A top official in Honduras’s ousted government claims there was direct US involvement in the coup that deposed Manuel Zelaya. Beatriz Valle, who served as Zelaya’s deputy foreign minister, said the plane that flew Zelaya into exile stopped at Soto Cano, a Honduran military base that is home to at least 500 US troops. The Pentagon hasn’t denied the plane landed at Soto Cano. A Pentagon spokesperson said that the troops in Honduras “had no knowledge or part in the decisions made for the plane to land, refuel and take off.” It is unclear why the plane would refuel at the base since it is just sixty miles from the capital, Tegucigalpa. On Sunday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez criticized President Obama’s handling of the coup in Honduras and said the new US president is lost in space when it comes to dealing with Latin America.

Hugo Chavez: “I think he is lost in the Galaxy of Andromeda. President Obama, he is lost. He can’t see the horizon. He doesn’t understand. I believe that Obama is entering a terrible labyrinth. To give him the benefit of the doubt, he is confused. We are not asking you to intervene in Honduras, Obama. On the contrary, we are asking that the empire get its hands off Honduras and get its claws out of Latin America.”