COUPS

Honduran President Ousted

Congress has already sworn in his replacement.

In the first military coup in Central America since the end of the Cold War, Honduran president Manuel Zelaya was ousted by the army on Sunday, amid a growing crisis over his plans to seek re-election. Soldiers arrested Zelaya after storming the presidential palace in a predawn raid. “I was awakened by shots, and the yells of my guards, who resisted for about 20 minutes,” Zelaya said in an interview. The soldiers “pointed their guns at me and told me they would shoot if I didn’t put down my cell phone.” Following the coup, the country has been tense, as TV stations went off the air, electricity was out in parts of the capital, and military jets streaked overhead. The Honduran Congress has named its leader, Roberto Micheletti, to replace Zelaya, who is currently in forced exile in Costa Rica.