Shortly after Manuel Zelaya returned to his home this weekend for the first time since the 2009 military coup d’etat, he sat down with Democracy Now! for an exclusive interview. He talks about why he believes the United States was behind the coup, and what exactly happened on June 28, 2009, when hooded Honduran soldiers kidnapped him at gunpoint and put him on a plane to Costa Rica, stopping to refuel at Palmerola, the U.S. military base in Honduras. “This coup d’etat was made by the right-wing of the United States,” Zelaya says. “The U.S. State Department has always denied, and continues to deny, their any ties with the government with the coup d’etat. Nevertheless, all of the proof incriminates the U.S. government. And all of the actions that were taken by the de facto regime, or the contista regime, which are those who carried out the coup, favor the industrial policies and the military policies and the financial policies of the United States in Honduras.”