TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Honduras’ first lady has emerged as the public face of the movement to restore President Manuel Zelaya to power, a role she took against her husband’s wishes and despite continuing fears for her safety.
Xiomara Castro told The Associated Press on Wednesday that she was so afraid the Honduran military would shoot her on sight after soldiers whisked Zelaya out of the country in his pajamas, she fled to the U.S. Embassy.
Though she still sleeps in hiding, she vowed to take to the streets daily in protest of the June 28 coup that ousted her husband. The family of a pro-Zelaya demonstrator slain by soldiers on Sunday urged her to get involved — over Zelaya’s objections.
“He told me that my presence could cause more problems, more persecution on the family. But I insisted,” Castro said, while trudging up a steep road with 3,000 Zelaya supporters, who blocked traffic on a route connecting the capital of Tegucigalpa with a highway to Nicaragua. “I consider our presence here as like having the president himself here, like feeling that the president is standing firm.”
Zelaya headed to Costa Rica Wednesday to meet with Nobel laureate Oscar Arias, that country’s president, who is leading negotiations to end the Honduran political crisis.
Roberto Micheletti, who became interim head of state after Zelaya was apprehended, said a commission will represent him in Costa Rica. He is still deliberating whether to go himself.
