Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez on Sunday put troops on alert over a coup in Honduras and said he would respond militarily if his envoy to the Central American country was kidnapped or killed. Chavez said Honduran soldiers took away the Cuban ambassador and left the Venezuelan ambassador on the side of a road after beating him during the army's coup against his leftist ally, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya. The Honduran army ousted Zelaya and exiled him on Sunday in Central America's first military coup since the Cold War, after he upset the army by trying to win re-election. Earlier, the White House denied US participation in the coup. “There was no US involvement in this action against President Zelaya,” a White House official told Reuters.
