Coup de Honduras

It's that time of the year when tourists flock to South America to watch the changing of the governments:

More than a dozen soldiers arrested President Manuel Zelaya and disarmed his security guards after surrounding his residence before dawn Sunday, his private secretary said. Protesters called it a coup and flocked to the presidential palace as local news media reported that Zelaya was sent into exile.

The chief executive was detained shortly before voting was to begin on a constitutional referendum the president had insisted on holding even though the Supreme Court ruled it illegal and everyone from the military to Congress and members of his own party opposed it.

Zelaya was taken into military custody at his house outside the capital, Tegucigalpa, and whisked away to an air force base on the outskirts of the city, his private secretary, Carlos Enrique Reina told The Associated Press.

Tanks rolled through the streets and Army trucks carrying hundreds of soldiers equipped with metal riot shields surrounded the presidential palace in the capital's center. About 100 Zelaya supporters, many wearing "Yes," T-shirts for the referendum, blocked the main street outside the gates to the palace, throwing rocks and insults at soldiers and shouting "Traitors! Traitors!"

It was not immediately clear who was running the government. Soldiers appeared to be in control, but the constitution mandates that the head of Congress is next in line to the presidency, followed by the chief justice of the Supreme Court.

Neither military nor presidential officials have said who's in charge.

Just another day in South America.

And the laugher of the day - Hugo Chavez is calling on Barack Obama to issue a statement condemning the military action. After the way Obama was slapped down by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over his comments about their election, I don't expect to hear much from him on this one.

UPDATE: Oops, I underestimated The One. Don Surber has Obama's statement:

President Obama wasted no time in calling for Hondurans to respect democracy and rule of law — something it took him 10 days to say about Iran.

Maybe it is because this time, a lefty dictator was the one being ousted.