TEGUCIGALPA (Reuters) – A man who was shot during a protest in Honduras this week in support of ousted President Manuel Zelaya died of his injuries yesterday, as efforts to resolve the crisis over last month’s coup remained stalemated.
Roger Vallejo, a teacher participating in a rally blocking a road leading out of the capital, Tegucigalpa, died of a bullet wound to the head after two days in a hospital’s intensive-care unit, two nurses there said.
It was the second death in the aftermath of a widely criticized military coup that exiled Zelaya and installed a de facto government headed by former congressional head Roberto Micheletti.
Micheletti, who is refusing to let Zelaya return to the presidency as requested by mediators, said on Saturday he was keeping a strong military and police presence on the southern border with Nicaragua to control any actions by the ousted president’s supporters.
Soldiers and police in riot gear broke up Thursday’s rally by hundreds of demonstrators calling for the return of Zelaya, who is now in Nicaragua.
A Reuters cameraman at the protest saw police using teargas and bullets to disperse the protesters, but the police said in a statement they did not fire the bullet that hit Vallejo.
Dozens of people were detained after the rally and at least one other person suffered a minor bullet wound.
Costa Rican President Oscar Arias has been mediating but has made little progress in resolving Central American’s worst political crisis in nearly two decades. The coup has also tested U.S. President Barack Obama as he tries to define his relationship with the region.
