Honduras' congress has named its speaker acting president after president Manuel Zelaya was overthrown in a military coup.
Honduran soldiers on the streets of the capital after President Zelaya was deposed
Deputies voted in a show of hands to formally strip Zelaya of his post and replace him with Roberto Micheletti.
A resolution read on the floor of Congress accuses Zelaya of "manifest irregular conduct" and "putting in present danger the state of law," a reference to his refusal to obey a Supreme Court ruling against holding a constitutional referendum.
It followed an earlier vote to accept what the country's congress claimed was a letter of resignation from the President.
But Zelaya told CNN the resignation was "totally false," insisting he was still president and the United States said he was the only president it would accept.
An official told reporters: "We recognise Zelaya as the duly elected and constitutional
president of Honduras. We see no other."
Chavez says he's ready for attack
Zelaya's ally Hugo Chavez has threatened military action against the country after the Venezuelan ambassador was taken hostage during the coup.
President Chavez said Honduran soldiers left the ambassador on the side of a road after beating him.
Speaking on state television, President Chavez said he would do everything necessary to "abort" the coup.
President Zelaya was arrested at his home by around a dozen soldiers and taken to a military base on the outskirts of the capital, Tegucigalpa.
Mr Zelaya said soldiers rousted him out of bed, beat his bodyguards and arrested him in his pyjamas.
He was then flown to Costa Rica from where he condemned his ousting from power.
Mr Zelaya said he was a "victim of kidnapping" and a "coup d'etat," part of a plot by members of the military to remove him from power".
He said he would not recognise any replacement, asked his compatriots to peacefully resist and said the United States should demand his government be reinstated.
President Zelaya calls his family
President Barack Obama said he was "deeply concerned", while Czech Foreign Minister Jan Kohout, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, called for "a swift return to constitutional normality."
A neighbour told Honduran television that about 200 troops arrive at Zelaya's home in a dawn swoop.
Shortly after, tanks rolled through the streets and Army trucks carrying hundreds of soldiers equipped with metal riot shields surrounded the presidential palace in downtown Tegucigalpa.
Pro-Zelaya protesters yelled insults at the soldiers while more troops could be seen surrounding the palace.
Tear gas was also fired by police as hundreds of supporters gathered in the centre of the capital.
Mr Zelaya was elected in 2006 for a non-renewable four-year term but planned a vote asking Hondurans to sanction a future referendum to allow him to run for re-election.
He was opposed by the country's Supreme Court, the military, Congress and members of his own party, the Liberal Party of Honduras.
Last week he sacked the country's top military chief, General Romeo Vasquez, and also accepted the resignation of Defense Minister Edmundo Orellana after military commanders refused to distribute ballot boxes for Sunday's vote.
But in defiance of the president the Honduran Supreme Court unanimously voted to reinstate General Vasquez.
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