Zelaya returns to Honduras (Updated)

Update (5:30pm):

Manuel Zelaya has returned to Honduras.

According to an interview granted to Al Jazeera English, the ousted leader is holed up at the Brazilian Embassy in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa:

"I have come here to solve problems - in an attitude of peace, without weapons, without violence. I hope that the international community will support me," he said.

"I am calling on the people of Honduras to come to the embassy to protect me because there is word that [the de facto government] will arrest me and there is word that they will try to assassinate me."

In separate remarks to the BBC, Zelaya called for calm and "urged the armed forces not to use violence against demonstrators." Nevertheless, it remains to be seen how calmly the masses will react to the news as well as the de facto government who initially rejected Zelaya's claims of returning to Honduras.

Update (2:45pm):

In a phone interview with CNN en Espanol, Zelaya aide Eduardo Reina said that Zelaya is in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa. Yet he denied rumors that he is at the United Nations building there. That was later confirmed by Rebeca Arias - the U.N. Coordinator in Honduras- in a separate a phone interview with CNN en Espanol.

Thousands of Zelaya sympathizers have gathered around the U.N. building in Tegucigalpa in an impromptu rally for the ousted leader who was the target of a coup nearly three months ago.

De facto president Roberto Micheletti accused Zelaya of engaging in "media terrorism" and claimed that Zelaya is really in "a hotel suite in Nicaragua". But the State Department confirmed Zelaya's presence in Honduras though agency spokesman Ian Kelly did not specify Zelaya's location. Additionally, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and a spokeswoman for the Honduran Embassy in Nicaragua both claimed that Zelaya is back in Honduras.

Original Post:

In a developing story, ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya claimed that he has returned to his homeland. According to Reuters:

President Manuel Zelaya has returned to Honduras almost three months after he was toppled in a coup, despite warnings that he would be arrested, a senior aide said on Monday.

"I am here in Tegucigalpa. I am here for the restoration of democracy, to call for dialogue." he told Honduras' Canal 36 television network.

According to CNN en Espanol, de facto president Roberto Micheletti has rejected Zelaya's claims.

(We'll try to find out more information on this story as more details become known.)

Last week, four of the candidates running for Honduran president pledged that they would back the San Jose Accord created by Costa Rica's Oscar Arias. Yet as we mentioned last week, it remains to be seen if "any agreement on Zelaya's return has any chance of succeeding, and whether or not the presidential elections in November will be able to gain legitimacy both in Honduras as well as around the world."

Online Sources - Reuters, CBS News, The Latin Americanist, and others
Image - Reuters ("Honduras' ousted President Manuel Zelaya greets supporters inside the Brazilian embassy after his arrival in Tegucigalpa September 21, 2009.")