Tegucigalpa, Jan 21 (AFP) Activists blocked roads andclashed with police in Honduras as part of nationwide protestsagainst the contested re-election of President Juan OrlandoHernandez.
Dozens of people have been killed and hundreds jailedsince Hernandez was declared the winner of the November 26run-off election -- after a three week stretch of often-interrupted ballot counting that stoked tensions and sparkedaccusations of fraud in the Central American country.
The left-wing Alliance in Opposition against theDictatorship is heading a protest campaign insisting that theelection was stolen from its candidate, former TV anchorSalvador Nasrallah.
The opposition called for a "national strike" yesterdayto block the country's main roads ahead of the start of thepresident's new term in office on January 27.
The government deployed police and soldiers to confrontprotesters.
One demonstrator was shot dead yesterday, oppositionleader and former president Manuel Zelaya told AFP,identifying the victim as Anselmo Villareal, 60.
Seven other demonstrators were detained and two policewere hurt, police spokesman Jair Meza said.
A military spokesman, Lieutenant Jose Coello, told AFPthat some highways had been blocked "but they are beingcleared in a peaceful manner."Coello said police confiscated tires, presumably to beset ablaze, that protesters were carrying in their vehicles.
Protesters blocked the country's main highway betweenTegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula at a point about 100 kilometersnorth of the capital, local media reported.
In Tegucigalpa, police fired tear gas at protesterstrying to block a road and burn tires. The demonstratorsresponded by hurling rocks.
Hernandez has implicit backing from the United States,which is pouring millions of dollars into Honduras andneighboring Guatemala and El Salvador to improve securityconditions there.
Those three countries, collectively known as CentralAmerica's "Northern Triangle," are the biggest source ofundocumented migrants heading to the United States. (AFP)AJR.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.