Reporting from Mexico City and Tegucigalpa, Honduras -- Angry protesters today burned tires and chanted support for Honduras' ousted President Manuel Zelaya, as leaders of the Western Hemisphere debated ways to peacefully end Latin America's first military coup in 16 years.
Zelaya, yanked from his home early Sunday and deported to Costa Rica, appeared at a summit of regional heads of state in Managua, Nicaragua.
"I want to return to my country," he said. "I am president of Honduras."
Despite nearly unanimous international condemnation of the coup, the man whom the Honduran Congress named to replace Zelaya remained defiant.
"Eighty [percent] to 90% of the Honduran population is happy with what happened," Congressional speaker Roberto Micheletti told Honduran radio.
In the streets of Tegucigalpa, however, protest was growing.
Several thousand Hondurans, including youths, teachers and artists, converged around the presidential palace vowing to occupy the streets until Zelaya returned.
In Washington, the Obama administration repeated its condemnation of the coup, despite ambivalence about Zelaya himself.
"Our immediate priority is to restore full democratic and constitutional order in that country," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said. She urged dialogue.
wilkinson@latimes.com
Renderos is a special correspondent.
