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Life for Zelaya in the embassy: No baths, little food

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-25 09:02

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras: Honduras' deposed leader is sleeping on an air mattress. His "roommates" have not bathed, shaved or changed their clothes in three days. Tap water is scarce and dinner is limited to dry biscuits or rice and beans.

A supporter of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya sleeps (above) at a room contiguous to his, at the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa, yesterday. (Below) Zelaya talks while a supporter rests inside the improvised room in the embassy. [Agencies]

Daily life has become increasingly challenging for ousted President Manuel Zelaya and his die-hard loyalists since they took shelter on Monday at the Brazilian Embassy in the Honduran capital - the latest front in Zelaya's fight to be reinstated.

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"I haven't washed or changed since I arrived and I've slept in my clothes on the floor," said Milton Benitez, 32, a writer who says he didn't vote for Zelaya but is here now to support his restoration to power.

Benitez said he has been able to brush his teeth only once - and that was with a toothbrush that nine others used as well.

Bathing has been nearly impossible, first because authorities cut off the water supply and then - after service was restored - because the embassy's reserve tank ran dry, he said. A truck arrived with a new supply late on Wednesday.

"We are living here in inhuman conditions," Benitez told an Associated Press reporter, one of a handful of journalists who pushed their way into the embassy on Monday along with crowds of Zelaya backers before troops and police sealed off the building.

Armed authorities have surrounded the diplomatic mission. Officials from the interim government, which overthrew Zelaya and flew him into forced exile in June, say they will respect Brazil's demand that they not storm the embassy, but swear they will arrest Zelaya if he steps foot outside of it.

Adding to the suspense are unanswered questions about how Zelaya, most recently exiled in Nicaragua, made it into the country undetected.

According to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a staunch Zelaya ally, the deposed leader traveled by plane, in the trunks of cars and on tractors - all with the help of supporters that included Honduran military backers.

For now, Zelaya hangs his famous white hat in an embassy office that doubles as his bedroom, where he sleeps on an inflatable mattress.

After three days without showers and two nights spent sleeping on floors, the embassy's temporary population is becoming increasingly "seasoned".

Meals consist of dry biscuits; bottled water; and rice, beans, and cheese brought in by human rights workers given access to the building. But recipients say the food is rationed and slow to arrive.

"We don't know when the next meal will come," said Jorge Ramirez, 25, a student staying at the embassy.

Despite the challenges, the ousted president says he has no plans to leave the embassy. He has repeatedly asked to speak with interim President Roberto Micheletti.

Zelaya was removed from office in June after he repeatedly ignored court orders to drop plans for a referendum on reforming the constitution. His opponents claimed he wanted to end a constitutional ban on re-election - a charge Zelaya denied.

AP