Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez on Sunday put his troops on alert over a coup in Honduras and said he would respond militarily if his envoy to the Central American country was attacked or kidnapped.

"I have put the armed forces of Venezuela on alert," he said on state television.

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 coup against his close ally, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya.

Chavez said if a new government is sworn in after the coup it would be defeated.

"We will bring them down, we will bring them down, I tell you," Chavez said on Venezuelan state television.


Reuters