Pro-Zelaya Media Shut Down by Troops in Honduras

Troops in Honduras have closed down a radio and television station that support deposed President Manuel Zelaya and have been critical of the country's interim government.

As Al Jazeera reports, on Sunday the interim government in the Central American republic, capital Tegucigalpa, announced a severe curtailment of civil liberties. And within a day of that announcement troops moved to close down Radio Globo de Tegucigalpa and the television station Cholusat Sur because of their continuing loyalty to Mr Zelaya, who is currently being sheltered by staff at the Brazilian embassy in the Honduran capital. It was last Monday that Mr Zelaya, removed from power by the military on June 28 and the subject of an arrest order, managed to secretly reenter the country of which he had been President for over three years. On the day of Mr Zelaya's removal from office, a vote was due to have been held on proposed changes to the Honduran constitution. Opponents of the President, backed by the country's supreme court and military, claimed he wanted to try and extend the time he was permitted to serve in office. It's a claim Mr Zelaya, who Reuters reports had upset some with his support of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, denies. An election to elect a new President in Honduras is planned for November, with the position currently being held supposedly on a temporary basis by Roberto Micheletti. And Mr Micheletti, a logging magnate, has given the Brazilian government 10 days in which to decide what it is to do with Mr Zelaya. But Brazil's own President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has already indicated that he will disregard any deadline set by the leader of the interim government in Honduras. Soldiers and riot police have the Brazilian embassy surrounded, with a reporter from Radio Globo de Tegucigalpa one of those effectively trapped inside. An attempt by the Organisation of American States (OAS) to mediate a solution to the crisis in Honduras failed when an OAS delegation was refused entry to the country. The U.S. has called for Mr Zelaya to be reinstated but according to Al Jazeera the U.S. Ambassador to the OAS, Lewis Anselem, has called for restraint from both sides in the crisis. For his part Mr Zelaya has urged his supporters to mount a "final offensive", albeit a peaceful one, to draw attention to the fact that it is three months since the coup took place. With regard to the reaction of his successors to his presence in the embassy, and the warning they have issued to the Brazilian authorities to resolve the status of their "guest", Mr Zelaya said:

It would be a terrible mistake on the part of the de facto government, they would be condemning themselves more than they already have