Triumphant Return?

As President Mel Zelaya waits in the small Nicaraguan town of Esteli, just 175 kilometers away, Honduran armed forces are massing along the border in what may be a dramatic conclusion to a tense standoff between a de facto government of the military-industrial elite and the impoverished Honduran majority.

"I know that they are suppressing people, but this is the big test, as they impose more obstacles to freedom the people will become more enraged (...) A curfew has been imposed on the border area with Nicaragua, but (...) they cannot rule the people by the barrel of a gun," said Zelaya at a press conference Thursday.

Despite nation-wide curfews and restriction of movement hundreds of supporters are expected to greet their president when, accompanied by Venezuela's foreign minister, he attempts once again to take back his seat as democratic leader of Honduras this Friday...