Troops detain Honduran president
Troops arrest Honduran president
Troops in Honduras have detained the president ahead of a referendum on plans to change the constitution.
President Manuel Zelaya's secretary said he had been taken to an airbase outside the capital, Tegucigalpa.
Mr Zelaya, elected for a non-renewable four-year term in January 2006, wanted a vote to extend his time in office.
The referendum, due on Sunday, had been ruled illegal by the Supreme Court and was also opposed by Congress and members of Mr Zelaya's own party.
Reuters news agency reports that soldiers fired teargas at about 500 supporters of Mr Zelaya who had gathered outside the presidential palace, as air force jets flew over the capital.
'Coup plot'
Early on Sunday, a reporter for the Associated Press news agency said he had seen dozens of troops surround Mr Zelaya's residence.
 | MANUEL ZELAYA  Won the Honduran presidential election for the Liberal Party in November 2005, beating the ruling National Party's candidate Has moved Honduras away from its traditional ally the US Enjoys the support of Venezuela's leftist President, Hugo Chavez A civil engineer and rancher by profession |
The arrest comes after President Zelaya defied a court order that he should re-instate the chief of the army, Gen Romeo Vasquez.
The president sacked Gen Vasquez late on Wednesday for refusing to help him organise a referendum.
Mr Zelaya, who under current regulations leaves office next January, also accepted the resignation of the defence minister.
The referendum was to ask the population if they approved of a formal vote next November on whether to rewrite the Honduran constitution.
In an interview with Spain's El Pais newspaper published on Sunday, Mr Zelaya said a planned coup against him had been thwarted after the US refused to back it.
"Everything was in place for the coup and if the US embassy had approved it, it would have happened. But they did not," Mr Zeleya said.
"I'm only still here in office thanks to the United States."
The arrest of Mr Zelaya took place an hour before polls were due to open.
Chavez condemnation
Ballot boxes and other voting materials had been distributed by Mr Zelaya's supporters and government employees throughout the Central American country.
Mr Zelaya's ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, reportedly denounced the arrest as a "coup d'etat", urging US President Barack Obama to speak out.
Mr Chavez said "the Yankee empire has a lot to do" with developments in Honduras, according to AFP news agency.
The European Union called on the Honduran military to release the president and restore constitutional order, AFP also reported.
Rumours swirled in the Honduran media about the president's fate.
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Rafael Alegria, a union leader and Zelaya ally, told Honduran radio Cadena de Noticias, shots had been fired during the president's arrest.
Meanwhile, Honduran radio station HRN said Mr Zelaya had been sent into exile, and possibly flown on the presidential plane to Venezuela.
On Thursday, the Honduran Congress approved plans to investigate whether the president should be declared unfit to rule.
Earlier, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had urged Honduras' leaders to "act with full respect for the rule of law and democratic institutions".
The president had vowed to transform democracy in Honduras, saying the system currently favours the wealthy elite.
But his opponents accused him of seeking to rule indefinitely.
The political crisis has stoked tensions in Honduras, an impoverished coffee and banana-exporting nation of more than 7 million people.
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