A Mega-March of Supporters Will Receive Zelaya in Tegucigalpa

Military Blockades Attempt to Block Zelaya Supporters from Reaching Tegucigalpa and the Airport

Yesterday President Manuel Zelaya issued a call to the people of Honduras: "Accompany me on my return to Honduras."

Honduran civil society has responded to this call.  People from all over Honduras are heading to Tegucigalpa to receive Zelaya when his plane lands at Toncontin Airport in the capital. 

Honduras' Radio Progreso reports that there are only about 200 Zelaya supporters outside the airport right now.  There would be more people, according to Radio Progreso, but military and police checkpoints have blocked off all entrances to the airport.  People have attempted to enter, but Radio Progreso says that the airport is closed to all pedestrian and vehicle traffic. 

A mega-march of thousands of people from all over Honduras is headed from downtown Tegucigalpa to the Toncontin airport.  A military checkpoint at Camosa (one of the checkpoints outside the airport) has stopped the march temporarily.  Radio Liberada reports that approximately 300-400 police and soldiers are stationed at the Camosa checkpoint.  Marchers called into Radio Globo to report that six planes filled with approximately 500 soldiers landed at the Toncontin airport to reinforce the Camoza military checkpoint in anticipation of the march's arrival.

Currently, march leaders are negotiating with the military to attempt to allow the marchers to pass and enter the airport, reports Radio Progreso.  Marchers have reported that thus far, the soldiers and police have made no attempt to repress the mobilizations that are occurring both inside and outside the airport.  Likewise, the marchers have chosen the path of negotiation with the military, rather than simply overwhelming the significantly outnumbered soldiers that man the checkpoint. 

While no Honduran media has attempted to quantify the number of marchers (all of them have said that there's simply too many people to make an accurate estimation), Radio Liberada's correspondent in the march says that the march is "much bigger" than yesterday's march, in which Globovision estimated that 200,000 people participated.

Meanwhile, citizens from other parts of the country continue to try to reach Tegucigalpa to receive Zelaya when he enters Honduras in a few hours.  Several Zelaya supporters called Radio Globo to denounce that six buses full of people are being detained at a checkpoint near La Plancha, Francisco Morazan, outside of Tegucigalpa.  These buses, according to the callers, came from the coast (given their reported location on the highway, this presumably means the northern coast).

Keep checking back at this post for updates on the mega-march, which is still stopped at the Camosa military checkpoint.