Israelis in Honduras warned to exercise caution amid unrest

The Foreign Ministry on Sunday warned Israelis traveling in Honduras to exercise caution and avoid areas where crowds gather, in the wake of unrest gripping the Central American country.

The ministry has also advised Israelis traveling in Honduras to contact the Israeli embassy in Guatemala in order to update them on their status.

The Foreign Ministry estimates there are currently between twenty and thirty Israelis in Honduras, in addition to a local Jewish community that numbers around 200.

Israel has no embassy in Honduras, the closest foreign mission being in Guatemala.

Gunshots were heard near the presidential palace in Honduras late on Sunday as protests erupted after the country's army ousted and exiled leftist President Manuel Zelaya in Central America's first military coup since the Cold War.

Hundreds of pro-Zelaya protesters, some of them masked and wielding sticks, set up barricades in the center of the capital, Tegucigalpa, and sealed off road access to the presidential palace.

Zelaya earlier on Sunday said soldiers rousted him out of bed, beat his body guards and arrested him in his pajamas in what he called a coup and a kidnapping.

Zelaya said he would not recognize any attempt to name a replacement for him following his detention earlier Sunday.

Zelaya said he will be meeting with diplomats and stressed he wanted to serve out his term, which ends in early 2010. He called for talks.

Zelaya was detained by army troops early Sunday, shortly before he was to have held a controversial referendum on constitutional reform opposed by most of the rest of the Honduran government.

The Honduras Supreme Court said Sunday it told the Army to oust Zelaya due to his attempt to hold 'illegal' re-election vote.

Following the reports of the upheaval, Venezuela President Hugo Chavez said he put his nation's armed forces on alert and will "bring down" any government sworn in as a result of the unrest.

Ecuador's leadership later echoed the call not to recognize the new government.

Honduran deputies will vote on Sunday on naming Congress head Roberto Micheletti as acting president, a senior opposition deputy said.

Congress will likely choose Micheletti to run the country until scheduled presidential and parliamentary elections in November, said senior opposition deputy Rigoberto Chang.