June 28 (Bloomberg) -- Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was seized by soldiers and flown to Costa Rica after he tried unsuccessfully to fire the head of the central American nation’s armed forces.

“The only reason that I wasn’t assassinated was that the soldiers are from the people,” Zelaya said in comments on regional broadcaster Telesur from San Jose, the Costa Rican capital. “It was a moment of great tension.”

The arrest comes after the country’s armed forces commander, General Romeo Vasquez, on June 26 said he would remain at his post after the Supreme Court overturned the president’s decision to fire him.

President Barack Obama said he was “deeply concerned” by the reports and called on “all political and social actors in Honduras to respect democratic norms,” according to a statement from the White House.

Honduras’s foreign minister, Patricia Rodas, was also seized today and was being held by the country’s military, Venezuelan Ambassador Armando Laguna said in comments broadcast on Telesur. Laguna and the ambassadors of Nicaragua and Cuba in Honduras were beaten and briefly detained after trying to defend Rodas against masked soldiers, Laguna said.

‘Completely paralyzed’

Electricity in Honduras has been cut and the country of 7.8 million is “completely paralyzed,” Zelaya said from Costa Rica. He said the attempted coup will fail if opposed by the U.S. and called for peaceful resistance against the military.

“If the U.S. is not behind this coup, the coup-mongers won’t be able to stay in power even 48 hours,” Zelaya said.

Honduran government television channels went off the air this morning, said Jaime Vargas, the Honduran representative for the International Foundation for Electoral Systems, in a phone interview from Tegucigalpa, the capital. Vargas, who advises the government on elections, said the soldiers were present throughout the capital and businesses and shops were closed.

Zelaya, 56, said he was awakened by shouts outside his house as his guards battled for 20 minutes with the military. He said tried to hide under the roof, behind an air conditioner, though was eventually found and whisked away -- still wearing his nightshirt -- on a plane to Costa Rica.

“The elite in the armed forces have betrayed me,” Zelaya said. “They have invaded my house in the morning with shots, they pushed me with bayonets.”

Nicaragua Meeting

Zelaya may be “dismissed” and replaced by Congressional President Roberto Micheletti, Foreign Minister Rodas said on Telesur before her arrest. Such a move would “legalize a crime against this country and the dignity of all,” she said.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez placed his country’s military on alert and said the president of Honduras’ congress will be overthrown if he takes power, according to remarks broadcast by Telesur.

“This is a supreme test for us,” Chavez said. “We must give the gorillas a lesson.”

An emergency regional meeting will be held in Nicaragua tomorrow, Zelaya said, adding that Chavez offered to fly him to meeting. The coup was condemned by leaders in Latin America and abroad.

“The EU condemns this military coup and we are asking for the immediate release and return to the constitutional order to Honduras,” Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos told reporters after a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Corfu, Greece. “That is a very clear message to the military and the armed forces of Honduras.”

Planned Referendum

Zelaya tried to oust Vasquez, the armed forces chief, for refusing to back a plan to hold a referendum to change the constitution.

The president had planned to use results from a poll this weekend, which is being managed by the president’s supporters and the National Statistics Institute, to press for a national referendum in November on whether to change the constitution. That vote was to be held in tandem with national elections, a process the Supreme Court has already ruled illegal.

The president’s critics say his proposal for a constitutional overhaul was designed to allow him to stay in office after his term ends, according to Heather Berkman, a political risk analyst at the Eurasia Group in New York.

Elite Alienated

Over the past year, Zelaya has alienated Honduras’s political and business elite by aligning with the Chavez-led group of socialist Latin American leaders, Berkman said. Opposition presidential candidate Porfirio Lobo, who lost the 2005 race, said in a statement on the National Party Web site last month that Zelaya’s aim is to scrap the country’s one-term limit so he can run again.

Venezuela’s Chavez said he’ll do everything he can to “crush” the “coup” in Honduras. “We will do everything within our reach to restore the government,” Chavez said in comments broadcast by the Telesur regional network.

To contact the reporter on this story: Eliana Raszewski in Buenos Aires eraszewski@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 28, 2009 14:41 EDT