On the streets of Tegucigalpa, supporters of ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya attempting to rally at the Brazilian Embassy in Honduras were greeted Tuesday morning with tear gas. A world away, in front of the Miami offices of the Brazilian Consulate, protesters gathered without conflict, but their chants were anything but supportive of the deposed leader.

``Remove Zelaya,'' shouted a group of nearly 20 protesters wielding flags from Honduras, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Bolivia.

The protesters, led by the Honduran advocacy group Francisco Morazan, and Americas Democracy Watch, called on Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to reconsider his support for Zelaya.

``Lula, history will judge you,'' Elio Aponte shouted into a megaphone outside the consulate at 80 SW Eighth St.

Aponte, a Venezuelan, heads Americas Democracy Watch, a coalition of local Hispanic advocacy groups. He called on Brazilians to ``ask your leader why he is harboring a man charged with 18 criminal counts.''

Zelaya was removed from office at gunpoint -- and still wearing his pajamas -- June 28 and sent to Costa Rica. He was charged by Honduras' Supreme Court with a litany of criminal counts, including treason, all stemming from his attempt to push for a constitutional referendum the court had earlier deemed illegal.

Since his ouster, Zelaya has spent the last three months attempting to build support among world leaders to usher his return to office.

While he has been able to build a coalition of support abroad, including calls from the United States to return Zelaya to power, the majority of South Florida's Honduran community have favored his removal and support the government of interim President Roberto Micheletti.

``Ninety-nine percent of Hondurans living here in the U.S. do not support Zelaya,'' said Francisco Portillo, president of the Miami-based Honduran advocacy group Francisco Morazan. ``We are discouraged that the world leaders have turned a blind eye to the fact that this man has broken our country's laws. What other alternatives were we left with? Wait for him to turn Honduras into another Cuba or Venezuela?''

South Florida is home to one of the largest Honduran populations in the United States, with roughly 55,000 Hondurans living in Miami-Dade and Broward counties. At the onset of Zelaya's removal, many organized rallies and prayer vigils, conveying that Zelaya's close ties to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez was steering the impoverished Central American nation in the direction of communism.

``If there has been a coup, then it was a coup against corruption,'' said Eva Sara Landau, a Bolivian who wore a Honduran soccer jersey. ``If there was a coup, it was against corruption. People of Honduras, we're here to support you.''

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