Costa Rican official: Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is in Costa Rica following arrest

Honduran president in Costa Rica after arrest

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — A high-ranking official says that Honduran President Manuel Zelaya is in Costa Rica following his detention by soldiers in his homeland.

The official at the Costa Rican president’s office was not authorized to be quoted by name.

He did not offer details on how Zelaya had arrived in this fellow Central American nation, but he said Zelaya would probably seek political asylum.

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.

Diplomats from Nicaragua, Venezuela, and Costa Rica were seen gathered at a security base near the San Jose airport Sunday.