The day started across Honduras with news that President Mel Zelaya was arrested in his home by armed soldiers. A referendum vote was scheduled for the same day, which was one that was opposed by the Supreme Court, the Armed Forces and the Honduran legislature. Days earlier, Zelaya had removed the head of the Armed Forces, General Romeo Vásquez Velásquez, which was followed by the resignation by other top military officials because they would not support the vote.

It was soon learned that Zelaya had been taken to Costa Rica, where he continued to call himself as the legal head of state. There was also a rumor that Zelaya had resigned. However, the alleged letter turned out to be false notes Juan Carlos Rivera of Miradas de Halcón [es]. The reaction from the blogosphere and twittosphere ranged from calling the situation a coup d'état to those who saw the move as the only way to stop Zelaya's controversial move.

Photo by Roberto Brevé and used under a Creative Commons license. http://www.flickr.com/photos/breve/3668996322/

There have been power outages in the capital city, as reported by Honduras Daily News, which speculates that it is an “attempt to limit the passing of information.” However, information is currently being passed through social networking sites like Twitter and Blipea, which were very active throughout the day.

A supporter of Zelaya, Hibueras [es] wrote:

Manuel Zelaya fue detenido y sometido por la furza bruta de la jauria criminal de nuestra historia esclavista para evitar que el pueblo hondureño posea el poder de inclusion y de construccion de su patria, los responsables de tan ignomioso acto son todos conocidos y pagaran caro su abuso.

Llegó la hora de buscar por otros medios, lo que se nos niega por la paz, y los responsables seran jusgados por sus actos de traicion a la patria.

Supporter of President Mel Zelaya by Roberto Brevé and used under a Creative Commons license. http://www.flickr.com/photos/breve/3668437385/

Later in the day, Congress voted to remove Zelaya as president and installed Roberto Micheletti, who had been president of the legislative body. Soon after, he announced that new elections would be held as scheduled in November. However, the installation of Micheletti as acting president has drawn the criticism from many of Honduras’ closest allies, especially from Venezuela, who has threatened military action if any of its diplomats in Honduras are kidnapped or killed. In addition, President Hugo Chávez has said that the new government led by Micheletti would be defeated.

Some twitterers like Hugo Chinchilla is worried about the statements made by Chávez and take it as a sign that there may be involvement from these allies. He was told “unofficially” that the military is preparing for a possible intervention by Venezuelan and Nicaraguan troops [es].

There are others like Jorge Garcia, who is supporting the military new government and is urging his Twitter followers to provide support to soldiers with food and drink [es]. He also states:

En #honduras no hubo golpe de estado, el estado de derecho continúa, la constitución sigue vigente.

Now that much of the world's attention is on Honduras, Wilmer Murillo is worried about being isolated by the international community. He pleads:

que devuelvan a Mel! estamos quedando como retrogradas ante los ojos del mundo.