More security after death threats

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TEGUCIGALPA: Honduran President Porfirio Lobo revealed Monday that he has received death threats, telling reporters he was under threat from the same ultraconservatives who ousted ex-president Manuel Zelaya in a 2009 coup.

"They are out there threatening, and they are not saying (Lobo) has to be removed because of lots of problems, they are saying that now we will have him killed," the president told reporters at a press conference.

"And I know who they are too," the president charged, adding that the opposition was "from above not from below."

"Sadly, and I am so sorry, but I am going to have to take some measures," Lobo added.

He plans to instal a perimiter wall around the presidential residence, he said.

Lobo has been seeking dialogue with different social groups, aiming to seek some constitutional reforms, as did Zelaya. Lobo also has said he would only serve one term in office; his term ends January 27, 2014.

The president has enraged many in the banking and business communities by imposing a tax on financial transactions in the Central American nation. He says the move was vital to his government's efforts to fight crime in one of the world's deadliest nations.

Zelaya was rousted out of bed at gunpoint by soldiers on June 28, 2009, forced onto an airplane to Costa Rica in his pajamas and sent into exile.

The military coup was sanctioned by the legislature and the Supreme Court but left the country polarized between coup supporters and followers of Zelaya, who soon took to the streets in angry demonstrations.

On the day of the coup, Zelaya had planned to back a vote to change the constitution to allow for presidential reelection.

Zelaya, 58, was a wealthy conservative rancher when he was elected in 2006, but turned to the left once in office. His opponents feared he would use the referendum to extend his term in office as his ally Hugo Chavez had done in Venezuela.

Zelaya secretly returned to Honduras in September 2009 in a bid to win back power, taking refuge in the Brazilian embassy in the capital Tegucigalpa.

A months-long stand-off ensued, but Zelaya was unable to stir the masses to reinstate him and eventually left for exile in the Dominican Republic in January 2010.

Zelaya returned to Honduras in late May under a deal brokered by several Latin American governments.

Despite enjoying broad popular support, Zelaya cannot run in the 2013 elections because the constitution limits presidents to a single term in office.