President Manuel Zelaya returned to the Honduran border today and announced he would set up camp there, despite foreign leaders urging him not to force a confrontation with the government in power since last month’s coup.

Ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya took a symbolic step into his homeland, vowing to reclaim his post a month after soldiers flew him into exile.

Soldiers ousted the democratically elected president of Honduras yesterday and Congress named a successor, but the leftist ally of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez denounced what he called an illegal coup and vowed to stay in power.

Planes shuttled tourists from Caribbean island resorts in a desperate airlift today as Hurricane Felix bore down on Honduras and Belize.

Hurricane Felix gathered strength early today and became a Category 2 storm, the US National Hurricane Center said. It was forecast to pass just north of the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba.