Chavez Says CIA Has Hand in Honduras Coup

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has been very vocal about his disapproval over the military coup in Honduras, is pointing a finger at the US for not taking swift action over the ousting of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya.

"The United States is supporting it," said Chavez, "I'm not saying it's Obama [the coup in Honduras]. It's a challenge to Obama," the Venezuelan President reiterated.

Washinngton has been criticized for not removing its top envoy to Honduras, as many other European and Latin American nations have done, in protest of the coup."Why don't you give an ultimatum to the coup plotters, like we did?" questioned Chavez, "Up until now, there are contradictions."

Hugo Chavez has also gone one step further and halted all oil shipments to Honduras.

The military coup is against all political and diplomatic practices as well as every democratic principle. There are legal channels that should be taken if a president has abused power, as other Honduran leaders, such as interim president Roberto Micheletti, claim.

There have been no coups in Central America since the Cold War. But during the Cold War era the US backed a number of coups. The US still has several hundred troops stationed in Honduras. And although Washington has stated that it only recognizes Zelaya as president Chavez believes the CIA most definately has some involvement, "They will have to get to the bottom of how much of a hand the CIA and other imperial bodies had in this," he said.