Zelaya supporters escalate fight in Honduras

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — Supporters of ousted President Manuel Zelaya vowed Monday to widen protests and block trade nationwide as the deposed leader headed to Washington for a meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Thousands of Zelaya supporters have demonstrated since his overthrow eight days ago, including 2,000 who rallied peacefully Monday near the presidential palace. Anger increased following the death of a teenager shot by soldiers Sunday as a crowd tried to break through an airport fence where a plane carrying Zelaya was prevented from landing.

"We're going to change strategies," said organizer Rafael Alegria, 57. "We cannot live under the current state."

Alegria said they planned to take their fight nationwide by blocking major highways and border crossings in an effort to impede trucks carrying fuel and merchandise.

Clinton was to meet Tuesday with Zelaya as the Obama administration weighs responses to his ouster. The talks would be the administration's highest-level contact with Zelaya since his removal from office.

"We're very focused on the need for a dialogue to restore him back (to office) and restore the democratic order," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said.

On Monday, the family of a slain teenager — identified as Isis Obed Murillo Mencia, 19, from Zelaya's home state of Olancho — was seen driving past the airport with his body in a coffin in the back of a pickup truck, sobbing, yelling and shaking their fists at riot police and soldiers.

The interim government closed the airport Monday and soldiers and military vehicles continued to block the runways.

Zelaya got as close as several hundred feet above Tegucigalpa Sunday in his continuing effort to return and reclaim power, but the Venezuelan pilots of his plane — on loan from President Hugo Chavez — decided not to risk a crash after circling the airport and spotting the obstacles on the runway.

Zelaya finally landed in Nicaragua after a late-night news conference in El Salvador with four other Latin American presidents and the secretary-general of the Organization of American States, Jose Miguel Insulza.

"I am risking myself personally to resolve the problems without violence," Zelaya said Sunday night, urging the world's leaders to intensify their efforts to help him return to power and "do something with this repressive regime."