July 25 (Bloomberg) -- Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, having set foot in his Central American nation for the first time in almost a month yesterday, vowed to camp out on the Nicaraguan side of the border to build support for his return to power.

“We will be sleeping here for the next few nights,” Zelaya shouted through a bullhorn to about 200 supporters and journalists gathered at Las Manos today. “Our people stand strong.”

Zelaya arrived at the Nicaraguan migration office earlier today accompanied by Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro and a group of Nicaraguan police officers. In Honduras, the acting government headed by Roberto Micheletti extended a curfew at the shared border another 12 hours until 6 a.m. tomorrow.

Yesterday, Zelaya lifted a metal chain that separates Nicaragua from Honduras and walked a few steps before being met by several dozen police in riot gear. The interim government has vowed to arrest Zelaya should he return to Honduras. The police didn’t attempt to take him in during his brief foray, which lasted about a half-hour.

Appeal for Calm

The border crossing was called “reckless” by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and may complicate efforts to end the crisis. While South American leaders called for the immediate reinstatement of Zelaya, U.S. and Latin American officials are appealing for calm as the Organization of American States seeks to restart negotiations.

“We urge President Zelaya and all other parties to reaffirm their commitment to a negotiated, peaceful solution,” Clinton said.

A 24-year-old Zelaya supporter, identified as Pedro Magdiel, was found dead this morning near the border after last being seen at a protest last night, said his friend, Juan Jose Lopez Aguilar. Magdiel, Aguilar said, had traveled with him and others from the capital of Tegucigalpa to accompany Zelaya in his return. The cause of death wasn’t known.

Hundreds of Zelaya supporters waited this morning on the Honduran side of the border as many spent the night in their cars. About 75 soldiers and police formed a barricade near the border checkpoint.

Doubling Down

Zelaya was ousted on June 28 after he ignored court orders to reinstate the head of the military. The armed forces chief had refused to help organize a poll, aimed at gauging support for changing the constitution, which the Supreme Court had ruled illegal.

If Zelaya returns to Honduras, prosecutors may charge him with treason and abuse of power, Vilma Morales, the former president of the Honduran Supreme Court, said in a telephone interview from the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa.

“The interim government has only been doubling down and hardening its stance,” said Heather Berkman, a political risk analyst at the Eurasia Group in New York. “It’s going to take some time for economic pressures to really rise to make the government change its stance.”

Zelaya tried to return to Honduras previously on July 5. Soldiers blocked the landing strip at the airport in Tegucigalpa, preventing the Venezuelan plane Zelaya was traveling in from landing.

Micheletti Supporters

Honduran police yesterday fired tear gas at a checkpoint that blocked hundreds of protesters from reaching the border. Zelaya urged supporters to “throw tear gas bombs” back at police. The government extended a border curfew to 6 a.m. local time tomorrow.

Thousands of Micheletti supporters held a counterdemonstration to the north in San Pedro Sula, where they waved Honduran flags and held up signs calling for Zelaya’s imprisonment, according to images broadcast on CNN Espanol.

Micheletti and Zelaya sent delegations to Costa Rica earlier this month to hold talks with that country’s President Oscar Arias in an attempt to resolve the political stalemate.

Arias made several proposals including an 11-point plan on July 22 that Zelaya’s team rejected on “intransigence” from Micheletti’s government. Micheletti’s delegation brought the plan back to Honduras for consultation even as they objected to the main article, Zelaya’s return as president.

Arias Proposal

The plan included Zelaya’s return to power, amnesty for all parties involved, Zelaya’s backing off constitutional changes, early elections and an international commission to oversee compliance of the articles.

Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1987, said today that his proposal wasn’t dead and called on both sides to sign the document to avoid more bloodshed, EFE reported.

Supporters of the interim government have said that Zelaya, who was elected in 2005, became too closely aligned with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his plan for “21st-century socialism.” Zelaya signed the nation up for aid programs including Petrocaribe, which offered oil at discounted prices.

Chavez criticized Clinton’s comments today and said he supported Zelaya’s attempt to return to Honduras on foot as the president of the country. Chavez also said that the U.S. and Costa Rica, whose president, Oscar Arias, mediated talks to resolve the conflict, are trying to delay Zelaya’s return and called the three-way talks a “trap.”

“They’re trying to freeze the battle until the elections in November; the Honduran bourgeoisie and the Yankee Pentagon behind them,” Chavez said in comments on state television. “Clinton says that Zelaya was ‘reckless,’ what does that mean? That the coup leaders have acted prudently?”

To contact the reporters on this story: Eric Sabo in Panama City at esabo1@bloomberg.net; Andres Martinez in Honduras at amartinez28@bloomberg.net; Blake Schmidt in Nicaragua at bschmidt16@bloomberg.net;

Last Updated: July 25, 2009 18:10 EDT