Honduran truth commission slams both sides in ‘09 coup

TEGUCIGALPA,  (Reuters) – Both Honduras’ leftist  President and the coup leaders who ousted him in 2009 broke the  law, a truth commission report found yesterday, in a bid to  heal a political rift in the country caused by the affair.

The commission also found Honduran police and soldiers  killed 20 people in the days following the June 28 coup in 2009  that toppled President Manuel Zelaya when violent protests  broke out between his supporters and security forces.

U.S. and Latin American governments condemned the coup,  which installed a de facto government in the banana and coffee  exporting nation for months before a Nov. 29 election picked a  new President.

The coup was triggered when Zelaya illegally ignored the  supreme court and the congress who tried to stop him from  calling for a constitutional referendum in a bid to extend  presidential term limits, the six-member truth panel said.

Opposition leaders and members of Zelaya’s own party  accused him of trying to follow in the footsteps of his ally,  Venezuela’s socialist President Hugo Chavez, and stay in office  indefinitely.