, says Zelaya's removal was legal since he was acting against the Constitution. The Supreme Court ordered his arrest and Congress backed his removal. U.S. President Barack Obama has cut $16.5 million in military aid to Honduras and threatened to slash economic aid. TENSIONS WITH U.S. But Obama has yet to take harsher measures and there are growing tensions with Zelaya, a close ally of Venezuela's anti-American president, Hugo Chavez. The crisis has put Obama in a difficult position. He does not want to show U.S. support for rightist coups in Latin America, but some Republicans in Congress say he has already done too much for the ousted leftist. "It's been very clear from the outset that (the Obama administration) didn't really like Zelaya anyway," said Vicki Gass, an analyst with the Washington Office on Latin America. "This wishy-washiness on their part is giving the impression that they are backing away from their original stance," she said. The U.S. State Department said Zelaya is expected to visit Washington on Tuesday but it was unclear who he would meet. In a move that risked alienating Washington, Zelaya said on Saturday that Clinton was not adequately informed about the "repressive regime" in Honduras. Micheletti seems to believe he can resist international pressure until elections in November and the world will accept the new order when a new president takes office in January. The alternative is a negotiated solution under pressure from Washington, likely modeled on a proposal by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, who was mediating talks between the two sides that broke down last week. The Micheletti government says it is still committed to negotiations and open to some of the terms of the Arias plan, but not the return of Zelaya as president. The Honduran armed forces issued a statement on Saturday expressing support for the negotiating process and affirming respect for civil institutions and the executive, legislative and judicial powers. The military chiefs of staff would be among those with most to lose if Zelaya does return as president, since their position would be weakened if there is an admission that they acted illegally in removing him. Zelaya's relations with the military were tense before the coup. Just days before he was removed from power, he fired the military chief of staff after the army refused to help him run an unofficial referendum on extending his mandate.
