Around 200 followers of Manuel Zelaya, the president of Honduras who was deposed in a June 28 military coup, have taken mountain routes to the Nicaraguan town of El Ocotal, where Zelaya has been waiting to return to his country, local broadcaster Radio Globo reported on Monday.

Ousted Honduras President Manuel Zelaya talks to supporters at the temporary shelter in Ocotal City July 27, 2009. [Xinhua]

A Honduran woman named Esperanza who had crossed the border with the first group, told the broadcaster that 1,000 more were following the same route.

"We are not leaving here until the president comes with us," she said. The Zelaya supporters had avoided highways, where troops have set up checkpoints, and received refugee status from the government of Nicaragua, according to Globo, a critic of the de facto government in Honduras.

"I am a woman and I can face up to anyone," she added.

Many more Zelaya supporters have gathered close to the Nicaragua border, where they are hoping to be the first to receive Zelaya on his return.

Troops have gathered in Alauca, close to El Ocotal on the Honduran side of the border. The post-coup government, led by former legislature leader Roberto Micheletti, has imposed martial law including a 12-hour curfew along the border.

Locals have complained the measures are preventing the entry of food from Nicaragua and triggering economic problems in the region.

(Xinhua News Agency July 28, 2009)