Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya says he has returned to his country, almost three months after the coup which overthrew him.“I am here in Tegucigalpa,” he told local TV. An aide said he was in the UN building in the capital.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez also said Mr Zelaya was back.
But a government spokesman denied Mr Zelaya was inside the country. And a UN spokesman said Mr Zelaya was not in the building, reported EFE news agency.
He was ousted on 28 June.
The left-leaning president had been living in exile in Nicaragua since then.
The country’s de facto rulers, led by Mr Zelaya’s former ally Roberto Micheletti, have threatened to arrest him if he returns.
“I cannot give details, but I’m here,” Mr Zelaya told Channel 36 television by telephone.
Elisabeth Sierra, a spokeswoman for the Honduran Embassy in Nicaragua, said he was urging his supporters to gather at the UN offices in the capital to “protect the constitutional president of Honduras”.
Runway blocked
The crisis erupted after Mr Zelaya tried to hold a non-binding public consultation to ask people whether they supported moves to change the constitution.
Shortly after the coup, Mr Zelaya attempted to fly back to Honduras, but failed when the authorities blocked the runway at Tegucigalpa airport.
Talks in Costa Rica on resolving the crisis, hosted by the country’s President Oscar Arias, broke down without the parties reaching an agreement.
Later that month, Mr Zelaya briefly crossed into Honduras from Nicaragua - a symbolic move the US described as “reckless”.