After Honduras coup outburst, Chavez works in wings

By Frank Jack Daniel

CARACAS (Reuters) - When the army ousted Honduras' president, his Venezuelan ally Hugo Chavez at first let loose with typical ire by blaming Washington and threatening military action.

But then he went uncharacteristically quiet.

Soldiers whisked President Manuel Zelaya from his home on June 28 then flew him out of the country. The coup was a blow for the Venezuelan president's alliance of leftist Latin American countries, which recently welcomed coffee and textile exporter Honduras into its trade club, Alba.

Chavez's first reaction was aggressive. He put his armed forces on alert and vowed to topple the government that the Honduran Congress installed hours after the coup.

"The bourgeoisie and the empire are attacking Alba on its weakest flank," Chavez told Venezuelan soldiers at a parade last week. "We know they are preparing new offensives in Central America, the Caribbean and South America so we must be ready 24 hours a day,"

But recognizing he could inflame tensions by taking too public a role, the Venezuelan leader has since largely stayed out of the limelight, while keeping busy in the wings.

He was noticeably absent when his friends President Cristina Fernandez of Argentina and Ecuador's Rafael Correa flew back and forth between Washington and Central America to back Zelaya.

"Avoiding being the protagonist and not being there in the center of events has suited him politically" said Latin America expert Edgardo Lander of Venezuela's Central University.