Roberto Micheletti

Honduras' ousted president and the officials who exiled him have agreed to try to resolve their conflict through a U.S.-endorsed mediator, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced Tuesday. Signaling an expanding U.S. effort, Clinton said the two sides had agreed to talks supervised by Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, who was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1987 for his efforts to broker peace accords in Central America.

Reporting from Mexico City and Tegucigalpa, Honduras -- For a few hours Wednesday, Honduras' political drama gave way to more important matters -- like buying groceries and filling gas tanks. Streets in the capital, Tegucigalpa, were clogged with frantic shoppers after the country's interim rulers briefly lifted a nationwide curfew to let residents restock shelves. Meanwhile, the deposed president, Manuel Zelaya, remained hunkered in a foreign embassy. It was the first chance for residents to get out since Monday, when Zelaya sneaked back into Honduras and the de facto government abruptly imposed the shutdown.

Honduran forces toting batons and tear gas today dispersed supporters of deposed President Manuel Zelaya, as he holed up for a second day in an embassy in that nation's capital, Tegucigalpa. Tegucigalpa was largely shut down and its airport closed amid a continuing curfew imposed Monday by the interim government after Zelaya slipped back into Honduras and took shelter at the Brazilian embassy. There were no immediate reports of injuries after helmeted Honduran troops surrounded the embassy and fired tear gas in order to scatter pro-Zelaya demonstrators.

Official Washington is waiting for the State Department to determine if this summer's events in Honduras constitute a coup. Actions may speak louder than words, but in this case, one word alone could affect the course of democracy in the Western Hemisphere. U.S. law requires that foreign assistance, with the exception of humanitarian and democracy-related aid, be suspended for "the government of any country whose duly elected head of government is deposed by military coup or decree."

Reporting from Mexico City and Tegucigalpa, Honduras -- The de facto Honduran government has silenced two dissident broadcasters, part of a crackdown on civil liberties aimed at undermining support for ousted President Manuel Zelaya. Soldiers and police before dawn today raided Radio Globo, a national broadcaster sympathetic to Zelaya. Late Sunday, Channel 36 television was yanked from the air. The two stations frequently carry interviews with Zelaya and his supporters -- voices given short shrift in most other Honduran media.

Reporting from Mexico City and Tegucigalpa, Honduras -- The meeting, by all accounts, was tense and difficult. Whether it erupted in shouted insults remains a matter of dispute. On one issue, everyone agreed: Something must be done to ease the political crisis engulfing Honduras. U.S. Ambassador to Honduras Hugo Llorens and the diplomat representing the Organization of American States, John Biehl, got an earful from Honduran business leaders and senior politicians. And they gave back some of what they got, according to several participants.

Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, ousted in a military coup nearly three months ago, pulled a fast one on his enemies today, sneaking back into the country in an effort to reclaim his office and taking refuge at the Brazilian Embassy. "I am urging the people who participated in the coup: Together, we can attempt to open dialogue," Zelaya said in one of a number of interviews he gave from inside the Brazilian mission in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa. Journalists in the city confirmed seeing Zelaya in the embassy, as supporters rallied outside.

One day after the Honduran military prevented him from landing at his capital's airport, ousted President Manuel Zelaya said he would meet with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton in Washington -- then take another run at going home. The session with Clinton, scheduled for today, would be the highest-level contact by the Obama administration with the leftist leader, who was deposed in a coup just over a week ago. American officials have said they hope Zelaya's U.S.

In a throwback to Latin America's unstable past, the Honduran army ousted President Manuel Zelaya on Sunday, sending the leftist leader into exile as a hastily convened Congress replaced him with its speaker, one of Zelaya's fiercest enemies. The coup was a brazen blow to the region's seemingly solid move to democratic rule, the first such military action in Central America in 16 years.