Eleno Oviedo, imprisoned in Cuba for 26 years, stood outside a Sedano's in Hialeah on a recent Saturday, eager to collect donations for a fresh cause: Honduras.

``We set up a table and had some signs and asked people to give what they could,'' said Oviedo, 73, co-director of Plantados, a group of one-time political prisoners from Cuba.

Oviedo is among groups of local Cubans seeking to help Honduras as the country tries to recover from political upheaval following the ouster of President Manuel ``Mel'' Zelaya and the global shunning of the government.

Since the populist Zelaya was toppled in June, groups representing various ideologies have sought to wield influence over Honduras as the country prepares for national elections Sunday.

Some groups have shipped medicine, hospital supplies and food to Honduras after the United States announced the suspension of aid. Others have organized rallies outside the country's diplomatic office in West Miami-Dade.

``This is an ideology war,'' said Bruce Bagley, chairman of the International Studies Department at the University of Miami. ``It's like a Rorschach test, and they read their own ideology into it.''

Exile groups in South Florida view Zelaya as a regional threat because of his populist rhetoric and ties to Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez, an ally of Cuba's Fidel Castro. Left-wing groups see Zelaya's ouster as a setback for democracy in a region long besieged by coups bearing U.S. fingerprints.

Republicans, including U.S. Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart, of Miami, have adopted Honduras as their cause, calling on President Barack Obama's administration to recognize the upcoming vote. They also flew to Honduras, where they met with interim President Roberto Micheletti, as well as with members of Congress and business leaders.

There have been more grass-roots efforts. Along with groups such as Directorio Democratico, M.A.R. por Cuba, or Mothers Against Repression, The Miami Medical Team set up the Sedano's drop-off spot in Hialeah and at more than a dozen other locations, collecting 50 tons of food and 12 tons of medical supplies. The bulk of the goods were packed into three 40-foot cargo containers and shipped to Honduras. Some of the medical supplies -- 7,000 pounds in all -- were transported to the country on a chartered DC-3.

A nongovernmental organization distributed the goods, organizers said.

``The reason we are doing this is because the people in Honduras are being blocked by certain countries,'' said Manuel Alzugaray, 63, founder of the Miami Medical Team and an orthopedist who practices in West Miami-Dade. ``The people of Honduras have been feeling isolated.''

Alzugaray said that the medical supplies, medicine, and food are needed because aid and loans earmarked for Honduras have been suspended. Since the coup, the Organization of American States has expelled Honduras and no country has recognized the leaders in Tegucigalpa.

Alzugaray, a Cuban exile who came to South Florida just before the 1962 missile crisis, created the Miami Medical Team to help Nicaraguans fighting the Cuban-backed Sandinista regime.

Aid to Hondurans has not been limited to members of Congress and Cuban grass-roots organizations. Venezuelans have jumped in, too.

One lugged her six-foot-high Venezuelan flag to several rallies -- even before Zelaya was ousted.