Cuba Condemns Honduras Coup
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- Society
- Politics and Government
- 06 / 29 / 2009
"I denounce the criminal, brutal character of this coup," Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez told a press conference in Havana.
Rodriguez called the United Nations, the Non Aligned Movement, the Rio Group and the Organization of American States Permanent Council to demand respect for constitutional rights in Honduras.
The official demanded the return to office of President Zelaya, and respect for the life of Honduran Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas.
He also urged the Honduran Armed Forces to respect Rodas' life, whose whereabouts were unknown after she was taken away by hooded soldiers early Sunday.
According to Rodriguez, the Cuban, Venezuelan and Nicaraguan ambassadors in Tegucigalpa were seeking to give diplomatic shelter to Rodas when an Army mayor named Oceguera was trying to convince her to leave Honduras.
Later on, a group of Honduran soldiers with their faces hooded broke into her house and took Rodas and the ambassadors to the Tegucigalpa air base. The diplomats were later released as the Cuban ambassador to Honduras, Juan Carlos Hernandez, told on the phone conversation with Rodriguez.
The Cuban ambassador confirmed they had received violent treatment by the soldiers, who confiscated their cell phones.
The soldiers who kidnapped Rodas violated international law and the Vienna Convention, the Cuban foreign minister said.
In Honduras there is only one constitutional government, one constitutional president who should return immediately without conditions to the palace, he said.
The Honduran army ousted Zelaya and sent him into exile in Costa Rica shortly before polls were to open in a referendum on whether to change the constitution. The Supreme Court ruled the referendum illegal.
Hundreds of Zelaya supporters have been protesting on the streets, demanding the return to office of the president.
Source: Prensa Latina
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